The Day Of Grease

I had no plans for actual labor this Labor Day, but it kinda worked out otherwise.

Amy went to work, while the boys and I had a plan to take a bike ride before Asher’s nap. Before we could ride, I had to fix the flat on my bike (lousy patch job on the last flat). Last time I had a flat on the rear tire, I just left it on the bike instead of messing with the chain. This time, I planned on actually replacing the tube, so I got a little greasy with the chain. Easy repair though.

Next step was to hook up Asher’s tag-along bike to my bike for the ride. He hadn’t ridden it much, and I wanted it to be in good shape for the ride. I’ll spare the details but it took a half a dozen tries at various configurations before I finally removed my rear rack and used old inner tube to shim the tag-along clamp. More grease and I’m kinda frustrated now, since it took longer than I expected.

Ready to go? Not quite yet. Truman’s bike is at his cousin’s house. Load up the other bikes, and go get Tru’s bike. Kinda late now…need some food. We head to McDonald’s for take out on the way to the park where we’re planning to ride.

Wait! WHAT’S THAT NOISE? Sounds like something is seriously messed up somewhere in the front of the car. Lotsa thumping, especiallly when I apply the brakes. Not good. We pull over into the nearest parking lot to investigate. I remember that while I was working on the bikes, I briefly saw Asher squatting near the front passenger side tire. I gently ask him if he did anything with the tire. “No”, he replies. I’m sure he’s the culprit. We’re stopped now, so I question further, assuring him that he isn’t in trouble. Our driveway is gravel…I suspect there might be rocks in the brake shoe. Asher finally gives it up and we do a quick walkaround the car. He shows me where he put two rocks into the wheel. I investigate further and sure enough, there’s a large rock wedged between the wheel and the brake. I can move it around with my fingers, but it’s not coming out easily. Looks like more greasy hands on the horizon.

I head to the back of the car, empty out the kids bikes, figure out where the jack and tire iron are (they’ve apparently never been used before this) and get to work jacking up the car and removing the wheel. I get four of five bolts off and the rock drops to the ground. I walk it back to Asher and hand it to him, saying gently but firmly, “Never do that again.” He gets it.

Put the tire back on, replace the jack and stuff where I found ’em, load the bikes back in, and finally head to McDonalds. A quick bite, and no further complications.

We had a real nice ride around Champoeg Park. The bike odometer says we went 7.4 miles, which was pretty good for Truman. He only had to push his bike up one hill, though I did put my hand on his back up a couple of others. Asher was a champ on the tag-along and loved every minute of it. He also got lots of admiring smiles as we passed people. Must’ve been his attire. The shorts and cowboy boots are a trademark.

Asher had a looong nap when we got home, too. It was a good day to end the summer. Truman starts second grade tomorrow and Asher starts preschool next week. Onward.

Lost tooth

Tru popped his first front tooth today. We talked about that, scrotums and pythons. You know, standard 6-year old stuff.

Tball hit

Good tball game tonight. Took the following video with our new Flip. The first one is kinda pixelated because of the lame digital zoom. This camera requires that you zoom with your feet, not with the buttons, apparently. Non-zoomed video is awesome.

The second one is without zoom. Much nicer.

Kayak trip

During Spring Break, Tru and I paddled down a couple of local rivers with Ron and Benjamin. It was fun–we stopped at an island and nabbed a geocache, and saw a dead coyote. Something for everyone!

Flickr takes video now, so here’s a little clip. You can see the whole set here. And here are the pics from Ron and Benjamin’s perspective.

When mom’s away…

Amy went to the beach for a little retreat, so the boys and I are destroying holding down the fort. This evening, after gorging ourselves on pizza, Tru decided to show off his mad burping skillz. Asher eventually gets in on the act too…

Snowboarding with Tru

Tru and I went to Skibowl this afternoon and rode for about 2.5 hours. He went on the lift for the first time, and that was a pretty cool deal. I had to get him out of school early so we could play hooky together. I think he might’ve liked that most of all…

No pictures, though. Left the camera in the car. Tru did great the whole time and is well on his way to being a regular snowboarder (meaning, I won’t have to ride down the hill backwards, in order to keep an eye on him).

Relatedly, Tru dropped in at the skatepark last Monday. His first time. He was freaked out, but he did it (holding my finger). If it’s dry tomorrow morning, we’ll go ride a bit and see if he’ll do it again. Definitely getting a little video this time…

A family photowalk

Amy had to teach this morning, so I had to figure out how to avoid the “housebound boy” syndrome (multiplied by three). Fortunately we all woke up late, then took our time savoring my lovingly handcrafted waffles made from scratch (without referring to a recipe, I might add). Then we leashed up Frodo, put Asher in the stroller and took a photowalk.

Our little adventure is chronicled in this Flickr set, but the pics below give you an idea of one of the highlights. We tied a string around my little camera and lowered it into a storm drain, just to see what was down there. Now we know!

Here's what we're gonna do...

Here's what we're gonna do...

What's in a stormdrain

What's in a stormdrain

Kiwis and skating!

It’s Fall in the Pacific Northwest. Must be time for kiwis!

We live in wine country–vineyards everywhere around here. But kiwis grow on vines, too. There aren’t many kiwi growers nearby, but Amy’s folks led us up to where their friend Paul grow kiwis. What a beautiful place! And the kiwis are awesome!

Paul grows a couple of kinds of kiwis–baby kiwis and regular kiwis. The baby ones are about the size of a large grape, but taste just like a regular kiwi. More kiwi picking pics here.

Earlier in the morning, Tru went skating with Matt. I just took pictures.