Happy Birthday Grampa Dusty! This past weekend produced enough photos to need its own post! Why? Well this weekend was the annual MS150 Tour de Farms in DeKalb, IL. It is a two day bike event that raises money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Hundreds of volunteers work at rest stops or traffic areas or patroling the routes offering support to riders. Over 2500 people rode in the event. For Kevin and I to participate, the girls got to stay with Gramma and Grampa for the WHOLE WEEKEND! So of course I have pictures.

A weekend with Gramma and Grampa is super busy! One must spend some time hot tubbing….

And getting in some quiet time reading with Gizmo….

And baking birthday cake and singing for Grampa!

While they were having fun, Kevin and I were working hard but having fun (mostly). Our weekend was a comedy of errors (but not everything made us laugh!!). We arrived Friday evening to get settled and up early. The hotel was full of riders.

The goal for Saturday was for me to do the 50 mile route and Kevin was going to do the 100 mile route. The original 7AM start time was moved to 8AM due to thunderstorms. I dropped a water bottle and had a glitch with my bike computer at mile 4. Retrieved my bottle and got the computer fixed at the first rest area (mile 14) while a baby calf visited us. Aside from a really cool looking gust front that we thought was going to dump rain, it was not too bad and didn’t get as hot as predicted. I finished my 50 miles in 4 hrs, 45 min (that includes 4 rest stops). Kevin only made it to 59 miles, when his pedal crank fell off and could not be fixed on the road. The SAG truck (support and gear) brought him back to the finish line where he greeted me when I crossed.

The goal for Sunday was to get an early start. I was to bike the 50 mile route and Kevin wanted to do the 75 mile route. The mechanics had tried to fix his bike, but the crank tried to fall off again 2 miles into the ride. He went back to the start, and the plan was to meet me at the first rest stop (10 miles). He would take the bike I was riding, and I would be done for the day. That first rest stop was staffed by the Purple People. They are a special group of volunteers:

Kevin chatted with the mechanic there, who was able to get his bike fixed enough to ride! So Kevin joined me on the 50 mile route. There is his bike on the rack getting fixed.

Sunday was a bright, sunny, WINDY day. Very windy. And pretty warm (near 90). Here is a picture of me struggling against the wind up the many hills we tackled. The bike I am riding is a trail bike – not a special lightweight, thin tire one like Kevin’s. We call it The Albatross, because it drags you down (it is heavy and has high friction with its wider tires).

Rest stop 2 was at the top of a brutal hill, with the 14mph and gusty winds blowing almost in our faces.

Rest stop 3 was at a school – lunch! And more Porta Potties. At least this one had hand washing stations.

We both finished the 50 mile route, but due to the wind (and being tired!) it took 6 hours, 30 minutes to pull it off (including 4 rest stops). The last 15 miles were mostly with the wind to our backs. That was a cool thing – we were pedaling at the same speed as the wind, so there was absolutely no wind noise (unlike the morning spent pedaling those same 15 miles into the wind…..uphill…a lot). We were tired, but felt good. Between the two of us, we raised about $1000 (and CDW will match $350 of that for Kevin). We are all set to do it again next year! Kayla thinks she might like to do a shorter route when she turns 14. That would be neat!

Happy Birthday Gramma! We have some hugs and kisses waiting!

It has been a little too long since the last post, so let me update. I will try to post a couple of pictures soon.

The girls finished their school year strong. Both girls had great report cards, and the various tests that the school does on them show that they are solid with their math and reading. Ashley is reading at a 5th grade level, and Kayla is reading at a high school junior level. It is challenging to find reading material at their level that has appropriate content for their ages, but we try! The girls got to spend several days with Gramma while I finished my school year.

Poor Kayla had a tooth drama! The day after school ended, we were at a playground when she comes with a small piece of a loose baby molar. It had broken into 4 chunks, but only 1 came out. She had to go to the dentist to have the other chunks removed because she could only get 1 more piece to wiggle out. When the dentist took the x-ray, he determined that 3 other baby molars on top had to go also because they had been there too long and were causing her permanent molars to slide sideways rather than push out the baby ones. He took out the baby molar next to the broken one that same day. We went back this Wednesday and had the 2 molars on the other side taken out. So Kayla’s upper jaw has big gaping holes! Fortunately, the permanent teeth are close to coming in, so she won’t have holes for long.

