(Mis)Adventure on a Sunny Day

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, we had some gorgeous sun and blue skies here at the beginning of February. With another morning dawning clearly bright with warming temps (mid-50s) and a good bit of wind to keep those clouds at bay, Alton and I decided to laze around the house in the morning and hit a local park for playtime and a picnic lunch. I was eager to jump on my hybrid bike, my "medium-sized" one out of the three bikes that I own, because last night Andy had set up a new mileage computer on it (Christmas gift) and installed twist grip shifters, which I was excited to try on the swept-back handlebars. Unlike my big Xtracycle, the hybrid does not provide a lot of space to carry stuff along with me; I'd modified a small-ish purse that I love but wasn't using much to serve as a mini pannier underneath Alton's child seat on that bike.

But I'd removed that little purse to clean it off after a ride on a wet/muddy day, so my wicker handlebar basket was all I had for storage. No problem! I tossed in my wallet and phone, packed up some food in Alton's lunch box and added that on top, and with my keys in my pocket we were ready to go. We arrived at the park with many other families taking advantage of the sunny day and happily climbing the play structures, but Alton wanted to eat first.

Hunger satisfied for now, he said that he wanted to go for a walk. Whoops! I left the bike lock behind at home. No matter, I walked the bike alongside us down the path so that I didn't feel nervous leaving it parked unlocked on a busy day. Alton had brought along his binoculars, a new birthday gift, and was using them to peer at trees and a nearby creek. We kept walking and came along to the little pond where one of the small manmade creeks in the park spills out and a little stage with benches and a roof overlook the water. Here Alton decided he wanted to toss tiny pebbles into the still water and watch it ripple out. He exhausted the supply of nearby rocks and pinecones, then found a flexible stick and wanted to lean waaaay out over the firm stage surface to dip it in the water. I told him it was too far to lean; he'd fall in. Problem-solver that he is, he stepped off of the stage and into the soft dirt at the water's edge to poke the soggy mud and flick droplets out into the middle of the pool.

I snapped a picture of his fun with my phone about 14 seconds before he fell in! Whoops! Lost his balance and toppled to his knees in the shallow water, soaking his sneakers and fleece pants, and dampening the wrists of his shirt and jacket where he thrust his hands forward to catch himself. Luckily, the bike was right next to me since I'd forgotten that lock. I grabbed him out of the chilly water and hustled him onto firm ground where the bike was waiting. But there was no extraneous stuff on this streamlined ride, so I didn't have any kleenex or anything to towel him off. I grabbed my non-cozy polyblend orange safety vest to try to squeegee away most of the water on his hands, but he shivered and started his little chin trembling with the cold and disappointment of falling down. I decided to shuck off his sodden, dripping pants and shoes altogether, settled him into his sun-warmed bike seat, and covered him with my jacket so the residual heat from my body on the fabric immediately soothed his damp skin.
Although it was a sunny day, the air and wind were still very cool, and I was only wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt under my jacket. Time to get out of here! I threw his soggy clothes and my safety vest into the bike basket, jammed the lunch box next to Alton in his seat, and shaved my travel time in half on the one mile ride back home. We bolted upstairs to get him into dry, warm clothes, and soon he was tucked in bed with a story before his nap. What an unexpected adventure!

A Bike-Happy Visitor

The day after Alton's birthday, we had a visitor fly into town: my cousin Louise! She lives in Colorado, but we grew up in the same hometown in California, so our families have always been close. Two other close cousins live nearby in the Pacific Northwest, so Louise's first trip to Oregon was an efficient opportunity to see us all.
The afternoon she arrived it was still bucketing rain, and I tried to look on the bright side that it was probably better this way, since no one back in the snowy but sunny Rockies would believe my Cuz if she said that she went to Portland and it didn't rain. We traveled through the drizzle to a lovely nuevo latino tapas meal with our other cousins, reveling once we discovered that it was half-off wine bottle night and we didn't have to decide between white or red; you get both!

The next day, it was cloudy but free from sprinkles as Alton and I took Louise to Portland to visit Powell's Books, the world's largest independent bookstore, and Kenny & Zuke's, an award-winning deli that Julio still raves about from his visit four years ago! From there, Louise picked up a car rental to drive south for a day to visit a close friend of hers who also lives here in Oregon.
Upon her return, Alton and I shuttled with her back to Portland to drop off the car rental and visit the Portland Japanese Garden, which I had seen for the first time last January when my parents stayed with us. This year, the attendant at the entry booth offered Alton a scavenger hunt page with different landmarks throughout the park to seek out, including the "Moon Bridge" he and Louise are posed on below. After a delightful lunch at the Oregon Culinary Institute, Alton was happy to conk out in the car on our drive home!

