The Cahill's

A few mornings ago I heard Lance laughing in a particular way so I grabbed my camera as I went to check it out and got this picture:

Apparently we can’t just unroll the toilet paper anymore, we have to rip it into shreds and render it entirely useless in the process.

Next is two adorable children in bathrobes:

Cute? Almost. This is the product of one too many accidents. I found myself telling Brian that I washed the clothes on Tuesday because Lance was out of underwear, and I found myself doing laundry on Thursday for the same reason. He has nine pair.

Finally, an attempt to capture Ivy’s latest trick on video:

These two and their antics keep me laughing – that’s for sure!

Saturday morning we decided to go on a bike ride. I wanted to go somewhere different and Brian had seen some new “river walk” development from his window at work so that’s where we headed. The morning was beautiful, the kids excited and we were ready for some adventure!

We biked the 4 miles to work then headed off in search of the new area Brian had seen. There was a bunch of construction in the area because the land is still being developed, so in order to get where we wanted to go we took a little short cut. Unfortunately, it had rained the night before.

Brian went first and his tires got so caked with mud that he couldn’t even move the bike. I decided to look around for a different way.

We made a pit stop while Brian scrapped his tires clean, Lance checked out the bulldozer and Ivy checked out the snacks.

Getting things clean, we proceeded to our intended destination – a portion of lake edged with a sidewalk.

Along the way we discovered a playground which necessitated another break.

We resumed our ride and finished getting around the lake. Then we had to get back without taking the same trip through the mud.

After several attempts we finally crossed a grassy field only to find a 30 yard strip of mud still cut us off from our desired destination. Not wanting to retrace our steps we forged ahead. The mud was so nasty that we couldn’t push our bikes ten feet before they were inoperable so we ended up carrying them, kids and all, the rest of the distance. My shoes picked up mud with each step until they became so heavy I could hardly walk and carry the bike. Brian came to my rescue 🙂

Scrapping off what we could, we retraced our 4 mile trip back home. Brian started riding through every puddle he saw and I soon followed his example. After half a dozen puddles we were splattered with muddy water and grinning like little kids. We finally made it home, wet, tired and hungry. Brain washed the bikes and shoes while I prepared lunch. We all got showers and then Brian and I watched a movie while the kids napped. What a fun day!

The adventure continues.

The weather was absolutely perfect for camping! Cold but not freezing at night and cool to warm during the day.

Our first morning Brian cooked up a fantastic breakfast which we ate down by the lake. I had fun feeding crumbs to the fish.

We cleaned up then hit the bike trails for at least ten miles of riding.

After lunch we decided to play horseshoes on the beach prior to swimming. We also decided to hike the long way around to the beach. Poor Brian carried the horseshoes the whole way – I carried the stakes 🙂 When we finally made it to the beach we were really hot and in danger of getting a sunburn but after toting the gear all that way we just HAD to play a game. 🙂 It seems that every time I’m expecting we take a trip and do a lot of physical activity – this time was no exception. Afterward the game (Brian won) we took a refreshing dip in the lake and raced out to the floating dock. Brian was shocked with my speed and I told him it was because I was so skinny I had no drag 🙂

After our swim we played a few games. Brian creamed me at Tennessee for Two but I paid him back in Cribbage, getting the highest scoring hand you can possibly have and ending the game in a skunk.

Final event before supper and s’mores was the nature walk. We found a pretty spring and took our picture of course!

At the top of the spring I found a Geo Cache – didn’t know what it was and was afraid to disturb it but found out later that it’s a sort of game and people try to find them then record it in a little book located inside the box. Oh well.

They had done a lot of controlled burning in the park. Brian and I were amazed at how precise they were – leaving clear trails in the middle of burned patches.

Some nature. Dogwoods were in bloom which added a pretty touch to the park.

All in all, we had a wonderful time and marveled how easy life was with just two people. Thanks to Brian’s parents for watching the kids!