oh, my aching bones...

...well, muscles really.



yesterday, i biked almost 8 miles with hannah in tow. it was a great ride.



we rode up to the house of some friends for our first summer playgroup. there were pools to play in things, to climb on, lots of friends, and some shade. the kids had a picnic lunch, well, we all did... and played some more.. then they did a quick-popsicle-stick-picture-frame-craft for father's day.



the trip up was a little grueling. it took me about 40 minutes. it was uphill. the whole way. by the time we reached the last street, i was seriously contemplating getting off and walking. but i pushed through, literally, and we made it there. my bike was in some little gears and i was spinning my way up the last hill. but i felt great. when i was done!

here's a picture of hannah from january...it's my new wallpaper...

nutella is sooooo tasty!!

here's a shot of our grape tomatoes. our first batch, harvest? there are probably abround forty or fifty green ones still on the vines and three or four bunches of flowers.

here's a close-up or the tomatoes that hannah picked from our plant. she ate them like candy.

operation: "grow our own tomatoes so hannah will eat them" is a success, so far...

this one's a bit harder to see, it's the first flowers on one of our bell pepper plants. there are three... i wish there were a LOT more because we go through bell peppers like nobody's business. they make for some good snacking.

this plant is supposed to produce purple peppers. i am a bit excited to see them all grown up and ready to be eaten by me.

the new pad...

well, they are not super great, and won't give you the best idea of the amount of space, but here are some photos of the townhouse...

the place where i do laundry, it's inside. did i mention it's inside?

the two sinks where we brush our teeth. there are two of them, and we can actually use them at the same time. there's space...

the kitchen, where i cook. and just look at the counters, because there is more than one. oh, and the pantry, where i don't have to use half of my cupbaord space for food storage...

our front door. the big window actually looks into the garage. (that's mike's favourite spot, the garage.)

so, incase you didn't know our previous residence was just under 650 square feet. the new place is just over double that. it's has been quite an adjustment for me, the space. it's great. but there is so much more to do now.

we have been so very blessed by our Lord to be where we are now. i am really looking forward to seeing how He helps me to use this blessing to bless others...

mike did take a video of a walkthrough he did before we moved into the new place. if you enjoy listening to him talk, you should check it out. (it's like five minutes long!) i'll find out where you can view it and post a link.

oh, yeah, don't worry. it's not the year 2212 yet. our camera date was just off.

crazy mustaches...

today, we biked a bit over 7 1/2 miles (round trip) to take dinner to some friends who just had a baby girl. it was a great ride. i "made" a salad for them, since they had been eating out a lot in the past week. i was able to fit all of the parts into hannah's trailer.

i really need to get a lock so that i can ride to some more places...i am really enjoying this.

oh, and here's some pictures of the kid...

crazy face at the san diego zoo...

pizza crust mustache...

bikes and birthdays...

well, we've been in our new place for just over a month. i still do not have pictures to show because i have not yet found my camera-computer cord.

we are getting fairly settled and i am fighting more and more each day the thoughts of how much stuff i "need" to fill this empty space. it helps a lot that there is not a lot of disposible income to be devoted to those "needs".

hannah is three now. she's growing every day and really misses her cousin...even though she won't talk to him for the video camera.

one of my favourite things about our new location is that we are just a few miles from the things we do most often...mike's work, our church, a huge majority of our friends...so i have been trying to ride my bike more and drive less. so far, i've only made trips to church and friends houses. i don't yet have a lock for the bike and trailer, so public places are off limits still.

yesterday i biked over (with hannah in tow) to meet up with some friends and watch the cherry festival parade. it was a lot of fun and a really nice, easy ride.

this morning, we all biked to church together. (it was nice to ride all together.) then we biked to the house of some friends and had lunch. then back home. later this evening, we biked a few miles to mike's folks' place for an early father's day dinner. our route home was disrupted by a stopped train, so we ended up riding a few more miles out of the way to get home. it was way longer than i was planning, so i am pretty wiped out tonight. all totalled up, today i biked just over 14 1/2 miles...not bad.

and i am saving on gas. well, not really saving, prices are going up, up, up...but streching out our tank.

feels good.

oh, yeah...i turned 30 a week ago.