Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Oh no! I have MBS...

Multiple Bike Syndrome, that is...

I've been busy this spring -- flying, watching baseball, and riding motorcycles. Last month I went to the NH licensing bureau to get my motorcycle permit and was surprised to hear a new law requires a written test. I took the pamphlet to Burger King, studied it, and 1/2 hour later returned to take the test. I passed no problem! Then I had to practice the course used for the driving test. It involves weaving through cones, rapid stops, sharp turns and avoiding an obstacle. It's only administered on Friday mornings and it was rather chilly at the time. Being impatient, I took the test 8 days after getting my permit. I passed, and even had a better score than Cranky! Now I have my motorcycle endorsement. Ahhhh.

While I was doing this with my KLR 250, Cranky found himself a wicked nice 2003 KLR 650, the big version of my bike. Here he is, ready for a ride (in the chilly weather)


Here's the "his and hers" bikes:


Meanwhile, Raymond has been tearing up the yard on his dirtbike.





Unfortunately, the rain has returned and he hasn't been able to ride lately. We can't wait for the yard to dry out!

Watching Raymond made Cranky and I want dirtbikes also. We can take Raymond out on the trails near here if we have registered (for off-road) dirtbikes. So...

We bought these two bikes from a guy in Concord. They are Yamahas, a TTR-125 for me and a TTR-225 for Cranky:


The day we brought the TTRs home, we needed to re-arrange the garage to fit everything in. We backed out the bikes and I took a picture of the "line-up":

And just when it looked like we were all done, I found a 2002 KLR 650 that matches my 2001 KLR 250:



When I go riding with Cranky, my little 250 is maxed out when we're on the open road. (I can get it up to 70 mph, which might be all I need, but we hope to load up the bikes and go camping with them and I wanted a bigger KLR.) I haven't gotten to ride my new one yet, because we need to "lower" it a bit so I can get my feet on the ground when stopped. Cranky says I need to sell the 250, but I am not in any rush to part with it. It's a fun bike that's been very good to me.


In non-motorized news:

Bob is excited that we have put the training wheels back on Raymond's old bike so he can ride it. He has never been a big fan of actually PEDDLING a bike, so we are working on that. In this picture, he is totally psyched that he is riding with his big brother:

He's really concentrating on the peddling here:


Mary thinks we are crazy with the motorcycles ("They're so boring!") But she did model her new mustard yellow Chuck Taylors:


And last but not least...Since I haven't been blogging much lately, I haven't even mentioned how much I enjoyed my first trip to Dublin. I had 2 days to enjoy it, but didn't take many pictures (okay, like only 5 or so). The other first officer on the trip brought his wife and we had a blast together. I love a good Guinness, but Smithwick's was top on my list this time!

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Thursday, May 17, 2007

Baseball Season!

Baseball season is underway! Raymond is having a good time and all the kids are improving rapidly. Cranky is an assistant coach and both he and Raymond seem to be enjoying it more than t-ball. Here are some pictures from tonight's game.

The kids are rotated in the positions each inning. The coaches pitch, but Raymond started as "defensive pitcher":


Raymond hustled but didn't throw out the runner. :(


At bat:

Go Raymond Go!


He was the catcher for an inning. I don't think it's his favorite position.


Play ball!