The streak has ended. I wasn't ready with this month's journal on the first of the month. Oh well. This was a pretty tame month for us. On the very first day which was a Sunday, I took Phoebe to her zoo class on the Amazon Rain forest featuring the ocelot which is nocturnal. However, we got lucky in that the ocelots were awake and eating some mice at the time. Phoebe had fun at the class. I think she mostly enjoys getting to do things without being bossed around by her sister. It was cold out that morning, but it wasn't raining, so that was a nice little bonus. In the afternoon, I had to take Ellen back out to Washington park for a birthday party of one of her kindergarten friends which was being hosted at the Children's Museum. Rather than try to find parking in the middle of the afternoon on a pretty nice day, we took the Max there instead. Ellen was very excited about that, and it worked out really well. The party was fun as the kids had the run of the place. They mostly spent time at the new performance stage where they did dress up and tried to put on a show, but Ellen was the only one willing to try to do something up on the stage.
The girls' ballet classes started up again. I took them to that as well. It was good timing since that next weekend, they had another birthday party (this time both were invited) to go to at a dance studio in Sherwood which overlooked the ice rink. Jada and I got to drop off the girls and go shopping. We did the sort of exciting things we always do...we went to the Container Store to look for some laundry room accessories to help with all the things that we need to hang up to dry every week. Then we went back to pick them up.
The next morning was Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny brought the girls some toys. They each got an etch-a-sketch, a travel magna-doodle, and a bug jar. The girls really wanted to go to church, so we went to the earliest service at St. Pious X. They did ok. They got a bit squirmy halfway in, but that's to be expected. Ellen read along with the children's version of the mass handbook. Phoebe mostly looked at the other kids behind her and scooted around on the pew.
The sun was shining so we decided to head out for a long-ish bike ride on the tandem train. I chose a route that I thought would be fairly short, but it was a little longer than I thought it would be (~18miles). It was our first real ride with the kids, and they did great. We were in a little bit of a hurry to get home so we could make Easter brunch, but it all worked out ok. We made it home in time and had a yummy brunch with Manghelli.
We were able to get another longer ride in the next week to Rood Bridge Park. It was a 28 mile round trip with a stop to play at the park at the half-way point. They did well again. Even Phoebe was enjoying herself in the trailer. They got lots of smiles and waves from other cyclists and motorists. That afternoon, we went to visit Grandma and went out to dinner at Peanut Butter 'n' Ellie's. The next morning we went to get the girls some hair cuts. Not much, just a trim. Not to worry.
We missed one weekend of riding due to rain and just being busy. On Earth day, I recycled my Bianchi to the Community Cycling Center. I wrote a bit of a eulogy for that over here. It was a sad day, but I bought a new bike last month, and I didn't need this one anymore. It was sad day, but it was the right thing to do to give someone who may not otherwise be able to have a bike to get one.
The last weekend of the month, we were without Jada due to her Oregon Education Association weekend jamboree. I took Friday off at her suggestion so that we could get a ride in with the girls on Friday morning before they had to go to school. We did another short-ish ride on a different route. The weather was perfect that morning. In the afternoon, while everyone was at school, I did errands by bike. (gas is at $3.29/gallon here in our area now). The next morning, to continue thumbing our collective noses at the oil companies, I hitched up the girls to my new commuter bike for a ride up to Washington Park. We took the Sunset Corridor multi-use path which runs along Highway 26 all the way to the Oregon Zoo exit. The girls chose to go to the playground near the Rose Garden. It was a tough climb up to the park, but we made it in 90 minutes. We had snack at the Rose Garden patio. It was cool and cloudy, so we didn't get to gaze upon our mountain as we ate, but we knew it was there. We only had one short section of hill just near the Japanese Garden that I couldn't get them up, so I pushed the bike up to the switch back, and re-mounted. We made it home in only 1 hour since it was mostly down hill after that initial tough climb. By the time we were riding past the Nike HQ, the sun was out, and it was getting warm. The round trip distance was 26 miles. After nap time, I took Ellen and Phoebe down to the cul de sac to ride their own bikes. I put Ellen's training wheels back on so that she could ride around too. She just needs a little more time before she'll have the confidence. That night, Papa came over to watch the girls so that I could go down to Jada's banquet to see her receive an award on behalf of her political action committee. I was proud to see her get the award, but I was prouder still to hear everyone speak so glowingly of her. She made quite an impact that weekend with many people there, and it was obvious that she was well respected by all for her passion and work to get things done that are best for the children that they are charged with guiding.
Sunday morning, we got up early to have breakfast and start cleaning before Jada had to head back downtown for the last day of her meeting (we had to miss the Monster Cookie Ride this year). We were cleaning to get ready for the Godparent dinner for Ellen and Phoebe's birthdays...just a little late. (Hey, it's not like we didn't celebrate their birthdays at all. It's hard to get everyone together.) We got them all over, and I made pizzas. Jada made it home in time, and it ended up being nice enough to eat outside on the deck.
It was a nice end to the month.
Ellen wrote another book this month. This time it was a children's book called "Where's Bonnie". She wrote it for Bonnie the reader dog at school. She even included a note on the author (Ellen Grace Pearson) and illustrator (Ellen Grace Pearson). Phoebe keeps trying to talk her way into our bed in the middle of the night by saying that she had a bad dream. We can get her back into bed and back to sleep luckily. One time when it was already morning, she did it, and Jada let her. Now she keeps trying.
So at the end of the month, Ellen has put 93 miles on her trailer bike. We're going to have to start saving for the quad now, I think.
Journal entry: May 1, 2007