Biking

In May, Thomas and I participated in the Tour de Trails 20K bike ride along the People Trails in Columbus. I wasn't sure how we'd do - we normally bike maybe once a month about 4 miles. But Thomas did great (and me too!) We decided to fix up David's bike, upgrade Brennan's bike, get Thomas a new bike, and see if we couldn't turn this into a weekly outing for our family.
Normally Brennan doesn't like "out with the old" so we weren't sure how he'd feel giving up his beloved bike for Thomas's hand-me-down. He didn't bat an eye. He loves his "new" bike with gears.

We've been biking every Sunday from 8-13 miles. Yesterday we did 12 and the boys could have kept going if we had more water with us. It helps that we've got an ice cream stop half way and we aren't in a rush.One of the parks we ride through has a lot of history. We stopped to check out the plaques along the way. This one commemorates an author who lived where the plaque is standing when it was a very poor river area. The area was torn down and replaced with a park - almost all the funding donated and work done by the townspeople. It was a great opportunity to talk to Brennan about how it must have felt to live in The Depression with no electricty or indoor plumbing and be a child his age.
We have an outdoor sculpture program in town. Here's an example on the river bank. Artists donate their works to the town for display and they are up for sale. This one was swallowed up in the flood last year and had to be retrieved and repositioned.

We were all pretty well starving by the time we finished so we headed to Beckers for cheeseburgers, hotdogs, and root beer. I love places like this. I'm finding myself prefering a local restaurant to a chain just about every time.




Yesterday at church was Promotion Sunday. The boys moved up in Sunday School to their next grades. All the 3rd graders who are moving into 4th were presented Bibles. The parents signed them and marked Bible verses. Thomas received his and I got a little lump in my throat.