1. St. Patrick's Day? No

2. How many miles 120,000 and 244,000

3. this season? Tennis

4. spring break? Mine, this week. The boys, 4/19 to 4/23

5. best practical advice -- keep talking.


Hello all! The boys and I had a great day yesterday! A wet muddy bicycle ride out to some great rocks on the beach and then back again. We passed within 30 feet of a herd of elk, checked out three waterfalls, dodged blackberry vines and stinging nettle, and tried (unsuccessfully) not to stall-out in deep mud.

Not all was well all the time. With three very different boys, no one activity will thrill or amaze all three at any one time. One will always be "bored", one will throw himself into it at full speed, and one will ask what planet are we on today. Alex was almost to tears he was so mad that he got his shoe wet (at the first creek of the day), and why didn't anyone tell him that it was going to be muddy and so on and so on, and do we have to go any further? By halfway he was blasting through the water and having a ball. One just has to ride out the complaints, there are other issues involved, and if one just keeps it positive and refrain from comments that make it worse, it eventually does get better.

But a good time was had by all and we got a lot of exercise (it was only 5 miles or so round trip) on an incredible sunny Humboldt County winter's day. Took full advantage of the that new extra hour of daylight!

Vaughn