Goodbye Summer

Summer is officially over.  In a couple hours the kids will be heading off to the bus stop with their new shoes, backpacks loaded with new school supplies, and I will be home with Henry jumping for joy and wondering how time seems to fly by faster with each passing summer.
This summer was a whirlwind of fun, laziness, activities, and rain.  We crammed so much into our summer.  It was a rare day that we didn't go somewhere or do something, which is just the way I like it.  The monotony of school days, grocery shopping, and neverending laundry really gets me down.  I've found the best remedy for it is living it up in the summertime by dragging my kids to different lakes, beaches, and parks, where they can't say "I'm bored" and where I don't have to say, "Get off your screen!"

Look at Parker's face.  That boy is having the best time!

But mostly, I will look back on this summer as the summer of the bikes.  This was the summer we did a lot of biking together.  Way back in June, shortly after school ended, I bought a child's bike seat to go on the back of my bike so I can take Henry biking without hooking up the big bike Chariot.  I've wanted one of these seats for years and finally ordered one.  I also bought a CoPilot which is a cool half-bike that hooks onto the back of a bike so Parker can pedal along but not steer or do much work to keep up with the rest of us.  We biked to Pine Lake Park many times for the summer concerts or just to play at the playground.  Ethan, Landon, and Parker also rode on their own to the grocery store for sushi and donuts.  Sometimes I went with them and sometimes I didn't, but as long as I paid they were happy to go.  This summer was also the first time I biked at Duthie Hill, the incredible mountain bike park nearby.  Landon and Parker got their first thrills there as well and I've lost track of the number of times I've taken Ethan there.

Duthie Hill Mountain Biking Park is a biker's paradise

Henry scored this free little bike from our friends.  He mostly loves to push it down our steep driveway and watch it crash

Ethan finally got a new bike and tried it out at Duthie Hill with Marcus.  Naturally Marcus crashed and popped his tire, ending their adventure almost as soon as it began.

And Randy even got in on some of the bike action with us.  Notice his flat tire that made for a fun ending for our last bike ride.

And now my time is up.  Luckily the first day of school is also a late-start day so the early morning rush won't be quite as painful.