You might be wondering why I refer to my cousin as "bike-happy" in the title of this post. Besides being a biker herself (motorcycle rider, that is), Louise also went on a bike ride with us while she was here in town! After my morning commute with Alton to preschool was mentioned in conversation, she offered to ride a bike with us on Thursday morning for the little guy's drop off/pick up. She didn't even balk when I suggested that while Alton was at school, she and I could ride to the grocery store for coffee and breakfast in their cafe. With muscles toughened from motorcycle ridin', she was ready for the pedal power challenge!
We got prepared the day before by letting Louise choose which of the bikes in our fleet she was going to ride, then got her seatpost adjusted to the right height and helmet properly fitted before she took off down our residential street for a test spin. I was happy to learn that we shared a similar philosophy regarding safety in high visibility and rider caution on the road, and Louise saw nothing dorky at all in donning a helmet and orange safety vest to cruise along with us; perfect, because I feel the same way! She got warmly dressed in jacket, hat and gloves, and was ready to pose for a picture with snowgear-snuggly Alton before we rode away.

What a blast! Louise said that she had not been cycling since her commuter bike had been stolen right out of her backyard while she was in college, and she really enjoyed herself with us today. We rode a total of just over 13 miles, earning our coffee and pastries for breakfast. Happily, it was the most sunny, beautiful, blue skies day of her whole trip, so a perfectly bright and crisp morning for our little journey. We returned to the preschool, where one of the other parents complimented Louise on her cool bike! Alton and his fellow students gathered in the center of the room to don dragon and lion headdresses and beat a drum in honor of the Chinese New Year. Louise and I smiled and took pictures of the giddy little kiddos.

Soon, it was time for my cousin to return to the airport and more sun, snowboarding, and skating back in Colorado. We had such a fun time with her while she was in town, and hope that it won't be too long before we get a turn to visit her and make more memories!

Rainy Ride

Pouring. Bucketing. Cats & dogs. RAINING. It's really coming down today, and has been for several days now. I know that Oregon has a reputation for wet weather, but the secret that Oregonians try to keep is that the rain really isn't that bad. (It's okay that I told you the secret, because I find that when I tell people that, they don't believe me anyway.) We get more frequent drizzles for more months of the year than, say, our neighbors to the south, so the rain does seem a bit more prevalent as a weather phenomenon. But once I moved here from California and acclimatized a bit, I also realized that just because it rains, you don't...die. The first few times I visited the Pacific Northwest when I was fresh out of college and working in the Bay Area, I couldn't understand the weird looks I was getting from people in downtown Seattle until I realized: I was the only one holding an umbrella. Everyone else just turned up their collars, or tossed up their hoods, or just got wet. When it rains frequently (drizzles, spits, mists, sprinkles), you find it exhausting and annoying to freak out and brandish hats, umbrellas, ponchos and the like every time it starts coming down, because then you're weighed down with wet gear, you're at a loss of where to put all your soggy crap when you arrive at your destination, etc. Instead, you put on your rain boots, you let your head get a little wet, you shake drops off your waterproof jacket before you step indoors, and once inside, you quickly dry off and voila! It's like the rain never happened.

Yeah, except today. As I said, we've been getting heavy rains for several days now, so I've been tucked inside quite a bit, except for a weekend grocery run by car. Feeling neglectful of my bikes and regretful not to have been getting any exercise, I decided that I would ride my bike this morning to drop Alton off at preschool.
One of the reasons that I love cycling is that it is such an incredibly diverse activity. It can look like a toddler slowly pedaling down a sidewalk. It can look like Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. X Games. Beach cruisers. Cyclocross. Trail rides. Grocery shopping. Mountain biking. Family outings. Workday commute.
Although sometimes I choose to ride my bike for recreation or exercise, most of my life I've been more of a transportational cyclist: using my bike as my means of getting where I need to go. A handlebar basket full of books to the library in grade school, a quick jet across campus to get to class on time in college, a leisurely weekend coast into town for brunch when I was single, and now a buffet of biking options in our single car family, including the "station wagon" of bikes now that I am a mom.

