We Are the Cyclists

Here are some pics from this week's favorite purchase: the bike trailer.  Adam and Anna are actually out right now on a bike ride to test it out on long distances (they went to Home Depot--very exciting).  It's a trailer for two, but we decided that Mariah should go to bed tonight instead of on a ride.  Last night, since we can also use the trailer as a stroller, we took the girls on a walk to Dairy Queen.  They both loved the stroller, and Anna discovered the joys of a Dairy Queen ice cream cone (her first cone EVER), so it was a pretty good night.  The usefulness of the trailer would be complete if I could bike with them, but since we've decided not to make any more big purchases until after we've bought our house, I guess Daddy will just get to spend lots of quality time on the trails with his girls.  While Mom stays at home and reads a book.  What a shame. 

Today was gorgeous, with a high temperature of 82 degrees, so we got up first thing the morning and went to the zoo.  Mariah had a rough trip (since I got sunscreen in her eyes--*guilty face*), but Anna had fun.  I think her favorite animals were the Siamangs (some extremely LOUD monkeys).  My favorites this time were the Poison Dart Frogs, which are teensy tiny and extremely deadly.  Tells you something about me, doesn't it?  And sadly, we have no zoo pictures.  We had already pulled out of our parking lot before I remembered the camera, and it just wasn't worth going back for it.  It's usually just a miracle to get out of the house at all. 

Some fun things from the week:

1) Anna has moved all at once into a totally different style of play: she has learned to pretend!  Suddenly her Easter eggs contain full meals (made up of "bubbly juice" and blueberries), Mariah's animals are going on outings to the aquarium and touching the starfish, and her shoelaces are arguing about which one shouldn't touch the other.  Tonight, her pizza was named Pizza, her breadstick was named "Waffle," and Waffle was telling Pizza to stop eating it because that wasn't very nice.  I just love to watch her.  I try to analyze where she's coming up with this stuff, and sometimes I can figure it out, but sometimes it's coming out of nowhere.  Every day she's more amazing. 

2) Mariah is in the grabby phase now.  This week she managed to almost destroy the potted plant on our counter.  I had her in the Bumbo while I chopped vegetables, and I looked down for five seconds, looked back up, and she had an entire branch in her mouth.  I forgot to tell Adam to watch out for that, so he was doing the same thing later in the evening, and she pulled so hard that she knocked the whole thing over, spilling dirt and water everywhere, and biting off a whole half a leaf in her mouth.  And yes, I do know plants can be poisonous.  Believe me, that child will never be on that counter again.  I remember Anna getting to this grabby phase, but I forgot the everyday hassle of it--you can't eat with her in your lap because she'll pull your plate off the table; you can't hold her on your shoulders because she'll get a vise-grip on your hair and never let go; and you can't hold anything expensive in your hands (i.e. digital camera, cell phone) because she'll get it in her mouth and cover it in saliva in less than three seconds.  But there are things that it simplifies--I can finally hand her a toy and trust her to play with it for a few minutes without losing grip on it and getting frustrated. 

3) This week we had a meeting with a loan guy to talk about our moving options, and we feel like we sort of have our plans more defined.  We're going out with our realtors next week to make sure that what's available in the area right now is worth it, and if so, we'll probably drop the price on our condo and try to get it sold quickly.  Some people see a home as an investment, and it's good if it works out that way, but at this point, we see a home as just a place to live, and although we don't want to lose money on it, it's more important to us to provide our family a good place to be than it is to make money on our "investment."  At least that's how we feel today.  :) 

4) One last thing: this week I made my first homemade veggie burger.  Yea!  It tasted surprisingly good, and even Adam like the flavor, but it was seriously mushy, even after being broiled.  Anybody got any great ideas about how to make the veggies stay together in a form rather than mushing around like crusted mashed potatoes?