Memorial Day Weekend

This has been a wonderful (long awaited for) weekend with just the three of us.  At home.  Together.  No obligations other than spending time together.



Last year my mom and step-dad gave us their old ride behind (tandem style) bike attachment with the intent for us to use it with Zoey.  Well, Zoey (as those of you that know her well) takes awhile to warm up to things that may require a wee bit of bravery.  She wanted nothing to do with it last year.  Today however, we got it out and Ethan put it together and we told her we were going to give it a try.



She totally tried to get out of it.  She just wanted to bring her bike...what if it falls over...it doesn't look very SAFE dad!  She tried it all.

But we loaded up the 4 runner with bikes and helmets and bottles of water and headed out.



Much to Leo's dismay, we did not bring the dog.



Here we are at the beginning of our journey getting our helmets on.  She was in good spirits here, she had about a 15 minute car ride to psyche herself up for the challenge she was about to embrace.



Here she is!  Not to sure of herself at this point because the bike WOBBLES!!  :)



And then here she is with a hint of a smile on her face!  She ended up loving it!  We were all so giddy with excitement as it just means a whole other avenue of things that we can do together as a family.  It was fun riding at a normal pace.  We rode the Vilas County trail starting in St. Germain (near the elementary school) so that we could come back and play on the playground afterwards.





We packed her pink basketball too and she shot some hoops when we were finished biking.  She actually made some baskets too which was another first for her!



So awesome to see her taking interest in things that Ethan and I love as well.  It was such a fun day for all of us.



She was totally pumped too to realize that she could DO this!





Oh, yeah...









After working up a sweat we packed up the bikes and the ball and headed for home to have a little outdoor picnic that included one of Zoey's favorites, sweet corn.



I still have memories of sitting outside at my parents house growing up shucking corn and then making little dolls from the corn husks and silk just like Laura Ingalls Wilder did in the book Little House on the Prairie.  I shared those memories with Zoey as we shucked our own corn.







It was a beautiful day...in this beautiful life.