I almost hit a squirrel...

With my bike!

Ben and I live quite close to an entrance to the bike trails. He decided to go for a ride this afternoon, so Katie and I joined him. Let me tell you, this mom is WAY out of shape. I was really feeling the hills. But, they are quite steep when you get to one part of the trail.

We rode a total of 6.1 miles and I only walked up four hills. I was able to get up the smaller ones, but the ones out of the creek crossings were mighty difficult.

Anyway, the last time we rode this particular section, we saw some people stopped looking at something. Ben found out they were looking at an albino squirrel. How often do you see an albino squirrel? Not often. So, we got to see him (or her) also. He was pure white with the red eyes. To me, he looked more fluffy than the regular ones we see around here. So that was then.

Today, we were approaching the area where we saw him the last time and we were talking about if we'd see the white guy again. We didn't see him. Made us wonder if he was still around or not. We kept going and went a little further on the trail this time. We we turned around to come back home, I was leading. I was kind of looking nonchalantly to my left into the woods and saw something white out of the corner of my eye on the right. I first thought it was a piece of paper or something blowing onto the trail. My initial reaction was to brake so I wouldn't hit it. It was a good thing I braked because if I hadn't, I may have run over the albino squirrel. If I would have hit it, I would have been very upset. I don't want to be the one responsible for killing an oddity of nature!

So, the question about the continued exsistance of the albino squirrel was answered. He is still very much alive, unless he had a heart attack.

Ben got me a MP3 player for our anniversary. It took me a long time to start using it, but I am using it a lot now. I really enjoy it! Especially since the lab can be kind of noisy at times, I just put on the tunes and go into my own world. Ben loaded it up for me and there are a lot of Bare Naked Ladies songs on there. I am ready for a change though. Does anyone want to put some tunes on for me? I am up for anything.

I love Ben

Ben, you make me laugh. You are such a goofball sometimes and I love it!

Is anybody out there?

It's been kind of quiet around here. Is anybody still reading this blog? If you are still around, leave a comment some time! I miss hearing from people.

Happy Father's Day

Today marks Ben's second father's day and a whole lot more for my dad. These two men are wonderful fathers.

When I was a little girl, I remember going to a Daddy/Daughter thing at church. I don't remember all that we did, but I know that it was just the two of us. I don't know if this was the first "date" we had, but it definitely wasn't the last. Some of my fondest memories include date nights with my dad. We would usually go to dinner then take in a show of some kind, usually a concert. It always made me feel like I was worth more than a million bucks. My dad has always made me feel special and I know he would do anything for me, even now. My dad taught me how to enjoy life, how to appreciate the little things. He taught me how to swing a hammer and how to fix a sqeaky floor. My dad has deep well of knowledge that I have tapped many times. He helped nurture my love of music and the arts.

I love you dad!

Ben is a great daddy to Katie. When he gets home and Katie hears the front door unlock, she will stop whatever she is doing and run to him. He scoops her up and they give each other loves. To see them so excited to see each other is such a wonderful thing! Ben will get down on the floor and play with Katie and she just loves it. She will take his hat and he'll let her. He'll even put it on her head. I can see the love he has for our little girl and it makes my heart swell. My wish for Ben as a father to Katie is for her to have such fond memories of him as I have for my dad. I think she is well on her way.

I love you Ben!

Here's to you daddy!

Numbers and stuff

When I got into the car after dropping Katie off this morning, I looked at my odometer. It said 77999. I had a full house! Then, I was stopped at the stop sign and looked down and it was 78000. I actually saw two interesting mile markers in a row. Yea for me!

Bible school ended last night. It was a very tiring week. But, I think Katie had fun. Every night we'd walk in to the church and she would see the balloons on the ceiling and point and laugh. She loves balloons! Or, as she calls them, boon. Not too bad for a 16 month old!

I normally do not take her to the nursery during church, but let her go several times this week. She now knows where the toys are and wants to go to the room every time we are there. Oh well. I am trying to teach her that when we are in church, she needs to sit with me and stay quiet. Trying is the operative word here. I know it's hard for her to sit still for that long, but at least we can try, right? I don't want her to be causing a commotion every time. Why not start early with the manners?

So during the week, the kids were collecting their coins for Heiffers International with the hopes of buying a cow through this organization for a needy family in another country. The kids needed $500 to get a cow. They got over $700 at last count and that wasn't tallying the money brought in last night. I think that is so very cool! A little birdy told me that Katie brought in the most coins-1270! It was mostly pennies, but every cent counts!

Numbers

I like numbers. I like counting. So, last weekend, I was very excited about the numbers in my car. I looked at the odometer and it said 77772. Just 5 more miles and it would be 77777. When I saw that, I thought "I should take a picture of this for my blog." Isn't that totally geeky of me? But, I didn't remember to take the camera with me and I didn't even think of it until after I got home from the grocery store. 77780. SHOOT!! I missed it! I was actually a little upset that I didn't get to see it. Somehow, typing and seeing 77777 has made me feel better about it. Why didn't I write this post sooner?

Are you like me and count every step as you walk up? Or do you find yourself counting random things? I count so unconsciously that I don't realize I'm even counting at first. Even though I like counting, I have no desire to count to a million. I don't even want to type the number. Seeing all those zeros and commas makes my head hurt.

Okay, I'm tired. Gonna go count sheep. ;)

I love the internet!

I just want to say that the internet is a very cool thing. Especially blogs. What did we ever do without them? If I'm not careful, I could spend all day reading blogs. I have a bad (or is it good?) habit of finding a new blog link on a blog I currently am reading, check it out and then end up reading the ENTIRE account of this person's life on the internet. Sometimes I have to go back several years. This takes a long time.

But, I love people. I love knowing what is going on in people's lives. I don't claim to be a very social person, but I love people watching. I get this from my dad. We both like to sit and watch. Now, thanks to the internet, I sit and read!

Seriously, though. How often do you get the chance to learn about someone that lives several states or even countries away? I recently signed up on Swap-bot (Rachel and Travis's fun site) for a swap involving a magic yarn ball. The person I am sending to lives in New Zealand! How cool is that? How often can you say "I talked to someone from New Zealand today"?

Yea internet!