Biking Adventures

So, about 2 months ago we were at REI and they were having a really good sale on bikes. Since we had been wanting to get bikes for awhile, we decided to go for it. We picked out a couple of the nicest mountain bikes we could find and were so excited to get to the trails. Too bad we didn't know how much work owning bikes can be. Here's a break down of our biking adventures or attempts to have a biking adventure.

First Biking Adventure
We went on a bike ride around Milpitas and I realized that we really don't live in the best location for bike riding, especially with a bike trailer that takes up the whole sidewalk making it so you have to ride on the road with the millions of cars. Kinda Scary! Our two-hour ride ended with my bike getting a flat tire and my pedal digging into my leg.

Second Biking Adventure (attempt)
We need to get my tire fixed so we go to Walmart to get some patches or a new tire and find out that they don't sale my type of bike tire. We called around to a couple of other stores and found that we would have to go back to REI (20 minutes away) to get my specific type of tire and a special pump to go with it. (At this point we were thinking we should have gotten a Swhinn).

Third Biking Adventure (attempt)
We load Ryan's bike to the rack on top of the car and put my bike inside the car and decide to go to a fun trail. Ryan forgot something that was in our other car so he drives into our parking garage to get it, but we both forget that the bike is on top of the car and SLAM (Garage is too low). His bike gets knocked of and we break our bike rack that we just bought.

Fourth Biking Adventure
Instead of using a bike trailer, we use a toddler seat on the bike and cruise around our town. We had fun.

Fifth Biking Adventure
My little sister was visiting so we took our bikes to Monterey and we went biking along the coast.
This was a lot of fun and we felt like we had finally gotten to a point where having bikes wasn't going to be a huge headache after all.

Two-Days After We Went to Monterey
Ryan goes to our storage unit to put something away and our bikes are gone. Someone stole them in the middle of the night. We want to cry!

Lessons Learned
We don't live in the best house to have bikes right now. We have decided to wait until we buy a house with our own garage that we can put a security system on. Also, we don't live in the best area for bikes. Our goal is to buy a house close to a nice bike trail next. And, don't buy really expensive bikes unless you want to buy all the special accessories with it. Last, Bikes are stolen a lot around here. If we would have known what a hot commodity they are we would have figured out a way to chain them up inside our storage unit and changed our locks (we didn't realize the builder put such cheap locks on our doors).

You can't say having a baby isn't a workout. I do a lot of lifting, bending, holding, and moving throughout the day, but still, sometimes I miss those butt-kicking workouts that make you feel like every muscle in your body is getting stronger and you just know your heart is getting healthier. I used to take spinning and kick-boxing from the college I was attending, but once I got pregnant I resorted to walking and then continued with walking even after Landon came. Don't get me wrong, I think walking can be a great workout if you push yourself, but I've kind of been in a slump. My walking has turned more into meandering. So, anyway, on Friday I attended a Free Baby Boot Camp class and discovered how out of shape I have become. This class keeps you going strong for 75 minutes. It's circuit-training so the trainer constantly has you doing something...lunges, push-ups, running laps, running stairs, squats..ect. And you do it all with your baby in a stroller. I wasn't sure if Landon would sit in a stroller for that long, but I guess we looked pretty funny because he would start laughing whenever we did lunges. I loved it so much I splurged and bought a 2 month pass that has classes twice a week. Hopefully this will get me back into strength training mode. I am still sore 3 days later which is pretty sad.

A couple of Landon's favorite things...

#1. Corn on the Cob

Landon amazes me at how well he eats corn on the cob. He'll sit and work on the thing until just about every kernel is gone.#2. Bridges

Landon LOVES bridges. After our walk today I let Landon play on this bridge. He went back and forth over the bridge for at least 20 minutes. He would have loved to keep playing, but I had to drag him to the car so we could get home for lunch.

The Great Outdoors!

This last weekend we went camping for the first time with Landon at the South Yuba River campground. It probably wasn't the best time to take Landon to live in the woods with him still being a bit wobbly, especially on uneven ground, but we still had fun. Well...at least I had fun..and I think Landon did too (He likes anything that has to do with being outside), but Ryan on the other hand has to have PERFECT conditions to have fun camping. This last weekend was a a little too warm and the mosquitoes wouldn't leave him alone, so he is now telling me that he won't go camping with me anymore. Not a huge deal since we only go camping maybe once a year anyway, but it is still kind of sad. I treasure the memories I have camping with my family when I was young. I will miss the good dutch oven food, sitting by the camp fire late at night, waking up to the birds chirping, and the feeling of freedom that comes from escaping from the busy world. Hopefully someday Ryan will change his mind, but for now I will enjoy the things that we both like to do.....We just purchased some mountain bikes so I'm really looking forward to trying them out. I've already found about 10 trails that look to be quite fun. Hopefully Landon likes it.

My little boy is growing up...

Landon turned 1 yesterday. We had an exciting day full of going to the park, seeing zoo animals, riding on a dragon train, playing with cousins, opening presents, and eating dragon cake. Landon's favorite book is called Dizzy Dragon, hence the reason for the cake. His favorite animal at the zoo was the goats. These goats loved attention and didn't mind if it was in the form of grabbing at their noses and pulling their hair. I think Landon's finger even went in their nostrils a few times.

Where did April go?

I can hardly believe it's almost May! This year is just flying by. Here are a few things that have been keeping us busy the last few weeks...

1. We went on another trip to Utah for the weekend. Ryan's grandma Hemingway passed away at 88 years old last week. I'm glad we were able to attend her funeral and visit with family.

2. Landon has been working hard at learning how to walk. He pushes, pulls, and drags his walker everywhere with him. Sometimes he'll get brave and decide to venture out without help. He's still a little wobbly, but getting better everyday.

3. My sister, Cindy and I purchased a yearly pass to the Oakland zoo. Jared loves to look at the animals. Allison likes walking around the zoo and notices a few of the animals and Landon could care less about the animals, but enjoys watching all the kids at the zoo.
Here's Landon, Jared, and I on the train ride through the zoo.

Cell Phones

We've all gotten on a plane, put our luggage in the overhead bins, and traveled to our destinations only to realize at the end of the flight that the cell phone never got turned off. "I guess it can't be too dangerous", you think as you walk off the plane. Well, I was curious as to the actual reason for the no cell phone rule and apparently there is some justification for not allowing cell phones to be used in the air. The biggest reason being that travelers are worried that flying will no longer be an escape from our noisy cell phone world. I couldn't agree more. Can you imagine a flight of a couple hundred people all talking on their cell phones? A part of me wishes that other places had the same rule. Everyone understands that you were not able to answer your phone when you tell them you were flying. It's too bad some people aren't so understanding when you tell them you are spending time with your family or in the middle of dinner. Maybe I'm the only one with this problem because Ryan gets so many calls every day. For the most part I've gotten used to calls interrupting our time together and most of the time I understand that the business we're in depends on a lot of talking on the phone, but every once in a while it would be nice to pretend we're flying and make a no cell phone rule.