Captured Light

One of the things that I hoped to do before chemotherapy treatments and such started was get a good family portrait. It might be shallow, but in case I don't look or feel like myself at some point for awhile, I wanted to capture this moment in our lives -- when Milo is at such a fun age, when we've settled into the role of parents (as much as anyone ever can), when E and I have been each other's best friend and partner for more than half our lifetimes already.

I would have been happy with a decent i-photo in the Target parking lot, as long as everyone was smiling, but we are blessed to know Geri at Reminisce Photography and Design. Reminisce took the gorgeous photos of our engagement and wedding, and the sweetest newborn pictures of Milo.

I told Geri that she's documented all the important "beginnings" in our lives, and done it so beautifully. She (and her family!) has such a kind and loving and generous heart and she somehow read my mind and approached me asking if she could take family pictures for us as we set out on this new journey.

We received her email with the images with perfect timing -- just after doing battle putting a teething, cranky Critter to bed -- so we definitely needed the smile that they brought. Not only did they bring a smile, but they reminded me how very blessed I am to be a wife and mama to these two amazing guys, and how much we have to look forward to together. My heart is full seeing the way that E and Milo look at each other, the way his chubby little hands grab our fingers, the way his entire faces smiles. Geri is a beautifully talented photographer who not only captured the sunlight filtering through the trees, but captured the Light from within.

Needless to say, we highly recommend Reminisce if you need a family photographer in the San Diego area.

Hope you don't mind a photo overload. #sorrynotsorry

A sorority sister who is a two-time breast cancer survivor told me recently that there are positive aspects to this journey and that I will find them. I believe her. Even though this is a trial and I hate the way it's hurting the people I love, I am seeing so much good in others. I feel so loved by the well-wishes in the form of texts, emails and messages... People have cooked and cleaned for us, babysat during my doctor's appointments, and offered everything from rides to the hospital to doctor referrals to assistance with insurance paperwork to donated breastmilk for Milo. I only hope that someday, in some small way, I'm able to adequately show appreciation for these acts that deepen my faith in humanity. Until then, I'm going to hold these two handsome gentlemen close and appreciate every moment -- even the crying, teething baby at 3:00am.

With love and light,

Easy Riders.

So E and I had been talking a lot about how nice it would be to take up bike riding. Not in a Lance Armstrong-way, just something that would be great to do on all the beautiful-weather days we have around here.

We figured the pros were:

1. It's healthy.
2. Once you get past the initial cost, it's relatively cheap (we have tons of bike paths near the beach and a really nice one at the lake literally  next door to our house).
3. It would be nice to start something as a couple that we can continue to enjoy later on as a family (I'm already picturing how cute he would be with a baby seat on the back or towing one of those kids' trailers).

There's probably others.

Anyways, since I had a few-years old beach cruiser still at my mom and dad's house (they upgraded my basket as a surprise and my brother so nicely gave it a tune-up-----THANK YOU!!!), I had decided I wanted to get him one for his birthday. After making sure we could afford it, I dropped a million hints when we saw cool bikes like "Hey, look at that cool one with the blue wheels." Honestly for as smart as he is he just does not pick up on little things like that, otherwise I'd have been worried he knew what was coming. :)

So I had a pretty good idea of what he'd want -- sleek and sporty -- and what we could manage, cost and maintenance-wise. As much as I try not to shop at WalMart because, stick it to the man, I ended up there looking at exactly what I had in mind. It was slightly on sale at the time so it was right in the range of what I wanted to spend and it had overall great reviews dating back a couple years (I read them all). From what I read from previous customers, it wasn't going to win you the Tour de France or do a good job of going up and down mountains, but was good for rides around the neighborhood or boardwalk -- perfect. They also said it was easy to assemble and to customize with various parts, if you so desired. And so with E still working during the week in LA for another couple weeks so I knew I could make it a surprise, I hit "order" and eagerly awaited the free warehouse-to-store pickup delivery.

When I went to pick it up, oh man. The box barely fit in the shopping cart. And because I was driving the old Corolla, I wasn't sure I'd get it home, either. But love conquers all and I wedged it into the backseat. :)

Also, I carried it down the block into our living room. It wasn't that it was excessively heavy, just that I couldn't get my arms all the way around it (for reference, see below). Should've planned better but that's how I live.

It came partially assembled, thank goodness, and I'm proud to say that I put the rest of it together myself. #IDidIt  Most of my assembly experience comes from Ikea furniture so this was a lesson in following directions written in actual words and not with little stick figure suggestions. Oh yeah, I dropped it on myself at one point and my entire leg was bruised but since I have a tendency to walk into furniture, doorways, etc. he didn't think this was weird, either.

before...

after!!!

Then I had to hide it. Even though E was gone during the week he was still home Friday night - Sunday afternoon and it was two weeks before his birthday. Amazingly, I got it into our closet. We have one of those shallow closets with sliding doors that runs the length of the wall and it is STUFFED because it's basically the only closet we have (#FirstWorldProblems), so I had to move the rolls of wrapping paper and our suitcase... and again, my darling thought nothing of the extra clutter in our room (and never opened that side of the closet since it mostly contains lesser-used things like winter coats, dressy clothes, and the aforementioned wrapping paper and suitcase.

The morning of his birthday he ran to the store for milk (thanks, babe!) and I quickly wrangled the bike back out so that it was right in front of the door when he walked back in. And he was surprised! It was so fun. I got a "WTF" out of him. He had nooooo idea that a bike had been hiding behind his khakis and a shoe rack.

How cute is he?
Also is that a shadow or giant stain on the side of the couch? :|

And so we ride! We've been to Mission Bay a few times now (the aforementioned miles of nice bike paths) and I've been riding around the lake quite a bit. And with summer coming I look forward to really taking advantage of being able to explore the beaches, neighborhoods, and other trails. The thing we're still trying to figure out is where to store them---I'd like to keep them covered on our patio but I've also looked at those cool wall-mounted racks. Any suggestions for keeping two bikes in a small-ish apartment?

What about you? Any avid cyclists or just weekend warriors? Anyone making a bike purchase any time soon? I can say that E really likes his, we did change out the seat to a wider, cruiser-style one because the original was waaay to narrow to be comfortable for anyone who has a butt, of any kind.

Happy Trails!