Sometimes the best laid plans just don’t go as imagine.  Yesterday falls into that category.  With a long list of to-do’s we decided to take a break and take advantage of the decent weather given this weeks dreary forecast.  Literally overnight Aiden and Chris learned to ride their bikes well with confident with NO training wheels.  They were as proud as can be and couldn’t wait to go for a “real bike ride.”  Mike suggested a family bike ride as we hadn’t been in years and Jake received a bike seat for Christmas that we had yet to break in.  After 45 minutes of preparation just to leave the house {dusting off our under-utilized bikes, putting air in our tires, digging out helmets, removing the wheels and jamming the car full of things bikeish} we were on our way… finally.  We decided to go to the Windsor Locks Canal because of its close proximity and had two excited boys on our hands.  Mike assembled Jake’s new seat in the parking lot while the rest of us waited {un}patiently.  Once on our way, Jake made his presence known, screaming because he wanted nothing to do this his helmet.  It was a wrestling match and thankfully the helmet won.  Chris was whining because Aiden was going too slow.  Aiden couldn’t get “started” on his own and in less than five minutes, Aiden had fallen off the edge of the steep trail and down about 3-4 feet into a lush thicket of poison ivy.  It was a dreamy family outing.  Our five minute venture that ate up two hours of our day.  Lesson learned.

Aside from yesterday’s disaster, we’ve had a great week. We had a fun last minute fishing trip for the big boys and Mike with our friends the Lockes and I was thrilled to sneak in a walk with Juliet and the little guys.  Aiden was in his glory as this was his second fishing trip that day!  Mike and the boys plugged through re-siding our front porch this weekend.  Its amazing how such a small change can make the whole house feel newer.  I’m still working on getting Mike to agree to new railing on the front porch as ours are functional but need some TLC (They’ve already been sanded and painted twice since we moved in} and are VERY dated. The curly Q iron work needs to find it’s way back to the 70’s!

 

Here’s a peak at our porch in progress and a few shots from my adventures on the Braille Trail in NW Park today before the torrential rain.