The Bad News Bears on Bikes

Yesterday after supper Scott suggested to the kids that we all go for a little bike ride. Gage had gone with a friend and his Dad about a week ago and they rode their bikes to Stamart on the corner of State St. and Divide and got ice cream, so he said that's where he wanted to go. He insisted that the way to get there was first going to his friend's house. :-) I told him that probably there were a few more routes that might be more direct, but if he wanted to, we could ride by T.J.'s house and see if he wanted to go with us to get ice cream. YEAH, he replies! We rode our bikes to T.J.'s house and then took the back way to Stamart. That's a pretty busy gas station, so I was a little concerned about that. We went in and got some soft serve ice cream, which was delicious, and MUCH cheaper than Dairy Queen. I'm sure we'll be going again sometime.

After we ate our ice cream we hopped back on our bikes to head to the Capitol to ride along their paths. Emma wasn't listening to me and nearly got ran over in the Stamart parking lot and then as we were headed down Divide Ave. to get to a place where we could get up onto the sidewalk, Emma decides to veer out close to the center of the right lane of traffic. As I'm yelling at her to "GET OVER", Scott finds a place for us to get up onto the sidewalk and we continue on our merry way. Those are some very hilly paths and are alot of fun to bike down on the Capitol grounds. You can get to going VERY fast down the big long sidewalks headed south towards Boulevard. We stopped at the end of the "mall" so the kids could check out the monument that is there and after they were climbing on it for a minute or so, Emma hopped off and started sprinting towards us with a look of horrror. I couldn't figure out what was wrong and after I asked her, she yelled, "There's a bee and it hurts!" She was crying like crazy saying her nose hurt. A wasp stung her right on the end of her poor little nose. A few seconds later, we could see the little welt and the red dot right in the center. I told Scott that we should probably go home because I didn't want to be far from there if she was to react to the sting. I am not sure if someone is allergic to bees, does that mean they are allergic to wasps as well? If anyone knows the answer, I'd like to know. She has been stung by a bee once before that I'm aware of, and I know that if she were going to react, this would be the time. So, we hopped back on our bikes to head for home. We followed a few of the trails through the trees and it just happened to be the same time that the sprinkler system starts up. Nice! I got soaked and so did Emma. Then Scott discovers that his tire is flat, despite the fact that he filled it up just before we left. As we're headed through the trees, and I'm following Gage, there was a branch that was sticking out over the path and Gage grabbed ahold of the branch while he rode through and then let go just as I was headed through. Thankfully I saw it coming before it had the chance to knock me right off my bike! When we made it to the corner to turn to our house, Scott headed home with his flat and the kids and I went the other way to take T.J. home. As we're headed up the sidewalk I hear this big crash and look back and Gage had wrecked his bike and was hopping up saying, "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay!" Thankfully he landed in the grass and didn't get hurt. I decided it was a good time to get T.J. home before he got hurt because he was next on the list for something bad to happen! I felt like we were the Bad News Bears on Bikes! Despite all of that, it WAS a nice little ride. The weather was perfect. I am enjoying this cool summer we are having!

Speaking of biking incidents, just as we were pulling into the YMCA parking lot this afternoon to pick Emma up from Day Camp, this guy comes barreling down the parking lot on his bicycle. I don't know if he started braking because he saw me drive into the parking lot, or if he just hit a slick patch of sand (it had just stopped raining) but he had a terrible crash. His bike went flying and he rolled 2 or 3 times before he came to a stop. He got up and I rolled my window down to see if he was okay. He looked stunned, like he had no idea what had just happened. He said he was okay and thanked me for asking him. OUCH! I know if that had been me, I would have been mortified just to know that someone saw me crash and would have cared less about any of my injuries at that moment. I think that it might have been a good thing he wiped out on the patch of sand because he was going fast enough that I think he might have crossed right in front of me or crashed into my car. Thank goodness that didn't happen.

Emma sure is enjoying her Day Camp. I was very worried it was going to be too much for her after just finishing up with Camp Edventure and with this being an all day camp. I was worried for nothing. She is LOVING it! When we went in to get her she was all wound up and excited and messing around with one of the Camp Directors. I told him, "Geez, I can sure tell that she's not having any fun at all!" He replied with another sarcastic comment and said, "Yeah, Emma cries when you leave her here and begs us all day to call her mommy because she wants to go home!" When we got in the car Emma says, "Mom, was he just kidding and using sarcastic?" :-) Yes Emma, we were using a little sarcasm there. I suppose I should stop worrying about next week's 3-Day Day Camp, Prancing Ponies, in Pick City. She'll be gone from 8a-6:30p, which includes the hour long bus ride to and from camp. I'm pretty sure she has the energy she needs to survive it!