School's Out for the Summer!

Well, we made it. Our little kindergartner has survived the year!

On the last day of school they gave them a bunch of stuff to take home, but he was most interested in the bubbles.

As it approaches, summer always seems endless and full of countless possibilities. However, experience tells me that a little planning can go a long way (especially when coordinating bunches of peoples' schedules). So, we made a plan and, the very first day of vacation, we packed up and headed north! You know it's going to be a good visit when you rack up the bikes:

Lots of the family was able to head up to the parents' house that weekend. When there's lots of folks around, there's often a lot going on... but there's also plenty of quieter moments.

In all of the fun, one of the highlights was a family bike ride!! In recent years, Grandpa has gotten into biking and he knows all the fun trails up there, so we left it to him to plot the course. The plan was to ride from the house, to a local park to play for a bit and then head home again.

Once we all were saddled up, there was quite a group of us!

The path was a mix of roads and trails, with a few sidewalks thrown in.

The tires crunching on the gravel made a bit of noise, so I didn't see much wildlife, but I did manage to swallow a good sized bug...grooooooss.

And just when I was thinking I might have bitten off too much, we got to the park!

This park is an extra cool one, there's play equipment, and groves for cooking-out.. a river runs through it which is good for swimming, and there are also hiking trails.

Way way back when, my family used to live pretty near this park. My older sister and I used to ride our bikes there and explore all over. From the road the goes past the park, you can see a little island which is shaped like a heart.. one year, we wandered around until we found it! So, since there was so many of us siblings all gathered together, I thought it would be fun to wander and see if we could find the heart island again.

Grandpa had a general idea of a trail that might be the one that we were hoping for, and off we set. This park is one that was part of the New Deal projects, so everything is made with that same slate rock... it has a very definitive look (which I kind of love.) However, though it was a beautiful hike, there were SO, so many mosquitoes. Still, we pressed on (through the clouds of mosquitoes), and found the heart island!

It was totally worth it.

In all our wanderings, of course we hid some rocks but, also, we found a kindness rock!

We took it to the park to rehide, but it suffered a slight accident...

Happily, there was a hero among us and she ventured into the chilly, brown waters and retrieved the rock so it could be hidden again (only slightly worse for wear).

Eventually, it was time for us all to head home.

The group of folks who biked out again was slightly different; Townshend's tandem attachment to my bike got a flat, so we folded it up and tucked in the trunk and he rode home in the car. That meant I got to take a ride with nobody trailing me (a rare happening) and WOW it's so much easier to bike when you're not pulling a trailer! So, naturally, I used the extra energy to take a few extra pictures.

All in all, an excellent visit. Family time, and a bike ride. Good times good times.