Boxing Day E-Bike Ride

Boys' Club

Today we spent about an hour at the skate park.  It was a little cold, so afterwards we headed to Starbucks for hot cocoa and coffee.

This week at Boys Club

Connor's First Bike Race

This past weekend, Kevin took Connor out to a park for a small bicycle racing event. 

Photos, or it didn't happen (right?):

That, ladies and gentleman, was the Brownwood Bike Rally.

Family Time

It was great to see family back in Ohio.

Someone bought a scooter

We all enjoy riding around town on the rentable shareable electric scooters, so it makes sense that we would buy one of our own.  It was something of a surprise when it showed up at the house, though, since the kids and I didn't know that Kevin had ordered one.  Connor and Lex were very excited about the large box that was delivered, but they didn't know what was inside it.  Connor decided to google the information on the box, and discovered that it was an electric scooter.  He then immediately opened the package and set about putting it all together so that he could ride it.  The directions were less than one would hope for, as you can see from the video, but we managed to figure it all out.

Behold, the scooter is assembled.  It had to charge for several hours prior to use, which was the worst thing ever to happen in the history of the world, I am sure.

And then it was ready to ride.

It turns out that we need to buy about three more of these scooters.

In which we go to the National Park by my house

Today we went to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.  We set off with the boys' bikes on the back of the car and headed for one of the many park signs that I pass when we are driving around during our normal travels.  This is the park I found, and it turned out to be a good park for hiking instead of biking.  

We walked on the path along the river.

Lex found a little creek that connected to the river.

It started to rain a little bit while we were on our hike, but it wasn't very heavy rain, and it was very warm.  Eventually we heard some thunder, so we decided to head back to the car.

Hello, Mr. Dragonfly.

Connor's 12th Birthday!

We began Connor's Birthday celebrations bright and early on his birthday morning.

No one actually ate that crepe.


Connor got a new bike!



Nana and Grandpa sent Connor a new LEGO set.



After presents, we packed up the car for a trip to Red Top Mountain.

Connor didn't want to have a birthday party this year. He just wanted to hang out with his friends. When we found out that his friends had picked his birthday for a camping trip, he decided that sounded like exactly what he wanted to do for his birthday.

He didn't really want a cake, either, but he did want a giant cookie.


Papa Kirk and Grandma Ella joined us at the park, too.

We spent the afternoon swimming in Lake Allatoona.



The kids floated on that giant foam island hours.
They also had awesome wrestling matches and gladiator games on it.



They piled up all these rocks on a log in the lake.




We had a lovely campfire potluck dinner.
Most of us made pita pocket pizzas on the fire.







And then it was time for s'mores and watermelon.




I'm not sure if this was about chopping the wood or about feats of strength.



Finally, we met up with some park rangers for a very special night hike.



There was a presentation about animal furs and poop, and then they passed out blacklight flashlights to everyone in the group.  We went on a hike in the dark and looked for bioluminescent plants and bugs.



These centepedes were awesome.  We saw a lot of them.  We also saw one neon green scorpion.  It was a lot smaller than I had expected it to be.


And then we all made our way back to the camp for the night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CONNOR!

ATL Beltline Bike Ride

This past weekend we finally managed to go for a bike ride on the beltline, which is something that has been on our to-do list for a long time now.

The boys rode their bikes.  Kevin and I rode on some birds, which are rentable electric scooters, which was awesome until the battery in my scooter died. Womp womp.  

You know we had dinner at Ponce.

Lex even got to ride a bird for a few minutes.  He was thrilled.  He loves those things.

Bike Ride & Ice Cream

Lex has discovered the joy that is riding his bike down the street to the ice cream place by our house.  We have done it several times already this week, and it seems to be his new favorite outdoor past time.

In other words, every time we kick him off his computer, he wants to go for a bike ride to go get some ice cream. 

There are worse things.

Have you seen Lex's New Bike?

In which we ride bikes

Tonight Connor and Lex went for a bike ride around the neighborhood.

Lex says he doesn't give out free videos.

I'm not sure what that means.

I went home after watching for a while, and then a little bit later, Connor came rushing in to tell me that Lex had fallen and gotten hurt.  I went out to find him, and found a bunch of neighbors coming to find me.  Then, Lex was sitting on the road with a cup of water and a ton more neighbors gathered around.  Apparently he fell pretty hard.  He ended up getting a ride home in a neighbor's car, and we fixed him up with some ice and a movie.  He watched Tron: Legacy while he recuperated.

A neighbor kid brought his bike home, and some parts of it broke off when he fell.  He's looking forward to shopping for a new bike.

Boys Club

The day before Connor's birthday, we headed to a boys club meeting at a skate park near our house.  The kids mostly ride scooters and bikes.  It was Connor and Lex's first time at a skate park, and some of the hills and bowls were seriously intimidating.  They took their time about getting used to the idea of riding on them.

The kids mostly just played in the bottom of this bowl.

They nicknamed it "The Pit of Despair."

I played a little bit of Pokemon while they were playing with their friends.

We brought some birthday cupcakes to share with all the kids.

They had mustache rings on top of them so that the kids could go incognito after eating all the sugar.

No, I didn't take any photos of the cupcakes, but they were awesome.

Trust me.

November Nonsense: Part IV

This ice cream was amazing!

Mom, take my picture!

(While shopping at Home Depot...)

This next bit is just mischief.  

I'm not sure why he wanted to ride his bike in the pouring rain, but I figured that if he was going to do it, I might as well record it.

No More Training Wheels!

Signs of Spring

The weather here has been great lately.



The kids have been outside on their bikes and scooters, playing football, and having Nerf gun battles every day.