Memorial Day

We all camped out in the backyard with the fireflies and forest sounds. I forget how noisy it gets back in the forest at night with frogs and owls and bugs. We had a fire and roasted marshmallows. Ben made pancakes in the morning and then we loaded up all the bikes for a family bike ride on the American Tobacco Trail. It was really hot on Memorial Day but the breeze while biking helped, as well as the shady trail. The girls were troopers and we managed to ride 10 miles which is a lot for their little legs. The promise of ice cream at the end helped move them along. The boys hung out in the bike trailer and fought for the last few miles. We stopped at Goodberry's on the way home for yummy frozen custard. We broke out the slip 'n slide when we got home and then grilled veggies from our farmer's market trip for dinner and had a yummy strawberry cobbler for dessert.

bike ride

We took advantage of Oliver's last day of preschool and did a long bike ride while he was at school. The bike trailer gets a little tight with both boys in it and they tend to fight with each other so it was nice to just have Simon. We rode the American Tobacco Trail and started where I had ended my half marathon so we could see what the rest of the trail was like. We did the last 10 miles of the trail. It ends right in downtown Durham by the ballpark which is fun. We were hoping to have lunch but ran out of time so we had a quick snack and then rode the 10 miles back to the car. So much of the trail was lined with honeysuckle and it smelled so good.

bike ride.

While the girls were at school, Ben and I took the boys on a bike ride one morning. We rode 16 miles on the American Tobacco Trail. It was such a great ride. Perfect weather, hardly anyone on the trail, and beautiful scenery. There's not a lot of personal space in the bike trailer and Simon and Oliver yelled at each other for the first 10 minutes, fighting over snacks and books. But they finally zoned out and took turns sleeping on each other's shoulders.

 The bike helmets lasted about 2 seconds. We tried.

A little lunch reward.

green bay: door county

We headed up to beautiful Door County one day (the peninsula part of the state) and went biking at Peninsula State Park. Somehow we managed a bike ride with our entire group of 13 people. It was super fun. This was Amelia's first time riding on a non-paved trail and she did a great job navigating the hills (although she had me a little nervous on some of the downhills) and she never tired on the 6 mile ride. Oliver liked the bumpy ride in the bike trailer.

We stopped for lunch at the Viking Grill. We were too early for the daily fish boil but there was plenty of other food to be had (including cheese curds).

Our final stop of the day was a fun animal farm. The country setting was beautiful and everyone had fun feeding carrots and corn to the animals. There was a fantastic farm-themed play area and lawn games. It was a great place to relax and let the kids play.

Oliver throwing a tantrum because we wouldn't let him climb inside the fence with the animals.

Oliver wields a chainsaw while riding a tractor.