Pickle Biker

Me: "Hey Daniel, that looks good!  Who are all those bikers?"
DNL: "There's you and mommy and me and Ellen. We are climbing a hill."
Me: "What's that roundy thing?"
DNL: "That's a pickle riding a bike."
ME: "Why?"
DNL: "I just thought it would be funny to see a pickle riding a bike!"

Pickles like to ride bikes too.

Biking: Cold or Not

Everyone else is still cooped up inside, but we're outside and having fun on our bikes!

Ellen rides among the fallen snowmen. 

Daniel passes by the snow mound.

Halloween

A robot and mini mouse hauled in some candy.

MTB with the guys

It's my birthday weekend and I wanted to get out for a mountain bike ride with the guys: Ryan, Daniel, and I. We headed to the Knob and rode some trail.  Daniel was having great fun on his second ever mountain bike ride at the Knob.  (I was going to say second ever bike ride, but that's not true.  He rode with me in Michigan a couple years ago on his Strider bike when he was only three.)

The fellas, and our little cheering lady. 

We rode around the pine tree areas near the pavillion like Daniel and I had done several weeks ago.  This time we ventured further out.  Daniel was responding very well to shouts of "power up bud!"  He was grunting and pushing to ride more of the slight uphills than the last time.  Must've been trying to impress Ryan.

Back to the woods for some more riding.

Once again, I was amused to see little Daniel and bike out there on the trail among the big woods. I look forward to more mountain bike rides with the guys!  I have visions of the three of us packing it up for a riding amd camping trip at Raystown someday.  What fun it will be.

My Helpers

There's plenty of help around here!

Treehouse!

We have been busy building a treehouse.  Well, it's more like a 10' wide deck 8' off the ground between two trees.  The kids are loving it.

Daniel and I slept out in the treehouse over the weekend.  The cows were right below and were full of noises throughout the night.  Don't they sleep?  I kept hearing them getting up/down, eating, and pooping.  It was fun.  I slept good the next night.  :-)

 Testing the slide.

Ready for fun.

Anniversary Ride

What better way to celebrate our marriage than a family bike ride!

Rest break in the marsh.

Daniel at the Knob!

I took Daniel out to the Knob for the first time!  We had lots of fun riding near the pavillion. At first I wondered if he would be getting out of control, but Daniel did a very good job keep his speed in check.  He did some corners really well too.  Of course there was some bike pushing and walking at times.  He kept at it and didn't get worn out too fast.  Lots of fun for Daniel... and daddy too.

 Daniel did a great job on the trails!

 Having fun, looking serious.

 It was fun seeing my little buddy out on the trail.

 Our bikes.

 KT and Ellen came out later on and took some pics.

Daniel did not follow me over the log.

Family Ride

We made it down to Fredericksburg for a family rail trail ride.

 Bridge crossing.

 Daniel powered up for about 8 miles of riding.

 Chasing down mommy.

 Ellen calling for more speed.

He's a true cyclist... helmet hair.

Hike at the Park

We headed to Wooster Memorial Park for a hike this afternoon.

Bridge pose.

Found a cool salamander.

Daniel had the same one on his shirt.

Flipping rocks, looking for creatures.

A quick learner, just like mommy.

Gravel Spreading

Daniel and I hooked up the trailer to Dad's truck and picked up some gravel to back fill around the window wells I dug last fall.

Good thing we have an excavator.

Ellen was helping too!

handyman

Daniel was once again my little helper buddy as we installed some new shelving in the hallway closet.

Getting some work done.

And he even brings his own tools.

Cradle Complete

After church Daniel and I headed straight to the Knob.  We started the Cradle rebuild project and wanted to be part of finishing it.  Operation complete... it's open again!

All hands on the deck.

Daniel got some hammer time.

Kevin stapling the chicken wire.

Just about ready to ride.

Smoothie

After today's bike ride I decided to make myself a "power smoothie" to "aid recovery", or something like that.  Daniel was eager to help when he saw the blender and numerous ingredients being accumulated on the counter.

