It's Booked!!!

We just hit the confirmations on Flights and Resorts.  We are going to a Jamaica All-Inclusive Sandals Resort in January to celebrate our 10 year Anniversary!!  I am so excited!!  Jacob is stoked to find that he can even wake-board.  That's his idea of all inclusive!

Riding a Bike

I am happy to report that Spencer learned to ride his bike completely by himself.  He started.  He stopped. He pedaled and he was happy through it all.  This has been a source of frustration for me for the past year.  I've done a lot of running up the street behind him holding his seat and watching him wobble back and forth only to come crashing down on some lawn.  At one point we got to where he could ride pretty well in a straight line, but he could never get started on his own and his stopping consisted of a sort of jump off the bike when it got slow enough for him.  

A little while ago I was surfing around bicycling.com and I came across the video below.  I decided to give it a try yesterday.  You can actually buy kids bikes that don't have pedals, but I just decided to remove Spencer's pedals (see my previous post on bike tools).  He started out going down with his feet on the ground just like in the video.  After a few runs down the hill he got up the guts to lift up his feet.  We then went to a bigger hill and he made it down fine.  When he mastered the balance we put the pedals back on the bike and he coasted down the hill with a few pedal strokes at the bottom through the grass.  After two more of those rides Spencer decided he wanted to start on the level ground so we went to the paved basketball court and he started up pedaling his first try.  

From start to finish was less than 45 minutes and Spencer was doing figure eights in the parking lot.  I will never run behind another child's bike again.  I really wish we had taken the camera so I could make my own video.  Maybe we'll go back and teach Jessi this week.

Spencer and Soccer

Spencer was finally interested in participating in organized sports this fall so we put him into a soccer league.  It is pretty laid back, they don't keep score, everyone gets to play every position, and mostly they just encourage the kids to have fun.  Spencer is loving it!  Now how do I put this next part - Ummm  he isn't very good, at all.  He is sort-of afraid of the ball so he mostly just dances around the outside of the pack of kids going after the ball.  It is pretty hilarious.  But once again, he is loving it.  He does show some improvement from week to week so we are hoping by the end of the season he makes contact with the ball a few times :)

One proud kid in his cleats and shin guards.  He was pretty excited about the "gear" needed to play.

He loves playing goalie!  I think mostly because it doesn't involve running.  And I know what your thinking, how can you play goalie if you are afraid of the ball, pretty much just like this, spending more time playing with gloves than watching the ball.

I didn't realize how cold it gets at 8 in the morning in October.  This is us getting ready to go to the soccer game.  Good Times!

Good Things to Come

Saw this Mormon Message today.  One of my favorite talks of all time.  We've all been there at some point haven't we?

Obsessions

Those of you who are my Facebook friends (and still check Facebook) may know that Melissa bought herself a new pair of gloves yesterday.   Not just any gloves mind you, these were quilting gloves.  Now by a show of hands how many of you out there knew that there was such a thing as quilting gloves?  I had no idea, but I have spent the last day wrapping my mind around quilting gloves and let me tell you it brought a smile to my face every time I envisioned it, but seeing the gloves in action made me laugh out loud.  

Wait for it

I'm gonna get her a bandanna and some shades and then for Christmas we're going to look into retrofitting her Bernina with a V-Twin for a little more power.

Now lest you think I am picking on her too much I understand I have my own Obsessions as well.  I recently bought a road bike which will make 9 bikes that I have owned since High School.  I currently only own 2, having sold 3 bikes to pay for my road bike.  I have two pairs of cycling shoes, 3 jerseys, 3 pair of shorts, 2 pair of gloves, one pair of sunglasses, one helmet (I have broken two others over the years), a toolbox full of bicycle-specific tools, a truing stand, a bike work-stand, and a shed full of spare parts.  As if all that wasn't enough I was planning on shaving my legs yesterday but I couldn't find a razor.  

We all have our vices and if Melissa wants to have some funky gloves to make her feel cool while quilting then I'm all for it.  (She says they help a lot....so do smooth legs.)