Summ, Summ, Summertime....

I can't believe how fast July is flying by! Cranky bought fireworks a week before the 4th of July and he and the kids were lighting them off all week. In this picture, Mary and Raymond are throwing "pop-its" at each other:


Cranky is the master of the fireworks:


Bob likes sparklers, but decided to touch one that had burned out and managed to burn his fingers a little. I don't think he's too keen on them anymore...


Much to Cranky's chagrin, our town held it's "4th of July" parade on July 6th. (So it can be on a weekend. Cranky's hometown, Bristol RI, holds the mother of all 4th of July parades, and always on the proper day.) Sunapee's parade is very small and the kids like grabbing the candy that is thrown.

Bob didn't like the loud sirens when the firetrucks went by:


Afterwards, there are games for the kids and this year there was one of these bouncy things. That's Raymond in the blue shorts:


Raymond also likes the pie eating contest:


In other news...Cranky has been working hard on the front porch. The deck is done, now for the roof, steps, and railings. It's coming along very well!


Raymond is very excited about getting a bigger dirt bike. It's a Yamaha PW 80. Here he is test riding it when we brought it home:


WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!

Watching him ride makes me smile. He's an excellent driver and has a great time. (Sometimes we can hear him singing.)

This weekend Cranky and I are taking off by ourselves. My mother is watching the kids and we are going hiking for a couple of days!

Can you believe summer is half over?!

New Project

Our spring project is underway. We are adding a front porch to the house. Bob posed in front for the "before" picture:


Here's Bob after a hard day of site work:

I thought he looked "hollywood dirty" so I had to take a picture. I always laugh when kids are made up to look dirty on tv or in the movies -- smear marks on the cheeks and nose. Nobody actually gets dirty that way! Wait a minute...apparently my son does!

After Cranky dug the holes for the footings, he leveled the tubes for the concrete work. He does amazing site prep with levels and strings. I am just grunt labor -- mixing and shoveling the concrete. He's the brains behind the operation. Here are the finished footings:


After a hard day's work, it's time for a little batting practice for Raymond.


Yesterday the weather was perfect for outdoor work. Cranky and I had the day off and all 3 kids were at school. So what did we do? Went for a nice long ride on our motorcycles of course! We rode about 100 miles, stopping for subs at lunch time. It was my first long ride on my KLR 650 and it was great! I could keep up with Cranky no problem. My confidence on the bigger bike improved also when the back end slid sideways on a dirt road and I reacted properly, countersteering through the slide. My heart was pounding for a bit, but then all I could think was, "bummer Cranky didn't get to see that", since he was in front of me.

Have a great weekend!

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!