A Busy Weekend to Kick Off Summer

We didn't waste much time once school was out. I loaded up my bike and headed up to Logan with some friends to do the Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride. We spent the night there and then made our way to Lewiston for the start of the ride. Here's a little pre-ride prep.

(Kristen, Jan and Katie)

And here's (almost) the whole crew before the start:

(Jan, Katie, ME, Kristen, Becky)

And another shot of the group, with Charise in my place.

Me, Kristen, Jan and Katie with the Big Bad Wolf, because a Little Red Riding Hood ride wouldn't be complete without him. (This must have been before we lost Katie. I was having major panic that after I had finally talked her into coming on the ride, that she had crashed and was lying somewhere on the side of the road. I was really glad when we found her uninjured.)

A little break for lunch.

We started out committing to 50 miles (except Katie - she took a little more convincing- but she ended up having as much fun as the rest of us), but as we went on we decided to go for 80. At our last turn off point, we decided to go ahead and shoot for the 100, but a few miles into that, one of the ladies discovered that we didn't have enough time to do the 100 and get home in time, so we turned back and finished at almost 83 miles. Jan and I decided we were so close to 100 that when we got home, we got back on our bikes and finished the last 18 to make it an even 100. (I ended with 103.) That is not the easiest way to do that. It was painful to get back on the bike after sitting in the car for an hour and a half. We all had so much fun and are already planning a repeat girls weekend for next year's ride.

Meanwhile, Shawn loaded up all the kids and took them to Bear Lake for our annual first weekend of summer Bear Lake Trip. (Yep, he took all the kids by himself because he's that awesome.) He even did all of the packing. As much as I'm sad to miss out on the weekend trip, I kind of think that they have more fun without me there since I'm much more likely to enforce bedtimes and sugar restrictions. And he did a great job of documenting the weekend with photos. (Much better than I did on my bike ride.)

I get excited just seeing the green grass and water in this picture. I love Bear Lake!

They had a cool Friday evening swim.

Peter had the good sense to stay warm and dry for this one.

But all the other kids had a great time splashing and swimming.

And Amelia threw in a couple of celebratory jumps.

Fortunately, Peter stayed happy just being a spectator. (He got to swim on Saturday when it warmed up a bit.)

The very best part of this picture is that there is actually water in the Ideal Beach marina! It has been years since there has been enough water for that to happen. (And yet, I still always think of Bear Lake with water up to the road and a full marina.)

Photographic proof that Shawn was indeed on this trip.

They played a little tennis.

Ate some food. (Nothing like a bowl of cereal to make this kid happy in the morning.)

Did a bit of reading. (Jonas was probably in heaven sitting with a view of the lake and reading a book. I know I would have been.)

More evidence of tennis playing - and Shawn. (That would be his foot in the picture.)

Peter got in on the action too.

And the girls even ventured into the frigid lake water. (You do that kind of thing when you're young. That's how I know I'm not young anymore - I would have stayed on the beach and admired the view - at least until late June or maybe July.)
Samantha sitting in the wet sand. This proved to be a problem because she was mad that the trip wasn't going to be longer and declared that she didn't even need to pack for such a short amount of time. Despite our attempts to convince her otherwise, she didn't. So Shawn had to give up his pajama pants for her to wear on the ride home.

Building sand castles.

And no trip to Bear Lake is complete without a stop at La Beau's for shakes.

Shawn did such an excellent job of entertaining them, that he had 5 for 5 asleep on the way home.

View of the lake on the way out:

Now the problem is that since we left in such a hurry the day school got out, we came home to ALL of the stuff/backpacks/coats and jackets/papers/notebooks, etc., that the kids brought home the last 2 days of school. The mudroom is in serious need of attention. Hopefully, all the lockers and that pile will be cleaned out by the end of the week. But it really just depends on how much fun we are having.