Mother's Day

This year for Mother's Day we finally came through with a promise we've been making to the kids for a few years.  Each summer since Sam has learned to ride his bike without training wheels, we've promised the kids that we would buy a bike rack for the van so that we could take our bikes to local parks to ride.  But each year we never got around to it.  Then when Ben started to do serious research on bike racks last year, he determined that my current bike would not ride on most racks that could sit on the back of the van.  So I would need to get a new bike - which I wanted anyway - but it did make the original promise harder to keep as now it would be much more expensive than we had originally thought.  So yesterday we went to a bike shop and I got to pick out a new bike for my Mother's Day gift.  It's actually pretty similar to the bike Maria got for her birthday last year (we are the same size, after all) and after trading the seat for a more cushioned variety, its very comfortable to ride. 


So my request for Mother's Day was that we take our bikes to Glacier Ridge park for a long bike ride this afternoon.  And we were all shocked when the weather actually cooperated.  I got my run in and house cleaning done this morning, then took a nap after lunch, and by the time we left around 3:00, it was partly sunny and 68 degrees - by far the nicest day we've seen in weeks.  So Ben got the bikes ready to go and we headed to the park.  In all, we rode 7 miles, and stopped in the middle for a restroom break and quick snack.  The trail had some puddles, and Sam's back got covered in mud toward the end of the trip, and that combined with an uphill ride meant he was pretty grouchy for the last mile.  But it was a long ride for him, and he was hungry and ready for dinner too.  So loaded up the van, headed to Chipotle for dinner (Ben's choice - my meal out was last night while we were in Columbus shopping) and then were home by 6:00.

It was a wonderful Mother's Day, and it felt kind of like an entire weekend was devoted to me since we did the shopping and meal out yesterday.  Ben also helped with the house cleaning this morning, and both he and the kids gave me cards and a new coffee mug this afternoon.  I am truly blessed and so appreciative of this wonderful family.