Back to Biking

Jon bought me a new bicycle in January. I immediately jumped on it and hit the trail that runs behind our house. Because our area is quite hilly I was huffing and puffing in no time.

Gone are the days of jumping on the bike and going 12 miles without blinking. In fact, I'm quite out of shape. I could try to blame it on having 4 kids and homeschooling, but when it really comes down to it I just haven't made physical activity a high priority.

In an attempt to remedy the situation, I made an effort last week to get a new hitch that allows the bike trailer to attach to my new bike. The old hitch didn't do the trick. REI had it in stock and I installed it immediately after returning home. When Sinatra woke up from his nap I announced to the whole gang that we were going to go on a bike ride. Sinatra and Popcorn eagerly climbed aboard.

Aside from having to reign in a 7 and 9 year old that are not used to traveling single file on a sidewalk that borders a mildly busy street, we had a wonderful, huffing and puffing experience. My cross country determination kicked in and made me push up the last hill without stopping.

I found that my kids were sissies. They wanted to stop for water breaks frequently and complained about even slight hills. Wimps! I'm hoping to whip them into shape by the end of the spring. I'm looking forward to feeling more fit.

Why I Love Old Books

I really do love classics. Some of my favorites are Robinson Crusoe, The Scarlet Pimpernell, Around the World in Eighty Days, and of course P&P and Jane Eyre.

Maybe I'm drawn to the history--being able to step into the author's world and live and observe characters from the point of view of someone who lived during or near that time.

I think that another reason that compels me to pick up a classic is that I enjoy the code of conduct that people generally lived by until the 1800's. To be called a gentleman or a lady meant something. Even during the late 1700's there was a distinction strongly preserved, not by rank alone, but by conduct, that distinguished a gentleman from the common man.

George Washington was known for his ability to overlook an insult or at least answer it in a calm and rational way. This was considered a mark of "good breeding". To treat an undeserving person with respect that was not due them was expected.

The basic principal was that in difficult situations, a gentleman or lady was expected to rise to the occasion. The bar was set high. I've hear it said that people are like teabags: you don't know what is really in them until they get in hot water.

I'm not so romantic or naive to think that this code didn't have its drawbacks. I can see how people must have stuffed down their real emotions to a fault. I also see how pride in position or self-importance would get in the way. I like Rhett Butler's assessment of Scarlet: she's no lady.

I also see that a more relaxed setting might be able to kick back and enjoy life more, though Elizabeth Bennet does give me reason to believe that laughter often emerged in refined settings too.

Maybe I just like the good stories that I find in old books. Whatever the reason, they hold a charm for me that I don't find as often in modern books.

Blissful Pride and Prejudice

I just finished reading it again. I didn't add it to my reading list in my side column because I was a little embarrassed at having it appear again in such a short time. You would think that Pride and Prejudice was my favorite book, but I actually like Jane Eyre more.

This time I picked up the book because I just watched the new movie, Becoming Jane, about the author, Jane Austin. It made me curious about some of the scenes in the book so I picked up my copy and scoured the end for some particulars. Having read the end of the book, I couldn't just put it away without reading the rest. So, in a timespan of five months I've read the book twice.

To my great delight, my friend, Melissa, told me that she finished it just yesterday. She had some great observations to talk about. It was fun to banter about it when it was so fresh in our memories.

So many people pick out wonderful lessons that they learn through the missteps of the characters or admire the literary genius of the author, but I have to say that I just get caught up in the love story and I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Shallow? You bet.

More Birthday Pictures

Shakespeare now loves Legos. He received a Star Wars Naboo Fighter and Spider Droid Ship from Grandma and Grandpa V. and hasn't put the things down. In fact, he took his birthday money and spent it on a smaller set of bad guy stuff so he could have a proper war.



This was Gem's big present: a 24" Schwinn mountain bike, in pink, purple and white of course.



A zip line for the tree house that we're building with Grandpa and Nana this April.



This was the year of the nontraditional cake. Shakespeare picked out cupcakes with Oreo frosting and gummy worms. Gem decided on an Oreo cream pie from the freezer section. I like the change.

Gem's Birthday--9 years old!

Today was Gem's 9th birthday. She's becoming such a lovely young lady. I'll post more pictures tomorrow, but will leave you with a few tonight.

Shakespeare is 7!

