September Wrap-up

Volunteering:
I feel like I'm cheating a bit with this, but it's all I have presently. I watched my niece. Not that I don't love baby-sitting her, nor do I usually count it, but I need something this month, and I didn't get anything else in this month. I'm currently teaching her to say "cookie" like Cookie Monster; Head Shoulders Knees and Toes in German; and This Little Light of Mine. Please note, she cannot actually do any of those, as she's basically in the phase where she copies tones, but really just says "eeeee". She tries to do the dance to Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, but doesn't really have the balance to touch her toes, so she almost falls over every time.

Mail:
Sent a baby gift to a very pregnant friend. (Totally actually counts).

Bike ride:
Did the loop to the Art Museum last weekend.

Pictures (to be posted later):
A few from my cousin's wedding, including one with my husband.

Bike Ride #3

After work today, I met up with a friend for a bike ride. Last time we met up (2 weeks ago) we did about 16 miles and planned to do fewer this week since a) it's been a million degrees out and b)  we decided to bike the other direction, towards bars rather than woods, so we figured we'd stop for a drink. However, it was overcast, a little breezy, and a lot cooler than it has been recently, so we decided to go farther. I mapped it out when I got home and it was 25.3 miles total for me. This puts me so far ahead of 25+ miles bike rides than I had hoped to be. I'm also pretty psyched because it comes during a week that I took off from running, so I've been feeling a bit like a slug recently. I'm now hoping to do at least three more this long now.

25 Mile Bike Ride 2

My parents came this morning for a ride to the Art Museum and back. It was a pretty awesome ride for several reasons:

1. The Dad Vail Regatta was going on. So, on the way back, we stopped to watch some races. My arms hurt just THINKING about rowing for that long. We stopped to watch near the finish, then decided to head farther up to the start and we kept being like "it can't be farther than this", but it was. Mad props to crew teams. My dad thinks my family should have their own crew team. I volunteered to be coxswain and am totally stealing his idea to sing Friday from start to finish to make people row faster.

2. We saw the Purdue JV 8-man Heavyweight team row. I texted my friend who went to Purdue to let her know that I was watching the Purdue JV crew team, to which she said "Wow...must not be much on :)" I informed I was at the event, and she expected me to blog about it, so here it is.  Then she told me not to text and bike. For the record, I did not text and bike.

3. There was a dad out with his roughly 4-year-old son on a bike. My dad passed him. My dad likes being the slowest person on the road, so this was a big step for him.

4. We saw many geese and goslings. The geese were, as usual, not excited to see us and hissing at us. Geese are pretty mean.

5. I bought a couple of pretty awesome toys for my neice who turns 1 this week. I'm pretty sure she reads my blog, so I can't tell you what I got her.

6. The weather was perfect. It was a bit cool when we started out, but it warmed up quickly, but not too much. It was sunny, and my face now shows that (note to self: fine aloe).

The downside was we did not see a Coke truck, so my dad didn't get to bike up to anyone and ask them if they got to drink all of the free Coke they wanted. Also, the place we had lunch was a Pepsi place. Minus 2 for dad.

I have just one more long bike ride to do to meet my goal, but I definitely want to do more. Contact me if you're interested in joining me (even if it's for a shorter one).

25 Mile Bike Ride

Actually, it was 28.7 miles. I had some time this afternoon, so I decided to go for a ride. I thought I'd try for the 25 miles, since my last ride (aside from to my garden plot) was over 17 miles. I biked down to Manayunk, up to Valley Forge, then back to Conshy. The headwind head to Valley Forge was killer. I've had headwinds before, but not like this. I had to downshift to keep biking. It was awful, but I made it. Then, I got to spend two miles riding through some bug swarm. I'm not even kidding. Every time I looked up, I got more bugs in my face. I had to stand outside and clean off my jacket and shirt when I got back so I didn't bring bugs into the house. It was pretty gross. In two weeks, I'll be biking with my parents. Hopefully, that'll be another 25+ mile bike ride, but I'll leave that up to Mom & Dad. If you ever want to ride with me, just let me know. I'll do shorter rides, if you like. I don't ride fast, but I am getting faster than I used to be, and I'm totally willing to go slower, take breaks, pack a lunch, go out for food. Just let me know.