I love to ride to get where I'm going, and sometimes that means putting on an extra layer or two or three. I often have people tell me, "You're crazy!" and shake their heads when they see me biking in cold weather, as if I'm some daredevil adrenaline junkie. I don't think that biking in the cold is crazy, and I also don't think that snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, or building a snowman is crazy; you just need to be sure to bundle up. Sure, I have a perfectly good car at home, but when I can, I love to ride, especially since Andy (along with my cousin Matt, another bike commuter in Hillsboro) gave himself the goal of bike commuting every workday in 2012. On a personal level, we are trying to be advocates for the transportation cycling community, showing people that "Hey, you can ride a bike if you want to! You can use it to go to work, or to the store, or to take your kid to school! Just look at that guy/that other guy with the face mask who looks like the Unabomber/that lady with that big-ass bike!" I know not everyone can ride a bike all the time, but I'm glad to be a trailblazer for family biking in our town, to get folks used to seeing us out and about and even knowing it's possible to blend kids, bikes, exercise, and driving less.
Which brings me to my little co-pilot. Of course, when biking with Alton, I keep his safety and comfort paramount. We use helmets, neon safety vests, blinky lights, turn signals by hand, slow speeds, and much more to always stay safe and visible on the road. I've incorporated snow pants, child's ski goggles, thinsulate mittens, scarves, and wool socks to stay warm out on the road. But what about the rain? (Although as parents I think we should remind ourselves that kids, especially in the Northwest, don't really care as much as we do about avoiding the rain. Who is the one saying "We have to leave the park; it's raining," your kids or you?)
After seeing an example of a modified rain hood for a child's bike seat on another family biking blog, I decided to work on one of my own. The picture below is grainy from my phone camera, but shows you Alton in his seat with the hood in place. Attached to the back of his seat, the hood goes over his helmeted head, has clear plastic curtains on each side of him, and attaches with elastic straps to the back of my bike saddle to keep it from sliding out of place or flying away. (He's also wearing those ski goggles, so it's kind of hard to see his face.)

"There is no bad weather, only bad gear." I'm not sure where I first heard this quotation (probably an REI catalog), but I do think it is true. Yes, if anything, I'm a "gear" junkie. Cold hands, wet feet, sore butt, and sweaty clothes are all things I've experienced on the bike and fixed via a simple (simple meaning requiring research and money) change-up in the gear that I was using to be more comfortable. I have frankly been a bit of a wimp this winter in riding in the rain, usually choosing to drive instead. Over the weekend, we rode as a family to the library in some light-ish showers, and I thought to myself that it was really not so bad, I dried off quickly, I live in Portland and love to bike so I should really get used to the rain, and so on. In this way, I "geared up" for our ride this morning in the downpour, putting Alton in his hood and usual cold/wet weather outerwear, and me in my rain pants, rain boots, rain gloves, water-resistant jacket, and other warm fuzzy stuff to keep my head warm.

Ah, did you catch that? I said water-resistant. Also known as not waterproof. I set off through sheets of water from the sky, pedaling steadily. I was a little nervous about how much water would be on the road and whether we'd be pelted by waves from passing cars, so I rode on the sidewalk much more than I normally do, and thankfully there were hardly any pedestrians on foot in this deluge. My glasses grew spotty, rivulets sluiced off my rain pants, my jacket turned darker as it became saturated with water, and my neck gaiter (tube scarf) felt just plain juicy. Onward and upward (yep, it's uphill to school) I rode, stopping once on a deserted residential street to pull a kleenex out of my bike-basket-cum-water-bucket and wipe off my lenses. I had tucked the sleeves of my water-resistant jacket into the long cuffs of my gloves, a technique which usually saves me from getting cold wrists and forearms while riding. Today, however, as my jacket got more and more spongy, the water simply ran down my sleeves and straight into my gloves, getting them wet on both outside and inside! Wrong gear choice and configuration, Katie. My far more waterproof jacket is a ski/snow jacket and a bit more insulated and bulky, so I thought the bright blue softshell that I'd worn before in light showers would hold up. I've clearly learned my lesson about soggy weather.
My bundled passenger curled tightly in a little ball under his seat's rain hood, and when we arrived at school only his snow pants were drenched, with his normal school clothes underneath still warm and dry. As I pulled him out of his straps, he claimed to have fallen asleep on the ride there, but I'm not sure whether this almost-four-year-old completely knows the difference between closing your eyes to zone out and sleeping!
I decided to head back home and dry off. My good friend and 'round-the-corner neighbor Marinda was also at school dropping off her son, and after she ran an errand she came over to our house with her little girl and some hot coffee for us moms from Starbucks. I sat and sipped on the couch in my sweats, then we left together in her minivan with the extra car seat to pick up the boys when school was over. I so appreciated her kindness in coming over (and with coffee!) and her willingness to turn two family's driving trips into one--carpooling when you can is a great idea! I'm glad to have such a good friend, glad to have willing biking partners in Alton and Andy, glad to live where cycling has become such a big part of the culture, and Rain? Yeah, you, Rain...we're not through yet.