Today we celebrate the second of three birthdays within eight days. Shakespeare is seven years old. He ran down this morning like it was Christmas. "It's my birthday!" he shouted, jumping up and down. What fun to love your birthday that much.

We're taking him to Chucky Cheese for dinner tonight and celebrating with presents and cake at the house this evening.

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!!!

Trains and Tots

Though the new track was a present for Popcorn, Sinatra is also enjoying the expanded track configurations.



Fisher Price makes great toys. We've loved this GeoTrax battery powered train set. Even Sinatra can use the joystick thing to make it stop and go and whistle. And since it is Fisher Price it is virtually indestructible and simple enough that Popcorn can put it together.

The different elements have moving parts that are powered by the movement of the engines as they dock with each station. Just flip the switch the other way to release the engine from that station. Here's an example: the windmill goes around and drops a bale of hay. The child then picks up the bale and puts it in an empty train car, then flips the switch to allow the train to continue.

If you're considering a train set I recommend this one. It is reasonably priced--especially comparing to Thomas wooden sets. I would only steer clear of the roundhouse. It looks cool, but it broke quickly and wasn't all that wonderful. All the other elements have been great.

Birthday Boy--Popcorn is 4

A lovely shade of green, don't you think?

He requested a green gameboy cake (we haven't introduced the DS option). He got Geo Trax track packs, new gameboy games and a play-doh set (my idea, but didn't get a very thrilling response. Doesn't bother me. I KNOW that he loves play-doh).

We've had a rough week or two with children and me being sick, so today it was quite amazing that we pulled off the cake and decorations and presents.


Here he is with his loot.

Sorry for the choppy account of what really was a charming 4 year old celebration. He's so precious--a gift from God. Happy Birthday, my little (big) Popcorn.

Cookie Monster on the Counter

It Snowed On Valentine's Day

Vivienne

Isn't a newborn precious? I would like to introduce you to Vivienne. She was born a few days ago and is the newest member of the family. Congratulations to my cousin, Jeff, and his bride, Marnie!

And congratulations to Vivienne for joining a wonderful family. God bless you, little one.

The Mongols Take Up a New Line of Work

Mom: "Who tried to make Ivan the Great pay tribute?"

Shakespeare: "Ummm. . . mmmm . . . lawyers?"

Mom: "Very good guess, but no--the Mongols".

Old, New Fuel

Wow! I didn't know about this. Ignore the intro and scroll down to the first video.

Elephants Eating

We just couldn't stay away from the circus. A local grocery store sponsored a canned food drive where people who brought canned goods got admittance to the noon feeding of the elephants. We brought friends along and enjoyed watching the big animals munching on whole heads of lettuce, entire bunches of bananas, apples, loaves of french bread and carrots. The bread went first and the carrots went last.

Sinatra even enjoyed the elephants. He kept pointing and saying something about duggies--doggies (that's what he calls anything on 4 legs).



Two clowns were sitting right by us.



A very rare picture of me. Thank you, Gem.

Circus

We went to the circus this morning! The extra ticket for Jon was $20--not bad for 5 people to attend. We had great seats. Shakespeare liked the trapeze guy who also rode a motorcycle along a suspended cable...oh, and the clowns...oh, and the motorcycles.



Gem's favorite was the triple flip on the trapeze (see video) and the ponies.



Popcorn didn't feel well through the first half and laid against Jon until the break. He finally perked up after intermission (when he got a Pepsi) and loved the tiger performance--his favorite. That's not too surprising because he adores cats. I don't know how that happened to my child. Felines aren't my favorite. The tigers were impressive though.

My favorite, by far, was the motorcycles going full-tilt in the metal ball--seven of them at once--a real nail-biter.

And since you missed the Greatest Show on Earth, I thought you'd like to take a little peek into the event.

Enjoy the videos.

$10 Fares from Here to There

Don't walk, RUN--no,SPRINT to the Skybus web page and book a flight for June/July today. We just purchased round trip tickets for five, for a grand total of $160. No, that's not a typo, that's the total (all 5 people): from here to Indiana, direct flight. We pay an extra $5 for each bag. You don't get peanuts or a beverage, but who cares!!!

Skybus has a deal that the first 10 people who book a flight get $10 one way fares. If you catch two one way flights, that's $20 plus about $12 in taxes and fees, for a grand total of $32. After the first 10 the price goes up in increments. I think the next jump is $45/seat. The earlier you book the better.

You can even sign up to receive an email notice when the new available dates open up. That is how Jon booked these flights for us for $10.

