Hiawatha Trail Pic

Preston and Keaton are standing on one of the trestles of the Hiawatha Trail.

The Hiawatha Trail

Saturday was a beautiful day to do something together as a family. We had Uncle Paul and our neighbor, Tim, staying the weekend with us so we dragged them along. We made plans with some friends, Mike and Linda, to go ride our bikes on the Hiawatha trail. The Hiawatha Trail is an old train track that has been converted into a gravel bike path. It is 15 miles long, a gradual down hill slope most of the way. There are several tunnels and trestles that we went through and over during our ride.

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At the beginning of the trail is the big tunnel which is 1.7 miles long. Whew! It's a BIG tunnel. Tom bought us all flashlights (1.00 store flashlights) and he had a nice LED light on his helmet. Needless to say, the dollar flashlights were pretty much worthless in that tunnel. I was really glad that Tom had that LED light. I just followed him. The weird thing about being in a deep dark tunnel, on a bike, is that I kept losing my balance. My equalibrium kept going off. Also not to mention, there are ditches on either side of the trail through the tunnel that are 18 inches deep, full of water. So I had to keep my bike from going into those also. I did end up walking my bike through most of it. It was kind of neat, in a weird-creepy kind of way. Once we were back in the sunshine, it was great. The fall colors were starting to show. There were lots of wild flowers, and it was just cool to ride along the trail, looking at the mountains and trestles off in the distance.

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We stopped for lunch at about the half-way point and enjoyed sitting in the sunshine eating our sandwiches next to a little creek. There were a lot of people riding the trail, so it was kind of neat to just watch everyone. Mike and Linda brought their granddaughters with them, and they had fun running around with Winston. (Tom was the lucky one who got to tow Winston on the back of his bike). We got back on the trail after lunch and right away I noticed that my bike was harder to pedal than it was before. I thought to myself, "Whew, I must really be getting tired." That's when I noticed that my tire was flat. When I caught up with Tom, we tried to fix it. Luckily we had purchased a can of 'fix it' for the flat tire. It worked, but only for about a half mile. We still had almost 7 miles to go. So all of the boys, including Paul and Tom, took turns riding my bike the rest of the way. I am really grateful that they were willing to do that. Otherwise, I'd still be on the hill trying to ride down.

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When we reached the end of the trail, we were just in time to catch the shuttle bus back up to the top. It was an interesting bus ride. Kind of like those bus rides people take in the middle of Mexico. Mountain straight up on one side, cliff straight down on the other - and people trying to drive their cars in the opposite direction. Busses take up a lot of road, so there were a couple of times we weren't sure if anyone would have to back up. We survived the ride and the bus dropped us off on the mountain side of the BIG tunnel. Soooo - we had to ride back through the 1.7 mile-long tunnel to get back to our cars. Tom happened to be riding my bike, so we just walked our way through. Poor Paul had taken Tom's bike, with Winston on the back, so he had to entertain our little wild child on the other side while we slowly made it through the tunnel.

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Despite the flat tire and the BIG tunnel, we all had a great time. It was beautiful, and as tired as we were at the end we were all glad we went. I recommend it to anyone who is an outdoor enthusiast, or just likes to do something with the family that is fun and recreational. It is definitely worth doing again!

Like Father, Like Son...

This is Tom and Winston's favorite Saturday Activity. With almost 3 acres of grass, it takes a good 2 hours to mow, when you have to dodge trees, shrubs and Stinging Nettles! Winston loves riding the mower with Dad and is really good at being a navigator. They take grass farming very seriously!

Winston's 1st School Picture

Winston was so excited to get his first school picture taken. He's really growing up! I don't know what happened to the picture when I downloaded it. It got some white spots somewhere along the way. I tried to fix it but it does the same thing every time. Anyway, This is what you get:

Winston's first day of school went okay, I guess. It was harder for me, as mommy, than it was for him. I happened to be working at the school that day. He got in a little 'tiff' with some other boys on the playground - while I was on recess duty. Basically, he was ganged up on (but that's from a mother's perspective). He tried to stand up to them, but when I went to break it up he was on the verge of tears. I was fuming. I treated everyone fairly, though, knowing my child isn't always the 'perfect' one. By the time Winston got home (after his first ride on the bus!) he seemed to be in a pretty good mood. All seemed to be forgotten. (I was still fuming) (: After getting some play time in with the dogs and his brothers, Winston fell asleep and slept for several hours. He was plumb worn out! Tomorrow we get to do it all over again, yippee!

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Preston got the first of the school-year bugs. He had a sore throat and stuffy nose. He missed one-and-a-half days of school, so he'll have some catching up to do. We're still trying to get him to finalize his driver's training. It would be nice to have another person around that can drive into town when needed. He just doesn't seem to be in any hurry to do so. Tom and I couldn't wait to drive, or have our own car, when we were teenagers. We have weird kids.

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Keaton is really, really enjoying Jazz Band. He brings his trombone home every night and practices. Then he goes over his notes again on the piano at least a couple times every evening. He actually has band twice every day. Jazz band in the morning, and concert band as the last class of the day. He's in music heaven. That's pretty much all he thinks about lately. It's good, because in order to stay in Jazz Band, he has to keep his grades up. He's doing a pretty good job of bringing home his homework and getting it done right away. My baby is growing up!

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Winston's birthday was last Friday. We hadn't gotten a gift for him yet, so we took him to Shopko to pick out a present. For weeks, every time we'd ask him what he wanted for his birthday he'd say "I want reading glasses". He doesn't need them, he just likes them. He points out everyone's glasses - even strangers on the street. So, we were at Shopko and we told him to pick out ANYTHING he wanted in the toy section. He said, "Where's my reading glasses?" We told him we'd go to a different store and get them, but first he had to pick out something. We kept showing him toys, pointing out games, etc. Every time we showed him soemthing he said, "Where's my reading glasses?" Finally we gave up. We walked out of Shopko with absolutely nothing and went across the street to the Dollar Store. They have reading glasses there, and we were going to get a very low mag for him so it wouldn't hurt his eyes. (Or else we'd pop the glass out of them). He spent 20 minutes looking them over. Finally he found some that he liked. We were happy because they were actually a pair of polarized sun glasses that are clear when he's inside and darken when he's outside in the sun. He wasn't interested in anything else so we had to pick out some things just so he'd have something else for his birthday. It was a cheap birthday present and he was thrilled. Like I said, we have weird kids. (: