If you're in Seattle, you make every RAY of sunshine count!
When the weatherman presented the weekend forecast, we knew we had to take advantage of the stellar weather. Dave planned a bike ride to Sultan with Bret, and then we'd meet up later to spend the afternoon at Phantom Lake. And quite fortuitously for me (not sure if Dave thinks so now!), Dave's brother randomly called up last night and offered to take Benjamin over to the lake so that we Dave & I could bike over there together.
With all of that mileage, Dave was in for nearly a Century ride today. He logged in about 50 miles with the morning ride. Because we don't own a bike rack (yet), he then rode down to his parents' home in Edmonds where I was waiting for him. I'd driven down there with Benjamin and my bike in tow, did the hand-off with Jon and waited for Dave to roll in. By the time he arrived, he was at 65 miles... and he was pretty darn tired, as you can imagine. But, being the supportive husband that he is, he jumped back on his bike and rode with me from Edmonds to Phantom Lake/Bellevue, which brought his grand total to 90!
I loved the ride, while - unfortunately - Dave was cramping up and fighting the urge to spew. At one point, he "hit a wall" and told me to go on ahead and he'd catch up. It was a long straight-away, so I pulled out all the stops. With his bike computer hitting 17mph, he figured I had sailed past him a good 5 mph faster. Letting loose like that felt amazing, but that doesn't even begin to describe it: the bike felt good and I felt good on it. I LOVE ride days like that! The one minor issue happened on a short, steep pitch; while pushing hard up the hill, my back wheel caught a patch of slippery moss and I became well-acquainted with a prickly blackberry bush. Besides a few scratches across my shin and knee, I came away no worse for the wear.
We finally rolled into Ruthie's driveway, after ~90 minutes in the saddle. Jon was a rockstar babysitter/amazing uncle: he changed Benjamin into swim clothes, then took him for a swim, gave him lunch, spread out a blanket and played catch with him for several hours. Seriously, I could have kissed him for being so wonderful - except that would have been a bit awkward. And wildly inappropriate. But still, he totally ranked high in my book today. Dave and I really needed that time.
While Dave collapsed from exhaustion, I jumped into the lake with Benjamin, Alice and Lucy and loads of fun flotation devices. We had a grand time splashing about and soaking in that luscious Vitamin D. Sadly, Benjamin was tired and still feeling a bit under the weather, so I took him out and let him cozy up with Dave to warm up. He perked up right away and spent the rest of the afternoon in the sand pit with all of the cousins.
Finally, dinner time! With Ben and Kathleen just returning from their anniversary get-away, "the kids" sort of threw together a spontaneous barbecue. We had hamburgers, turkey burgers, chips, broccoli salad, chicken, watermelon, pineapple and frosted brownies. It was the perfect way to cap off a wonderful day in the sun.
That summer we've been asking for has finally come to Seattle and we are eking out every precious minute of it!
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