Happy flying!

Trying to Reach Juliet?

Shakespeare is my child: all climbable trees must be climbed. Here he is up in our weeping willow.

Splleing Issuses

It's tempting to just hang up blogging.

My spell check for my blog page isn't working. It just stopped. I hate this because I stink at spelling. I've had to resort to the electronic pocket spell checker that I carried with me everywhere during high school and college. I know I'm missing little, and probably big, mistakes. Be patient with me. I'll figure it out eventually. In the meantime, I feel really vulnerable without my security blanket. God bless the person who invented the spell checker.

Did you know that Shakespeare spelled his name a dozen or so different ways (none of them Shakespeare)? It was a sign of creativity. A person who could only spell a word one way was considered dull and unimaginative. I wonder if Shakespeare would have backed down from writing Romeo and Juliet if he had to follow all of Webster's rules.

Well, I'll just encourage myself with all that, and long for the days of less refined spelling. I'm all for advancement--things like indoor plumbing and washing machines, but why did they have to mess with spelling?

The Greatest Win on Earth

When I grocery shop it is through my computer. I order online then show up and they load it in the back. As a result, I get email advertisements from them every once in a while. The other day I got one for a canned food drive that the grocery store is sponsoring in conjunction with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that is in town. If we bring one canned good each, to the coliseum on Friday, we can see the elephants up close during their feeding time and hear a talk that the trainer will give about the feeding, care and training of the elephants.


At the bottom of the advertisement was an entry to win 4 free tickets to the circus. I signed up. Today they called. We won!!! We'll be going to the greatest show on earth this weekend. I'm so excited! The kids will love it.

The Bat and the Traitor

My cousin is hosting animal stories at her site every week until she runs out of things to share. She told a horror of a mouse story a few weeks ago and a funny story involving a name misunderstanding this week. It got me thinking about my own animal story...

Gem was only about 5 months old and we were living in a rental house. It was a tri-level (becomes an important detail later).

Jon and I had gone to bed and were finally settled in and warm when we heard something on the outside of the air conditioner unit in the far window. "It's those morning doves walking on the outside. They do that a lot in the morning," I commented to Jon. Annoyed, I rolled over on my side and closed my eyes again.

The sound continued. I thought about getting up and scaring the doves away, but wanted to stay in my warm covers. I couldn't sleep because of the sound, and before long I began wondering about it. It was 11 at night. The doves shouldn't be out this late--maybe a squirrel? Scratch, tap, scratch, tap. Sleep was not coming. I rolled onto my back and opened my eyes. In the stillness of the dark, there was a small shadow moving in circles over our bed. I grabbed Jon's arm--death grip style. "Open your eyes!"

He saw it too and we instantly flopped the covers over our heads. We had a quick strategy session, in which I shuddered and made pitiful noises to show my distain for flying rodents, then we slipped out of the covers and onto the floor, crawling for the door. I closed all the upstairs bedroom doors, grabbed a towel from the bathroom, then we turned on the bedroom light. The bat darted out of our room and down the stairs to the living room. Step one, check.

In our strategy pow-wow we had decided that we would use towels to flush him out, directing him out the front door. The brilliant plan had been mine, hailing from my childhood where we often had birds down our chimney and "waved" them out the door using towels.

I have a very impulsive and ingenuitive husband who varied the plan a bit. He came out with a tennis racket, ready to clobber the flying rodent. When that failed, I was annoyed and told him to take his post at the top of the stairs so that the bat couldn't get back upstairs. I stayed at the bottom of the stairs, opposite the open front door, waving my stupid towel. It did absolutely nothing. The bat kept circling.

About this time, Jon disappeared again and came back with the comforter from our bed. If a towel is good, a comforter is better. He waved it a few times, then used all 6'3" of his God-given height to hold it over the entire opening, leaving him on the upstairs side and me all by my lonesome self with the bat.

I may have cursed at him. I hope I didn't. All I really remember doing is screaming wildly and screaming even louder every time the bat came near. Every time I screamed Jon would laugh. Pretty soon, the comforter was shaking with his laughter--the traitor. After a while I laughed too. Laugh, scream, laugh, scream.

The bat finally gave into my masterful plan and sailed out the door. My wonderfully brave and protective husband abandoned his safe zone, came down the stairs and hugged me. I punched his arm, but not too hard.

We still laugh about it.