Goodbye 2011

Well, here it is: January (almost the end of the month) 2012, and three months since I've made a blog post. I've probably lost all of my loyal readers (you know who you are), but I'll tell you what's been going on. I guess the short version is that I've just been procrastinating, but in writing this blog, I have so much fun telling you as many details as possible about what's going on with us that I feel remiss in skipping over an activity and not posting about it when it happens. As you can imagine, when I don't post about an activity, we up and go do something else in the meantime, then I have two activities backed up on me, unposted. A few weeks become a few months, and after awhile I have so many fun and funny and some even not-so-funny things I want to share that my mentally half-written, unposted posts become a virtual heap of work that I feel guilty for not completing, so I ignore it instead. And that's gotten me to...here.
So here's a big fat wrap-up of some of the things I wanted to post about last year and never did, just to attempt to clear my slate and bring me up to present day.
After we left Vancouver, B.C. in June at the tail end of our big trip, we headed straight for Seattle and stayed a few nights with our good friends Alexa and Brian and their daughter *D.

While in Seattle, we also got the chance to spend a day on our friend Chris's boat! (He even let Alton "drive.")

Finally, after 7 weeks of being on the road, we were home! Does this picture look familiar?

It was mid-June and getting warmer, so Andy wasted no time upon our return and made two big planter boxes for our backyard patio for planting our little summer veggie garden.

Toward the end of June, my Mom (Nonna) came for a visit on her summer vacation from school.

Over the Independence Day holiday, we went camping in the Columbia Gorge with our good friends, the Zawalski family.

Back in February, Andy's grandfather Chuck Grove had passed away, just two days shy of his 89th birthday. In July 2011, the family gathered together for his memorial service and celebration of his life in Newport Beach, CA. All of the Grove grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered around Shirley, Andy's grandmother, for a group portrait.

Alton enjoyed a cousin sleepover when my cousin Matt's boys stayed with us during their parents' anniversary rendezvous weekend. We took the three dudes berrypicking!

After Tour de Parks and our niece *P's 3rd birthday party...

...we went bike camping!

Ready to rock August, we went camping again in southern Oregon, where we met up with some of our favorite camping buddies from California.

Upon returning home, Grammy and Grandpa Rhyne arrived in town for a visit, and among other things, we went to local Hagg Lake for a picnic and to the "Bite of Oregon" food festival, below.

Late August and summer in general saw us biking a lot, including to a family fun festival at Andy's workplace during the Hillsboro Air Show. Planes zoomed overhead while the kids enjoyed bouncy houses and balloon animals.

We relished a visit from some East Coast friends, my hometown girlfriend Julie and her husband David. Taking advantage of the heat, we went swimming during their visit at Hagg Lake; David was happy to push Alton in his floaty AND throw sticks for Minerva.

From there, David flew home and Julie stayed on a few extra days to hang out and drive with us over Labor Day weekend down to our friend Jamie's wedding! (Julie, me, Jamie, and Christa--friends since 7th grade!)

My folks and siblings were also guests at the wedding, so Alton had a chance to see his little cousin, *S, my sister Cari's son.

Home again in September, Alton started preschool and Andy competed in the Warrior Dash, an off-road 5k race that involved vaulting obstacles, dodging bonfires, and swimming through mudholes!

In October, Andy and I took a romantic bike tour to McMinnville, Alton celebrated the 4th birthday of his BFF *B...

...then went trick-or-treating with her and her brother *F on Halloween! (Yes, he wore the same costume as last year.)

In November, Christmas came early when Andy and I bought one another folding bikes during a great fall sale.

Grammy and Grandpa Rhyne came up to Oregon to celebrate Thanksgiving with all three of their grandkids.

It was a busy holiday visit, with Andy's brother Zach and his wife Karen moving their family into a new house! But we still found time for extracurriculars, like taking Grandpa on a ride on the Polar Express train up Hood River, which Alton really enjoyed last year.

When they left our house, Andy's parents drove home in Andy's blue truck, which we sold to them after they lost a vehicle to an auto accident. We became a one-car family! Andy celebrated by "xtracycling" his old red mountain bike: extending the rear wheel and rack, and adding bags and platforms for cargo-carrying capacity. It's the pickup truck of bikes, if you will.

