Out and About (on the Moonlander)

Today the whole family was off to the year end recital for the Queen Maeve Schoold of Irish Dance. It was the first time I saw Amanda riding her Moonlander in day light - and thus able to get a picture of her on it...

IT was a frosty one today... -35°C (with the windchill) when we left. That's the kind of cold where the grease in your hubs and bottom bracket start to congeal and you actually have to pedal to go down hills! It was a tiring ride...



...well it was a tiring ride for me. I had to strip down to my sweater and light gloves and was STILL sweating! by the time we got to the school where the recital was my sweater was covered in frost - sweat/vapour passing through the sweater and then freezing in the chilly wind.

Amanda complained of cold toes... clearly she wasn't working hard enough!

The snazzy new bag she has on her bike is a Dutchy Recycled Banner Pannier from Green Guru (which I won on Momentum Magazine's Facebook Page, and Amanda subsequently commandeered for herself). I really like the idea of Green Guru's products and it seems like a nice enough bag... it'll be interesting to see how this one stands up to the harsh cold of a Saskatchewan winter....

I didn't get any pictures of the performance as we were all backstage for this one - Amanda and I took up dancing this fall and are dancing at the same school as the kids...



On the way home i took a picture of Amanda's frosty head and eyelashes.



closer view.

Then I turned the camera on myself...



an altogether different sort of frosty...

Amanda's Moonlander

It' dropped in temperature and dumped a bunch of snow over the last few days.... 

Amanda is what you'd call a "fair-weather rider" that is occasionally forced to ride in inclement weather. (By "occasionally" I mean six months of the year). She does not love snow or ice or winter and while I have been aware of the Surly Pugsley and Moonlanders existence for as long as they've been around, Amanda first saw one last week when we ran into Gerald riding his down the street... 

Gerald and HIS Moonlander. 

Amanda eyeing Gerlad's Moolander, gears starting to turn in her head.... 

I think the next day she was on the phone to the Bike doctor to see if they had one in stock... they did... 

So this evening Amanda brought home her new Moonlander. 

Amanda and her fancy new bike. 

Apparently it RAWKS!

Up close view in the stable. We'll have to get some "action" shots in daylight some time soon. 

I'm still hauling the kids on the Yuba. Luckily the city is getting good at clearing the multi-use pathways... 

I wonder if one could okk up an Extracycle to a Moonlander....? Probably not enough clearance for the wheels... 

Off to the Ballet... Again!

After dropping the kids off, Amanda headed off to yoga and I wandered home to... well... hang out... post photos, watch a DVD from the library and paint a bit.... At 1:30 we headed back to T-cup.

The benefit of being the only nutters that ride bikes to events like this in the winter is we always get what my sister would call "Rock Star Parking" (right by the front door). I felt sorry for anyone in a car that had to pay $10 or whatever to try and find a parking spot in the over full parking lot across the street. 

I only took two pics - right at the end, no flash... Finnegan is second from the left coming out to bow - one of the Chinese dancers. 

Keira is the littlest of the snowflakes coming out here...

Our dancers after the show - and a long tiring day! 

If anyone wants to see ME making a fool of myself, I'm dancing with Queen Maeve School of Irish Dance at Festival of the trees next Thursday. Yes, me. I don't know what I was thinking...

Off to the Ballet

The kids are dancing the Moscow Ballet's Saskatoon performance of the Great Russian Nutcracker. There was an audition in the summer and throughout the fall the kids have had weekly rehearsals. Today is the big day and we had to drop them off at TCU Place (or T-cup, as I like to call it...) at 9am!?  (That's a bit early for us on most days...)

Off we went at 8:30... just as the sun was threatening to claw it's way into the sky... 

Loading up the gear... 

Can you tell SOMEONE was VERY EXCITED!?

Off we roll. 

There was a lot of waiting time in the lobby. Apparently the Moscow Ballet people hadn't expected us until 10am!? 

Starting on hari while we waited... 

Eventually everyone was let into the Green Room, and that's when we had to say good-bye - won't see them again until they're on the stage this afternoon!

Hope it all goes well! 

It Snowed

Some were apparently caught a little more off guard than others...

Keira Rides!

Keira has been riding a fair bit on her own lately. By the time Finnegan was her age he was riding to the zoo and back. But somehow we have neglected getting Keira riding on her own bike. Part of the impetus to get Finnegan on his own bike was it was just getting to darn heavy to haul the two of them together. part of the reason for NOT getting Keira on my bike is my own reluctance to have to keep an eye on TWO squirrely kids veering all around the road (one is enough right now!). I can't delay the inevitable forever and it seems likely by next summer we'll all be on our own bikes...

Here's a few pics of our recent ride over to my folks for dinner...

Who can say "no" to someone who loaves riding as much a Keira...?

Keira is a bit anxious going down this hill on the pavement. Her legs just can't push back on the coaster brakes hard enough to keep her at a reasonable speed, so she rides down the hill on the grass... 

My two favourite girlies. 

Loves riding. Loves. Not "like" - LOVES!  

Amanda "Crash" Plante sporting some fresh stitches from a fight she lost with the garbage can the previous day.

Heading up to the bridge. 

Across the bridge. 

Down the hill on the other side...

Looking good so far... 

WHAM! Took that second corner a little too fast and lost control in the loose gravel... 

I swear finnegan crash in the exact same spot a year or two ago... When are they ever going to finish this end of the bridge and pave this section of the path!? 

There were many (MANY!) tears. 

To her credit, however, Keira did get back up and finished riding to my folks place. 

Thanksgiving turkey decoration that. I swear, my folks have had since I was the kids age. 

Out and about again a couple days later - the kids were showing me the chalk drawings they'd done with Amanda on Monday. More about those over at the Art Blog!

Bike Yoga

Amanda got me up early to take some pictures of her doing yoga over at the Skate Park... something about a contest at Ground Yoga...? ‘The Most Creative Place You’ve Done Yoga’...? You can go there and vote for her (when she gets around to submitting a picture... which, I think, has to be today...).

Here's a few of the many, many pics I took of our early morning hijinks... 

6am... pretty early... I had originally planned on going for a road ride and Amanda had figured it would be too busy by the time I got back. There's some sort of festival going on in the park this weekend and they were partying late last night and I didn't get so much sleep, so I abandoned the idea of a road ride... I should have gone... I was up anyway... 

So... how to do yoga... on a BMX...?

If only she did a bit more flatland, she could have done this while the bike was rolling... 

Hmmmm... maybe ON the bike really isn't working out...

BESIDE the bike? 

Pre-ride stretches...? 

I'm not sure what this was supposed to be... 

Ummmm... 

Ride around and think about it... 

I'm not sure what this look was all about... 

The key to not being eaten alive by mosquitos at 6am (after a few rainy weeks) is to keep moving... 

moving... 

and just to show off (and prove she can still ride)... 

Into the bowl... 

and back out again...! I don't know if it was the early morning light... or if she was just going too damn fast... but I just could not get a decent photo like this (despite her doing it three or four times...) 

Kidical Mass ride next weekend...