Early September Playground And Bikes

These pictures are from the first weekend in September (yes, almost 2 months ago if you're reading this in real time). So Agnes is 10.5 months and her hair is just getting long enough to make what the kids call a "duck swoop" behind her ear. And her eyes are as blue as ever and she loves playgrounds and playing peek-a-boo behind benches, and her cheese smile shows her two big top front teeth.

Gussie and especially Michael are known as the monkeys of the family, and their climbing skills are definitely right up there with some primates, but Edie is not to be left out. She can climb up a slide and shimmy up a pole no problem, and she knows it.

Daddy recently introduced Michael Jr to the sport of Cyclocross, which is basically dirt bike racing with pedals instead of a motor. You ride on dirt trails and often up hills or over obstacles that require you to jump off your bike and carry it for a stretch. Michael Jr thought this looked like great fun, so Daddy ordered him a mountain bike (and a gravel / cyclocross bike for himself, because otherwise who would take Michael Jr cycling??). The new bikes weren't ready in time for the Benton Park bike race that circled our neighborhood, but that was fine because Daddy wasn't racing and Michael Jr was only doing the short kids' sprint that he could do on any bike (no cycling crit racing is currently allowed for any members of the house - too dangerous).

Michael Jr and Gussie were the only kids who opted to race (although I'm pretty sure this is what spurred Edie on to learn to ride her bike shortly after). Gussie realized about halfway through his short race that he went faster when he actually tried to ride fast, which wasn't early enough to make up time on his field, but was in general a good realization to have. Michael Jr had grabbed Mary's bike because she wasn't riding and it had gears. He tried to ride fast from the beginning and was second in his age group, coming only behind a kid in a full racing kit on a legit road bike who probably should have raced in the actual crit race for his age. (What? I'm allowed to be a little indignant for him - I'm his mom.) But he had fun; they both did, in spite of their nervous / concentrating faces.

And just a couple days later, his new bike was ready! He immediately had to take it for a quick spin on the road.

Don't worry, his bike isn't this big! He's holding Daddy's new gravel bike which was brought home from the shop at the same time and admiring his bike as it comes out of the car.

Just in case you couldn't tell from his face, he really, really likes it.

Big Cedar 2019

Grandma and Grandpa took the kids and I on another end-of-summer trip to Big Cedar this year. It's one of the kids' favorite places to play because of the abundance of swimable water. We actually spent very little time in the pools and most of our time in the lake this year. In addition to the sandy beach, lily pads for playing, canoes, kayaks, and paddle boats, we also brought our new inflatable paddle boards. We had so much fun paddling all around in various vessels!

Catherine and Mary claimed the paddleboards for a while on the first day, but eventually they shared.

Agnes was not a fan of the infant size life jacket required for boating, especially when she had to be sitting in a boat because sitting pushed the vest up around her neck and she hated it. So except for one canoe trip where she stood in the front while Michael Jr held on to her and I paddled, she mostly played in the sand. She was very happy with that arrangement.

Gussie and Michael had no problem handling a canoe on their own.

In case you haven't looked recently, sand is amazing stuff.

Any time the kids got tired of paddling their own boats, they asked Grandpa to take them out.

Whenever one of the big kids abandoned a paddleboard to swim for a while, Edie would skip over and grab it. She started out sitting or kneeling, but eventually she could paddle standing up also. I don't think anyone fell off in three days of paddling!

Oh these two big sisters... they are either having the *most* fun possible together, or driving each other to tears and screaming fits, and usually one scenario is within moments of the other and then back again. Clearly here they were having fun.

One morning we took a break from the sun and attended the Acrobats of Shanghai show in Branson. The kids had a lot of fun and came away with some great ideas for things to try at home...

And then we went back to the lake. Gussie and Michael liked paddling around on the paddleboards, and also hooked them up into a barge, ran and jumped on them like wave surf boards, and I'm pretty sure there was a game that involved the paddleboards being police transporters. Catherine and Mary spent all this time playing on the lily pad, their favorite swimming accessory. And Agnes enjoyed a nap (or two) in the shade.

We also spent a couple hours fishing but had similar luck as last time - no fish! Ok, not entirely no fish. Gussie did catch one that was so small it wouldn't register on the scale. But they got a lot of casting practice!

And we spent our last evening at the waterfall pool. They kept asking for pictures of them behind the waterfall, which are always just a blur of water, but it's a super fun pool to play in.

I don't remember what prompted these pictures, but they're a good capture of Edie.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa - we had a great "last trip before school"!