Riding Bikes

Here's a little video I shot of the kids on their bikes. Please pardon the wind noise.

Noah has come a long way since the first day he got on his bike. Now he's practically like Lance Armstrong going through the Alps.

In Touch With His Roots

We had a beautiful day yesterday. It kind of reminded me of June in Ohio. It was in the low 80s with clear blue skies and low humidity. Normally Amanda and Noah go to a local park and Noah plays with his friends. But yesterday they had something special. They went to NC State's farm days.

Noah wasn't quite sure what to think about all of it. He was afraid to hold a chick, but he did pet it when Amanda held it. They waited in line for him to get to sit in the seat of the tractor, which he enjoyed. Amanda said that he wasn't wild about it while they were there, but when I asked him about the whole experience he said that he had fun.

He certainly has agrarian roots on both sides of his family. It was good for him to get a little taste of it since our lives are pretty much the epitome of suburban.

Growing Up

We had two interesting things happen today with the kids. One is that as I came up to shower this morning at 6:45 I noticed Lily's light was on and I heard noise in her room. When she came out of her room I asked her why she was up so early. She knew that Grandpa and Nana were coming for a visit and saw that her room needed to be cleaned. We explained that they were not staying with us. She was a little disappointed, but kept on with it. This was all a happy surprise for us as normally we have to fight her to clean her room.

Noah got a phone call tonight before dinner. It was his friend Nathan from preschool. Noah didn't talk a whole lot. After the call was finished we asked him what they talked about and he didn't know. But we thought it was neat that one of his friends called him. Nathan, Scott, and Noah are now known as the "Three Amigos" by their teachers. It's good that he has friends there.

Fun in the Sun

The weather here was absolutely postcard beautiful this weekend. We enjoyed blue skies and low 70s yesterday and blue skies with high 70s today. The humidity was negligible. Yesterday we took a picnic at Duke Gardens because I also had to do a little bit of research. I figured that it would be a good way to take a picnic and for me to get my work done. We all really enjoyed our time there. Lily even caught a tadpole in her shoe (she's wearing her purple crocs).

Today we went to Lake Crabtree. Amanda and Lily took the kayak out while Noah and I went to the playground. We all had a great time. Noah is extremely confident on the playground equipment, which is good to see. He's not at all like his sister (or his daddy at that age).

The goal of all of this seems to have been accomplished. With the time change it's a little tough to get everyone down on time. I don't hear a single peep from Noah on the baby monitor. In fact, I'm not sure that Amanda and I are going to make it to 9:00 ourselves. It makes for a quick transition to EDT.

More New Friends

We now have two consecutive weeks of trading babysitting with some friends from the bus stop. They have daughters aged 6 and 2 (almost 3), so the kids get along well. So far, this has been on Thursday evenings. What's nice is that Lily and Adele get along really well so far. Amanda has reported no fights from them. Noah and little Marin get along well too, though she kind of shoves him around. I don't think he quite knows what to make of her. What I do know is that when I come to the bus stop without Noah she starts looking around for him.

It's nice to add to the circle of friends, particularly as we look ahead to summer. There are few things worse than cabin fever for the kids and Katie won't always be available for Lily to play with.

New Friends

We took a trip to Burlington yesterday to meet some new friends. To connect the dots a bit, these are folks who knew my friend Rob from his days pastoring a church in Chicago. The chances are slim, but they might get involved in our church plant. We thought it would be a good idea to at least put some faces with the email addresses. We met at Burlington City Park, went out for lunch, and hung out at the park some more.

It was a nice time. They have sons aged 7, 5, and 3. Rob brought his 7 and 5 year-old sons, but his 2 year-old daughter was home sick with mom. The boys all knew each other, so there was that instant bond. Lily was a little wary of these crazy boys. They are great boys, but they are still boys. Not quite her speed.

Noah has a new friend though. He and 3 year-old Andrew (their birthdays are a few weeks apart) became fast friends. They were adorable riding the rides together. Noah kept talking about him afterwards too. It's nice to see the social side of Noah. Preschool has been really good for him in that respect.

If you're ever near Burlington and you want to kill some time with kids, I highly recommend this park. Also, Hursley's BBQ was quite good.

Maiden Voyages

We had two landmark events on Sunday. The weather was beautiful, so we took our leftover cheese and meat for another picnic.This time we went to Lake Johnson Park. We enjoyed our picnic, though Noah was extremely slow in eating his sandwich. While he finished I set up Amanda's inflatable kayak. She took Lily out for its maiden voyage. Lily was pretty scared at first, but she loosened up when Amanda took her back out. Meanwhile, Noah and I walked around. When they came back we all went out as a family. That was a good time.

On the way home we stopped at Target and picked up a bike helmet for Noah. We got him a bike for his birthday off of craigslist, but we decided to give it to him early. By the time we get to his birthday it is going to be hot and muggy. We figured that it made more sense to give it to him while the weather is nice. After a small adjustment of the training wheels so that the back wheel actually touched the ground he was able to figure it out. He now knows that he needs to get a little head start to get back up the hill on our cul-de-sac. He liked it so much that he wanted to go back out after dinner, and we had to explain that it was dark and he couldn't do it.

I'd say that these are two vehicular successes that will be used much in the coming months.