Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to go to El Salvador with a team from Mosaic. Our hope was to help a community of people who are drinking dirty, contaminated water. We were able to work at a school, meet lots of children and teachers, and dig a 100 foot water well that will produce clean, safe water for many years to come.
Here’s short video about that trip:
This weekend we’re going back. But this time Shannon and I are both on the team. I’m really excited that we will be together on this trip. We have a lot of work to do this week to finish getting ready. I will be taking my laptop, and there is a chance we will have some limited internet access while we’re there. You can check back here for updates throughout the week or at the following blog set up by one of our other team members. http://teamlivingwater08.blogspot.com/
I know it’s Sunday, not Friday, but I couldn’t think of anything funny on Friday. So here’s a story from tonight:
To set the scene: Tiger was sitting at the table drinking sweet tea and eating his dinner. (In a regular chair, not the higher red chairs they sometimes sit it.) All of a sudden we see him fall out of his chair, somehow managing to pull the chair on top of him, landing on his crotch. (Poor guy!) After ensuring he is all right, this is what I hear:
George: Buddy, the only way you could fall out of your chair like that is if you weren’t sitting in it properly. (Either that or you’ve had WAY too much to drink.) Tiger: Hmmm…..I think maybe it’s because I’ve had WAY too much tea to drink.
Kat received a make-your-own-lip-gloss kit from a relative last weekend and today she asked me to help her open it.
Kat: Can you help me open this package? Mom: Sure, but it says this is only for kids 8 and up. You are only 7 and a half. Kat: Yeah, but I’m sure I can do it. It’s not like I’m 6 or anything.
Mom: I have a secret number. It’s bigger than 7 and smaller than 9. What is it? Tiger: 8! My turn. I have a secret number. It’s bigger than 1 and smaller than … (thinking)… a googol. What is it?
Despite practically infinite possibililities, I guessed the secret number on my second guess. It was 100.
(Note: This was published on Friday, but we had some technical difficulties. Hopefully you can see it now.)
Bear has been learning new words at a rapid pace recently. We were outside yesterday evening when she pointed to the sky and said “Moon.” Sure enough, the moon was visible. I don’t recall teaching her that word, but she could have picked it up a number of places: Sesame Street, Diego, a book, etc. But then there’s the other kind of words that she picks up on. The ones that I’m not so thrilled about her knowing.
Earlier in the week she was playing with her doll when one of the older kids said something to the other about a booger. Bear’s eyes lit up as she demonstrated to all of us that she knew what they were talking about. She put her finger IN her nose and repeated “Boo-er, boo-er.” Lovely. George and I exchange glances and then I return my gaze to the Bear, who is now putting the same finger INTO her doll’s mouth! Ughh!
Kat’s two front teeth have been loose for weeks. Maybe even months. Mealtimes have been taking extra long as she was avoiding using the front teeth for biting. FINALLY one decided to let loose at breakfast today. I love this photo of her and her new smile.
(By the way, she does not wish to be called ’snaggle-tooth’. Very sweetly, through tears, she told both of us that she didn’t like that name and please not to call her that.)
I’ve been wanting to take the family on an organized bike ride for some time. We thought that this would be a good year to give it a go. Every year my home town of Wichita Falls hosts the Hotter’n Hell Hundred bike race and fun ride. We registered as a family, and held a family vote to pick our team name. The Blue Eyed Racers got the most votes.
We started preparing for the 25 mile ride in July. Our original plan was for me to pull the trailer bike (the half-bike looking thing that attaches to my bike) and take one kid’s bike. The two kids could switch off between the small bike and being towed when they needed to rest. We quickly realized that this would not work. Kat was just too big for her bike and they both struggled in various hilly spots with the small, single-speed bike. Tiger wasn’t able to go more than about 3 miles at a time on his own, but that’s not too bad when you consider that he just learned to ride without training wheels on July 8th!! We couldn’t set the seat height high enough for Kat and low enough for Tiger at the same time so they were both uncomfortable. So, we checked Kat’s savings account and decided that we would pay for half of a new bike for her. She picked a purple Diamondback girl’s bike with 6 gears. I really wanted her next bike to have at least one shifter. My hope was that with the gear advantage and larger bike she would be able to make it the 25 miles on her own. We only had a few weeks for her to get used to it, so we went on several rides working our way up in miles. We got as high as 18 miles two weeks before the big ride.
We loaded up the bikes and headed to WF on Friday. The ride was to start at 7:00AM Saturday. I was concerned about parking and getting to our designated starting area, so we got up early and made it there just after 6:30AM. There were over 11,000 riders in this year’s ride. The official 100 mile race starts first, then all the fun riders head out in order of the distance (100 miles, 100K, 50 miles, 25 miles, then 10K). After waiting our turn, we crossed the start line at 7:30AM.
We held an average speed just over 8 miles per hour and finished in about 3 hours riding time. With 2 long rest stops and multiple water breaks on the roadside we finished the ride in 4 hours and 15 minutes. This slow of a pace was hard for me at times. It’s particularly hard to go slow and keep my balance while pulling Tiger on the trailer bike. I have to compensate for his moving around or leaning and it’s just easier to do when you have more speed to give you some stability. But this was an impressive pace for Kat to maintain. We are very proud of her for finishing this ride all on her own. It was a challenge for sure, but she stuck it out and made it.
A quick look through my draft posts resulted in my finding this. It happened almost a year ago, right before Tiger turned four. Too bad this did not become a regular conversation between us! Enjoy.
“Mommy, how ’bout this be the last time I throw the ball to you? And then you throw the ball to me and how ’bout that be the last time you throw the ball to me? And then you can go back and finish putting the dishes in the dishwasher… And I’ll help you.”
I kid you not, my son spoke those words today. He also followed through with his offer to help me load the dishwasher. All totally unprovoked.
