A Perfect Day

I think I had the best Mother's Day ever!

I spent the morning gardening. While I didn't get to everything I had hoped to accomplish, I'm happy I got to spend 4 hours in my garden. While I was planting, Clint was rototilling more garden space, so now I have even more garden to play in! He also fine tuned the sprinkler system he has been working on, so the sprinklers are much more effective now.

I thought it would be fun to take a bike ride on Mother's Day. We are definitely not on the Compact; we had to buy two new bicycles to go for a ride. Clint found a great deal on a pair of adult Schwinn touring/trail bikes, and we gave them to Shelby and Rhiannon right before our ride. They were so excited, especially Rhiannon. She was trying to be enthusiastic about going on a family bike ride, but was dreading it because her bike so small and uncomfortable for her. So small, in fact, that we passed it down to Tamzin. Shelby's old bike went to Gillian. Since Shelby and Rhiannon's old bikes had been used only rarely, they look like new, so everyone was happy.

I came up with the idea of a bike ride because Tamzin has been teaching herself to ride without training wheels this month, a true accomplishment on our bumpy, uneven gravel parking area. Unfortunately, she left the bike out, and I ran over it with my 'Burb. We discussed repairing it, but since we knew ultimately we needed a bigger bike for Shelby, it seemed logical to have each girl move up a bike. When Clint and I lined up all the bikes to assess the situation, we realized that Shelby's old bike would still be small for Rhiannon, and it would not be long before we would have to think about a new one for her as well. So when he found a great deal, we decided to get two.

With two new bikes and four happy kids, we were off to Chamna Natural Preserve for a ride. It took two gas guzzling vehicles to get us there, one for the bikes and one for the kids, so it wasn't a low consumption day by any means, but then, few days with a family of six are, I suppose.

What a great place Chamna is! I can't believe I haven't been there before. We rode around on some of the hiking trails first, but that was rough for Tamzin. Then we checked out the biking trail. We didn't go far, because Tamzin was hot and tired by then, and getting a little frustrated with the hills. But the older girls were in heaven! They raced up and down the hills, over and over again. They had no idea bike riding could be so fun. In all the years that they've ridden, they've never had the opportunity to experience that feeling of freedom and speed on a bike. In our location, riding on the road is unsafe for younger kids. They've always been confined to the yard, so they've never experienced a "wind in your hair" kind of ride.

Because we weren't sure what to expect at Chamna, we had agreed that if it was not suitable for riding, we would pack the bikes up and drive to Howard Amon, where we knew the trails would be great for a ride. So after playing on the hills a bit, we headed to the park. Of course, we were all hot by then, so stopping at Atomic Ale for cold beer and root beer floats seemed like the perfect cool down treat. After that, it was off to the park.

Howard Amon was a perfect place to ride. The trail was so flat and smooth that Tamzin was riding like a pro in no time. The older girls loved it because they could ride on ahead and then circle back and join us again, or stop and rest and wait for us to catch up. There were lots of other residents out enjoying they day, and most smiled and expressed a greeting, which made the ride even more fun. We stopped to play on the play equipment and examine the progress of the new rock climbing feature, and then we headed to Pizza Hut for a cheap and easy Book It coupon dinner. No prep time, no dishes.

We got home just before dark. I had just enough time to more one more plant before putting the kids to bed. A perfect day.

Oh, but boy, is my butt sore!