Sandbox Addition

OK, so this is still a work in progress, but here's the latest addition to the sandbox...

I wouldn't be nearly this far had my father-in-law, Ralph, not come and crank away for 2 1/2 days last weekend. A visit from Bob The Builder helped too! This glider is Ralph's design. He's built these for two other swingsets, and he really does an excellent job. This thing is smooth and silent, and will even carry an adult!

After the two days of building, we were about to get rained on, so we bought a huge tarp to protect the investment.

Items left to complete:

1. Safety slats below the handrail - all the way around.

2. Add hand-rail up the stairway.

3. Build and install roof over deck.

4. Stain the entire thing.

Crawling, Camping, and Pedaling

Today Mater (or as Caitin would say, "Jaa-meh Meh") crawled across the floor for the first time! For a couple of weeks she has been up on hands and knees rocking and sometimes scooting in reverse, but today she finally made forward progress toward what she wanted to get. Heaven help us now... Oh yeah, and she also has picked up the bad habit of sitting up on her own...usually when it's time for a nap.

We went camping a couple of weeks ago. A simple over-nighter, but we had a good time. It was the earliest we've been to bed in a long time, but sleep didn't come until late in the night because it was a crowded campground.

In other news, Caitin has mastered pedaling! We go on many walks around the block now as she pedals her trike all the way. Occasionally she'll try to build up speed to go over a 2" curb, and every time it has stopped her. The last time her back wheels came off the ground when she hit that curb, and then she just sat there as if to say, "Why didn't that work?"

A few Summer Activities

We've been mighty busy lately, and here are a few things we've been doing...

First of all, we have to occasionally enjoy this beautiful city we live in. This is the Duncan Garden in Spokane's Manito (pronounced man-it-oh) Park. This garden is symetrically designed and always immaculate. It's a sure visit every summer.

We went to an anniversary celebration at the Riverfront Park, and the rides were reduced to 1978 prices! We road the tour train, and Mater tried on my cowboy hat. I normally don't wear my cowboy hat, but since we were going to ride the carousel also...Finally, we updated our sandbox with treated lumber. After one year, the untreated original was rotting out. Still to come are photos of a few small improvements we've made to the sandbox.

Someday...

Caitin, Jamie, take a good look...someday this will be you!

Lydia Riding

This is my good friend Jed's daughter. She started riding earlier this year. She's about 6 months older than Caitin.

Riverside Park

Two rides...same trail. Sarah and I got out on a ride by ourselves last weekend. It was a lot of fun. Sarah completely surprised me with her abilities on the trail. We've only ridden with the kids on the roads before, so when I took her on trails where the grades were occasionally steep and where rocks are ready to bite, I wondered how she would do. I looked back to see how she was doing at first and she was right behind me following my path. Later when we came to the first hills and rocky sections I looked back to see she was still right behind me and keeping up very well.

Right after taking this picture...,
we headed down this hill (Caitin and I went the opposite direction on the trail this week).
Before heading down the hill, I told Sarah it was completely acceptable to walk down this part. I rode down to the first opening (where Caitin is standing in the next picture) and looked back up the hill to watch Sarah. She had decided to ride the hill, and was doing quite well until her front tire rolled over a boulder...which changed the center of gravity, and over the front she went! She expertly leaped forward, clearing the handlebars, and then allowed the bush to the right of the tree to catch her and slow her down. She immediately picked up the bike and began examining for any damage...

The results? A small scrape on her hand, an even smaller scrape on her forehead, a slight blemish on her ego, and a very proud husband! Caitin and I had to test the trailer out on the trail, and found that one place was just a little to skinny to roll through. The trail runs along the river bank, which was a little scary for me a couple of times, cuase the trailer was running with one wheel up hill and the other wheel right on the edge of the bank (with about a 20-foot slide down to the water). We rode it all with only one lift (over the skinny spot) and one walk (up Sarah's hill). Pretty successful, I'd say.

Mater Faces