Friday, May 25, 2012

Time is about up!

Both Dan and I have a case of the "hitch-itch"!  While we are enjoying catching up with friends and hanging out with my kids, we are ready to hit the road!  We have just a few more days in NC before we head north to spend about 7 weeks on the farm that Dan grew up on.

I haven't blogged because we really haven't been doing anything other than hanging out!  I had a really nice Mother's Day with my kids.  They treated me to a nice dinner and we played games afterwards.  Ashleigh made me a very nice painting with the words "Be so happy that the people around you become happy too".  She also made me a CD with a bunch of country songs.  Homemade presents are the best!!
Mother's Day 2012
We played Sequence....
and when Amanda got home from dinner with her mother, we played a game she designed to help her students get ready for the end-of-grade tests.
Ashleigh using a tube of caulk as her microphone!
It was a great Mother's Day!!

We've also been helping Brandon and Amanda with more new house stuff.  Here's the work bench that Dan and Brandon built.....
Acting goofy!

Amanda and I stained and painted a bookcase for their study.
Having fun!
We also christened Brandon's new grill.
Ready to fire up!! 
I'm still looking for those RV hook-ups at their place though!!

There is a new biking/walking trail that we wanted to try out.  The Neuse River trail is part of the Capital Area Greenway.  There are several segments of the trail but the only one that is currently open is Upper Neuse Trail.  It is about 6.5 miles starting at the Falls Lake Dam and ending at the WRAL Soccer Complex.  The budget for this section of the trail was a whopping $3.9m. However, once the entire trail is completed, it is supposed to be about 28 miles long at a total cost of $30m.  Wow!!

Dan and I pedaled the trail  once by ourselves and biked 6.25 miles and turned around. This was before that we knew that it was only 6.5 miles long!  Oops!  Should have read the signs!!

We made plans to go again with my son and daughter.  DIL Amanda had to work. But, Ashleigh was unable to make it as she has been having a heckuva time with allergies and didn't think that being in the woods would help.  So Dan, Brandon, and I set out for a leisurely pedal.
Unloading the bikes from the truck

Stopping along the way to add more air!
Mother/Son picture!
We stopped along the way to take some pictures of things that we thought were neat...
Itty bitty foot bridge to the river

Mushroom carved from a tree trunk


Hmmmm...this is one funny looking bike!  He was just blowing debris from the path! 
Wooden chair carved out of a tree stump!

Standing tall!  This was near the soccer fields!

We stopped and ate a picnic lunch along the way.  I think that we were all very hungry.   From our picnic table, we saw a guy on a bike stop and look at something in the pathway.  Hmmm...we needed to investigate.
One of those slim-no-shoulders things!!
He did not like that we were watching him at all.  He slithered a bit and then Dan decided to get a bit closer. As he did this, Brandon and I backed away a bit!!


This is the kind of wildlife I can do without!  But this is the type of wildlife I like...

There were three deer right at the end of our ride.  All in all we pedaled about 15 miles or so.  It was a gorgeous day to be outside.  Afterwards, Brandon "treated" us to cones at Dairy Queen.  He had a coupon to get four free single dip cones.  And you know how much I like "free"!!

There were only 3 people; coupon was for 4 free cones.  What to do?  Brandon had 2!

Yum!!
Fun times, indeed!  Life is good!


8 comments:

Gail Houle said...

Looks like you're having a great time with the kids!

I liked the pictures of the ice cream MUCH better than the one of the "critter". I can't believe Brandon didn't take off for parts unknown!!!

Sherry said...

Very nice post on what look like lots of great times. Don't you just love having children who are now friends with whom you have a great time being kids together???

Gin and Syl said...

I've seen chairs cut out of a tree stump before but that mushroom was really nice work. Put the snake down Dan.
Syl

Nancy and Bill said...

Fun Post!! Know you are ready to hit the road for a while though;o))

Bill and Andrew hit that bike trail right in the neighborhood and found 5 geocaches...way cool!!

Dan that is no way to pet a snake... You'll have to teach Gail how to do that;o))

Al and Karen said...

Oh! If I ever get the chance to walk through the woods with you I'm staying away from Dan!

Ceal said...

Dan, why didn't you BBQ the snake for dinner? I see Brandon is nowhere in the picture.
Enjoy PA. & maybe you'll stay away from"Hurricane Season".
Love to all

Catherine, Jo Beth and Grace said...

Got to get all four cones. Looks like your having a wonderful time.

Cathy said...

I didn't like the snake pic. There was at least one snake in our yard today - the dog barking called it to our attention. I thought he went away, but then he was back by the dog this afternoon and slithered under the deck. Bruce said it was a King snake and that it would eat other snakes. Nonetheless, I want it gone. Dan -can you backtrack on your way to PA and take this guy with you?