A good weekend

I rode every day last week. I even rode to Zac's house Friday night. He had just bought Resident Evil 5 (a video game) and invited me and a couple of other people over to play it. It was fun, but I stayed up way too late. I didn't leave his house until after 2 am.

On Saturday, I was incredibly tired. Riding every day when you're not used to it and being short on sleep really wear on you. It's only a little over 7 miles round trip to Zac's house but miles ridden after midnight count extra. I ended up taking a nap after breakfast.

Helen took Rachel to the History Museum for some St Patrick's Day storytelling. A.J. and I walked a few blocks to Yale Park for him to play on the playground. Helen and Rachel were driving by as we were walking there so Rachel joined us. I mostly just read my book while they played.

After that, I worked with Rachel on learning to ride a bike. For now she has just been working on balance and steering. I had taken the pedals off her bike and lower the seat. I give her a push to get started and she rides down the driveway with me running alongside. She is doing well and is starting to get excited about riding.

On Sunday, the kids and I picked up lunch and took it to Rocket Ship Park. This park has a much bigger playground as well as a sand area to play in. Helen has a big basket of sand toys that we take whenever we go there. That way we have plenty of toys for sharing. It usually starts out with Rachel and A.J. playing in the sand area. Then another kid or two will come by and I'll encourage them to share the toys. Eventually more and more kids gather. At one point on Sunday there were probably a dozen kids playing with our toys. The toys don't cost much and if we occasionally lose some it's not a big deal. It's neat to see the kids (and a parent or two) building sand castles and having fun.

Later the ice cream truck came to the park. It was the first ice cream truck of the season so the kids were very excited. I bought Rachel and A.J. some ice cream but didn't get any for myself. While they were eating, A.J. told me "Next time we come to the park, I want to bring my allowance. That way I can buy you ice cream because you don't get ice cream much." I told him that he didn't have to do that and I just didn't want ice cream that day.

I worked with Rachel on riding a bike again. She really wanted to pedal so after a few tries without pedals, I put them back on and raised the seat. I also put the train wheels back on but raised them as high as they would go. She did well like that except she hasn't got the hang of using the brakes yet. Her bike has coaster brakes which means she has to pedal backwards to stop.

Since it was such a nice day we grilled brats and hot dogs for dinner and ate outside. All in all I'd have to say that it was a pretty good weekend.