Ashley is battling some annoying little cough right now. We can’t tell if she is getting sick or if it is just horrible allergies (like mine!). Bendryl seems to help a little. She has started learning the flute. A colleague at work lent us a flute and spent a half hour with Ashley showing her how to blow in it and hold it. Each day, she pulls it out and blows into it. She can now get a real musical note sound out of it! Due to changes at Big Hollow, there is likely not going to be band for 4th grade. We are trying to decide if we will just let Ashley play with the flute, or get her some private lessons so that she can learn it. I don’t want her to spend 5th grade band time waiting while other kids first learn skills, but I also don’t want to hold her back if she wants to learn! The band teacher that Kayla has working with will no longer be at Big Hollow – the school is bringing band into the school day rather than contracting out. But we can still do private lessons with her, and Kayla starts those next week.

Our summer vacation has begun to settle into a routine. The girls sleep until around 8AM, then get up and have breakfast. Around 9:30AM, Kayla will get dressed and ready and head out on her bike. She picks up a friend or two from the neighborhood and then they ride the nice bike trail. Each weekday, the girls usually have something to do in the house (clean up toys, clean up room, laundry, etc.), instrument practice, and then the afternoon is for whatever. I have been giving the girls some math stuff to keep their skills sharp, and they read every night. I taught Ashley how to add integers, and she picked it up very fast (that’s usually a 4th-5th grade math skills)!

Wednesdays are the busy days for us. Piano and band lessons in the morning, karate class in the evening. Otherwise, the girls also get “Mommy boot camp”. That’s where I teach them various home economics things. So this past Monday, Kayla made the hamburgers for dinner. She formed the patties, put them under the broiler, checked and flipped them, took them out, and served them. I supervised and coached. I’ll post a picture of her burgers – she got them nice and pink! Last night, both girls made dinner. We had fish (Kevin has been in Vegas for training all week and was not home yet). I bought some flounder filets, so we thawed just one and cut it into 6 pieces. Ashley mixed up some bread crumbs and seasonings, then coated each piece and put them on the pan. (This was my attempt to get them to try real fish, not just store bought fish stix). We also made regular fish stix – the flounder was a tasting adventure. The verdict – fish stix are better, but Ashley fish wasn’t too bad. Ashley thinks the coating needed a little more pepper. We will do it again next time. Kayla made corn bread muffins to go with the fish. The recipe is right on the cornmeal container, but she needed to do a half recipe. That meant taking half of something like 1 and 1/4 cups flour, then determining how to measure 1/8 cup flour (so she had to do 1/8 of 16 TBS). She did a great job with it, even separating an egg to use just the white. She mixed and put the batter into the pan. She checked on them in the oven. They also turned out great. She decided that she needs to mix more thoroughly next time – one muffin has some cooked egg white visible in it.

Other than that, we have been spending time at Great America. On Tuesday, we met friends there for a few hours in the waterpark (it made it to 83 degrees here). On Thursday, my work colleague Marsha used our free buddy passes to join us there with her 3 grandchildren that are staying with her for a few weeks. Kayla and Ashley were wonderful helpers that day! Marsha’s 3 year old grandson latched onto Kayla. She took his hand and led him through the park, took him on rides, and answered his millions of “why” questions. I need to get her on the babysitting circuit! Ashley took charge of Marsha’s 6 year old granddaughter and did the same thing – took her by the hand and guided her around and took her on rides. Marsha and I herded the group and pushed the stroller with her 1 year old granddaughter. We only stayed a few hours, but everyone had fun! Next week, we have plans to meet another colleague of mine on Thursday (we have passes to get in friends for $10 each). We also had a nice visit with Caleb yesterday, and we are talking to Erin about maybe taking Caleb to Great America next Friday to use the other $10 passes. Kayla insisted that we have to take Caleb on a day that she can go!

Hopefully, our days will mellow out some more now that the dentist stuff is all done.  We were hoping to go for the Libertyville Days Parade this morning, but the skies are not looking good. We’ll decide here soon whether to try and go. Everyone is still sleeping, and we would need to leave here in about an hour if we are going to go.

More to come soon, and pictures too!