We christened the newest two-wheel member of our cycle cadre by biking to a nearby farm and bringing our Christmas tree home by bike!

Putting up the holiday decorations and working feverishly on those handmade gifts I love to make, we squeezed in time for fun in December, too. We had an early Christmas dinner with our good friends, the Lee family, since we would all be out of town later in the month.

We also got to exchange gifts early with cousins *P and *A (*P sports the crown, cape, and doll cape I made for her!).

A bevy of present days ensued, with plenty of new cherished toys from Grammy and Grandpa Rhyne, and the Mommy and Daddy gifts to Alton as well. Alton loved the Buzz Lightyear wings I designed and sewed for him!

On Christmas Eve, we flew to California for a visit with my parents and sibs. We stayed at my sister Cari's (Aunt Cici), and Alton got to reacquaint himself with some of the toys he'd passed on to little cousin *S!

Christmas morning had Alton occupied for awhile with gifts to unwrap.

We made the most of our time in California over the holidays, seeing as many far-away family and friends as possible. My mom's sisters Marilyn and Coleen and their husbands visited with us, and my girlfriend Julie met us at a park for the morning before she and fellow Santa Maria girls Jamie and Christa met us for dinner that night with their husbands...

...and my grandparents, Don and Shirley Carnine, chatted and posed for pictures with their two great-grandsons. (*S is wearing the red Christmas vest I knitted for Alton two years ago, and Alton is wearing one I made this year. Matchy-matchy!)

Before we knew it, it was time to fly back home for New Year's Eve and the end of 2011.

Wow, sure seems like our year was pretty go-go-go! Don't worry, we carved out plenty of time for parks (Alton)...

brewing beer (Andy)...

guitar classes (Katie)...

...and of course: biking!

Okay, my slate is clear! Now I'll make a belated New Year's resolution to blog more often. See you back here soon!

Tour de Parks

Yes, it's October, but it's a beautiful sunny day, and this puts me in a mind to thinking back about some of the things we did this summer that I haven't yet posted about. So let's go back in time to July and a dazzling Saturday afternoon! This day was Cousin *P's birthday, so after helping her celebrate at a pizza 'n play place, we went to Downtown Hillsboro for a fun family event: the Tour de Parks! This is the fourth year that they've held this kid-friendly bike ride, where families can choose from three different lengths of courses that take you all around Hillsboro and through the city parks. We ended up on the medium-length route and saw six different parks while we rode through town.First order of business, we got Alton settled in his child seat on the back of my longtail bike with a water bottle and snack--I have made small "leashes" to tether his water bottle and snack cups to the straps of his seat for trips when he'll need them. In the picture below, you can see him holding his water bottle while the snack cup (with spillproof lid!) is the small white circle dandling just above my left heel. The stretchy leashes are just long enough to give him freedom of movement with munching or sipping, but not so long that they actually get in the way of my pedaling. He likes to drop whichever item he's currently not using to the side, then tells me that he's "going fishing" when he reels his eatware back up.

Andy held our small digital camera to take pictures on the ride. Here you see us riding in line with some good friends, the Zawalski family. The orange child seat is mounted onto my friend Fabi's bike--she has an extended frame bike, like mine, also equipped with bags so that she can haul gear, groceries, and more! Unlike my bike, however...she carries two kids on hers! One child seat mounted behind her for her daughter Alton's age, and one smaller seat balancing the weight by being mounted to her frame in front of her seat for her younger son. I ride ahead of her with Alton in his blue seat, and Fabi's husband Gabe takes the lead in front of me in his orange t-shirt. We were quite a parade!

Here you can see the two "big" bikes riding in a line!

Through Walnut Street Park.

Turning off of Baseline Road, one of my favorite major streets to ride in Hillsboro because it has a dedicated bike line and runs East-West through the whole city. It can get me many places!

At the end of the ride, the City of Hillsboro was hosting an awareness event on Main Street about environmentally-friendly choices. Information was dispersed about green power choices, saving water, etc. There were also food vendors and free popcorn for kids. Alton was happy to sample!

After some relaxation in the shade beneath the trees to eat our snacks, it was time to load the kids onto the bikes again and head home. Below, Alton and I pose with our Xtracycle "Radish" next to Fabi's Surly "Big Dummy" (no, I don't know where the brand came up with that name, although it's a honkin' big bike frame) with her two kids. Matching bike baskets and all! A fun day to ride with friends, and we're so glad that we have buddies to share our hobby with.