27 January 2011

Weekend riding bikes in Monterey

Laura and I were able to spend a couple of days alone in Monterey. The trip was fantastic. We feel a bit guilty leaving the kids behind, but it was nice to break in Laura's new bike. First day, we rode up to Point Joe along 17 mile drive. We didn't quite want to go the full 34 mile round trip, though.

From Monterey GT Trip


That evening we enjoyed a nice dinner at the aquarium. It was delicious - hard to avoid the buffet there.

Next day we went north up the coast to Marina. Of course, Laura had to get ready to go biking - so she did her hair. I don't think she appreciated the photo - I was making fun of her a bit. I caught her full reaction on camera.



We found a nice little Mexican-like food place. I had an enchilada, and Laura had spicy shrimp pasta - mmmm.



Check out our GPS tracks below. We logged over 36 miles, which is pretty good for Laura's first real crack at biking. She did great.


View Monterey GT Trip in a larger map

We ended the trip by visiting the aquarium and enjoying a nice meal at the Red House Cafe. The breakfast wasn't as good as the dinner we had there some months prior, but still a really great meal. And we picked up some delicious cookies for the trip home.

17 January 2011

MLK Day 2011

We had a busy day that started with projects and cleaning. I've been working on stripping and repainting the sink cabinet in our downstairs bathroom, while Laura spent the morning triaging the rest of the house. Because of the busy day Friday, Laura was unable to have Friday Funday, as usual. So, we decided to take the kids to Build-a-Bear to get some outfits for their stuffed animals, making it Monday Funday!

In the afternoon, we had a lovely visit from Julia and Lily. It's fun to see how much Lily & Ben love to play together. We chatted with Liz how competitive Julia is, and, now that another student in her class is riding her bike, Julia is determined to ride hers too.

Well, we haven't spent too much time working with the girls on their bikes. We took the training wheels off over the summer. The few times I've worked with them, they clearly have the basics down, but once I let go, they would waver and fall. Not today. Both Abigail and Collette were stupendous on their bikes. Abigail got tired in a hurry, but it was tough to get Collette to come inside. She was especially good at starting, stopping, U-turns, and weaving. Abigail didn't miss a beat with her riding either, knowing just the right way to fall off her bike. We're very proud of them. As suggested, I think letting them ride more on their scooters helped them get the right balance to make bicycles a cinch.





Finally, we had our lesson for Family Home Evening about the holiday today. School prepared them well, as both the girls were able to talk about the things Dr. King had done for society. We discussed how there are two major organizations which we participate in: Church and government. And how, because we have purpose in loving others as discussed in Church, we have the opportunity to express that love as we help shape our government and society as a whole. We then watched and talked about the meaning of his famous I Have a Dream speech. It was a good lesson that we topped off with hot chocolate.