Our Little Home on the Web: August 2007

August 20, 2007

Biking the Discovery Trail

My parents met us for a bike ride today.. Kenton had to switch some tires on a couple of bikes so while we were waiting for him...

Here's my mom. See the clouds in her sunglasses?:

And this one is for those of you who've accused me of never posting a picture of myself. I'm in a lot of these pictures! You just aren't looking close enough! See me here with Gabe?

No? I'm even waving at you! Look closer....

See me now?

So Kenton finally got the bikes up and running (maybe I should've helped him?) and off we went.

The girls, waiting for us to catch up.

A Mima-Alek moment. I forget why we were stopped this time. We had lots of stops on this bike ride.

This time I can see why we stopped. Gabe's bike chain came off. This happened twice. Is Gracie sneaking a sip of Kenton's latte? See the couple in the far off distance looking back at us? I think they're counting my children. Yes, there are five.

We stopped a couple of miles up the trail, when we got to a fun little beach.

And a silhouette as she ran off:

This is what Gabe & Gracie did almost the entire time we were there:

Alek was in a strange mood yesterday. He wasn't very sociable and was just off in his own little world all day. I don't know what was going on with him. But here he is poking his head where it doesn't belong:

And then his hand:

He found a bottle in there. Ew!

Josiah found some shells:

"Hiding" for a brief moment:

And then I followed Millie around for a while:

I thought this one was cute- she's trying to peek at me through the beach grass:

After at least an hour, maybe two, we decided to start heading back. Gabe actually stopped and let me take a picture of him! If you really, really look, you'll see I'm in this one too.

Speedy Gabe:

While on our bike ride, I saw something I have never, ever seen before in my entire life.
You could say you live in a town that is not known for its pleasant weather if you ever come across something like this:

Can you tell what it is? A SQUEEGEE attached by a CHAIN to a park bench!

Here's Millie modeling it for you. Only in the Pacific Northwest would you see this.....:

Did you notice how any of us were dressed? And yes, it really is August here too. It was very cold and VERY windy yesterday.

My four year old is crazy. I suppose it may be surprising to see a 4 year old riding a bike without training wheels? I don't even think about it anymore, because she's been riding her bike since she was 3. She was FLYING down the walkway, full-speed, screaming as if she were on the roller coaster ride of her life. Problem is, at the bottom of this walkway is loose gravel, and then the road we have to cross to get back to the parking lot. I was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop.

But she SLAMMED on her brakes (i.e. pedaled backwards) and slid around a little and came to an absolutely perfect, non-tragic stop. She amazes me and scares me at the same time. Kenton is the more easy going of us two. Can you tell? Does he look worried? He's not even looking at her.

That was our Sunday.