He was particularly amused by

bananas floating in water.

We added bananas, blueberries, prunes, flax seed, protein powder, chia seeds, and other stuff I cannot remember.  Pretty much whatever I could find in the pantry.  A flip of the switch and we had an oddly colored pitcher of drink.  Daniel got out the glasses, one for me and one for him.  We poured some smoothie sludge and sat down to drink.

The tasting did not go so well for Daniel.  Here he

has just taken a drink, exclaimed "nasty!", and

is in the process of attempting to wipe

the taste of his tongue.

Cradle Construction with DNL

Since riding at the Knob last Saturday, Ryan and I met up for a Wednesday night Knob ride as well.  What a difference four days made, the mud was gone and it was nearly dusty.  I went out and rode some laps of the new opening section before Ryan arrived and I bumped into Dustin of 331.  He said a work day was scheduled for Sunday to work on the Cradle.

I decided a little construction project in the woods would be great fun for Daniel.  He was also eager for an adventure.  We hiked out to the Cradle with gloves and shovel in hand.

A stripped off cradle.

We jumped in on the work and began stripping off the old planks.  It didn't take long with several guys working together.  The next task was to reinforce the beams or stretchers that run the length of the bridge.

Re-decking underway.  Jason, Dennis, John, and Ray

sizing up the new stretchers.

Daniel and I got to business setting and nailing new deck planks.  Daniel helped hand the planks over after Jason cut them, and I nailed them down.  Daniel was also my nail supply man.

Six nails per plank, about 52 planks...

we did a lot of nailing!

Unfortunately we ran out of decking before making it to the other side.  The hard work is done with the stretchers, now it's just smacking some more nails to finish it off once more decking is available.  Of course hiking the deck boards out to the Cradle is the other effort required.

Part way across.

Daniel and I hit Subway on the way home as we had worked up a hunger.  It was a fun time out in the woods.  Daniel brought quite a bit of Knob dirt home with him from exploring the creek and hill sides.  It will be easier to throw him in the bath tub than a mountain bike!

Agent P joined us for lunch.

Mohican Mud Cleanup

We surprisingly received several inches of snow last night.  (What did I say about spring weather on the way in my post less than 24 hours ago?)  My helpers bundled up and were in attendance for the bike cleanup.

Daniel must have been expecting some overspray.

Ellen is about the same height as a 29er wheel.

Opposite Direction

The weather was expected to bring warmer temperatures today and wind from the north.  I mapped out a ride heading north and back for several hours of riding this afternoon.  On the way home from church I noticed the occasional flag pole we drove by showed wind from the south / southeast; time for a change of route.

Can you girls check the weather on that thing?

 Ryan and I headed down to Millbrook Road and worked our way southeast toward Shreve.  The temperature was warm, mid 40's, and the wind was in our face.

Shreve Lake was frozen.

 

The skies were overcast.

 

We road south into Holmes County and found some township roads to pedal eastward.  The chip and seal surface frequently changed to gravel and mud.  I thought we were on a good streak of gravel when my map and the road in front of us did not agree.

But my map shows an outlet.

 A slight reroute brought us back north and we rode around Shreve again before taking a few gravel roads through the swamps.  We made a few detours on the way back home to maximize ride time.  Nice day to be out!

Only a few hills on the ride today.

 

After Ryan headed for home Daniel asked if we could go for a bike ride.  Of course!  I finished spraying off the road spray, wiped the bike down, and Daniel and I rode some laps up and down the road.

Making the red bike go!

Daniel is 4!

Today is Daniel's fourth birthday!  He enjoyed a party with family, another party with friends, and another party with family and friends.

A robot cake made by mommy at Daniel's request.

A new water bottle and bike lock from

Aunt Jess & Uncle Chris.

Daniel received a workbench from Grandma and Grandpa.  Hmmm... it looks familiar because it was my work bench when I was a little guy.  Grandpa freshened it up for another round of service.

Daniel will undoubtedly get some

use out of the workbench.

 

Happy Birthday Daniel!