A "B" Day

Boys at the beach clean-up.

One happy & one not too thrilled.

Sometimes you must admit ...it can be all about the bike.

Bike Buddies

No, not a birthday.

A "B" day doing things that start with "B", a phrase coined after several comments from Cassie today.

Today was the annual beach clean-up in Lincoln City. Our youth volunteer each year for this event. We decided to just sign up our whole family to go along with all the teenagers from our ward & help support Cassie. I watched the weather reports each day this past week keeping my fingers crossed for a non-rainy Saturday. As we got closer to today, the rain percentage kept going up. Last night they forecasted 90% chance of rain for our whole region. After much teetering on whether to go or not to go we decided to go. So, last night I made a run to Fred Meyer & picked up rain gear for everyone. We brought extra change of clothes & woke up prepared for the worst. Little did we realize that we were going to have to deal with pessimistic attitude issues from all 3 kids when we woke them up to go. Cassie, who is usually Miss Morning Sunshine started griping from the get go that today was going to be a total wash of sorts being that all she was going to do was "b"each clean up & "b"abysit. Chris, who is indeed Mr. Morning Sunshine, made the best of the comment & started calling it a "B" day. It got a few smiles going. The beach clean-up turned out not to be so bad after all. There was minimal trash to be found. The rain was light. The waves were awesome. Mom would have had the morning of her dreams out there today. The kids all had fun. Cassie ended up in the ocean up to her knees. She is a fish.

We got home & cleaned up just after lunch time. Chris & I had driven by the Newberg Bike Shop last night & it had already closed. It was our goal to get back to it today before it closed because we saw some things in the window that peaked our interest. Cassie was left to her "b"abysitting duty. I don't know why she even considers it babysitting for us anymore because Craig & Colin just do their own thing. So, there we were off to the "b"ike shop to "b"rowse. There it was, hanging in the front window. The perfect bike for Christine. The clerk got it down & set it up on the trainer. I got on & tested it out. It felt great! I really wanted this bike, but I played it cool. After a few adjustments to the bike, I walked out with my own new Trek!!! Chris & I hurried home & threw on our bike gear & hit the roads. The wind was about 18mph. It was tough as we rode into the wind about 7-8 miles at the beginning. But, once we switched directions it was nice. The rain remained light. We found a quiet, country road with no traffic & lots of cows. The new Trek was sufficiently initiated with pelts of dirt & mud. I felt like I received 2 facial treatments today between the beach & the ride. Just call it the salt & mud treatment. I'll let you know how the skincare regimen works out. We rode a 20 mile loop back to home. The past 2 weeks I've been riding Chris' old Trek which has a 58 cm frame & my new Trek is a 54 cm. Chris says I fit much better now. The biggest change I noticed is when I stood up out of the saddle to get up my first hill, I wobbled like crazy. The bike was more responsive because my center of gravity was different on the old bike. I'll get used to the handling the more I ride it.

After another quick change & clean-up, we dashed off with the kids to "B"on Teriyaki for dinner. Cassie loves their shrimp/pineapple skewers. I ordered the sweet & sour chicken which turned out to be deep fried, so Cassie kindly switched with me.

Tonight, Cassie is officially "b"abysitting for the "B"acon family from our ward. Chris spent the last 2 hours pimpin' my ride (& cleaning his ride). He removed the geaky wheel reflectors, added battery powered front & back lights, put on the bike computer which will record the data from my rides, & showed me how to change a flat bike tire! So much to "b" exicted about today. (Did I mention the new bike was "b"lue?)