Biking Family

Marty and I have been biking all of our lives. We both learned when we were 7 or 8 and in elementary school rode pretty much everyday. Back then it wasn't for exercise or our health, it was because that was what kids did. You rode to school, rain or shine. You rode to your friends house. You rode to the local grocery store to pick up bread or milk for your mom. You rode to get away from your siblings. And most of all you rode to just ride.

Somewhere between the late 70's/early 80's to the present, riding has disappeared from most kids lives. There are a lot of boys still riding but not young girls. When you go to an elementary school, check out the bike rack. Or do they even have a bike rack? Ours does but there maybe 4 or 5 bikes in there each day. Most of the kids are driven by their mom or they ride a bus. They ride a bus in a subdivision that the school is in that there is only one way out of and the school is at the entrance. They ride a bus from the farthest point of this subdivision which is maybe 1/4 of a mile. What has happened that our kids don't ride bikes to school?

Mine do not simply because we don't live in a subdivision but instead we live on one of the busyiest two lane narrow shoulder highways in Arkansas and are three miles from the school with no back rodes that would be safe to ride because of all the speeding drivers.

But I degress. Because my husband and I grew up with bikes as feet, when our daughters got to the point they could peddle, they were given there first bikes. It was slow going getting them from bikes with training wheels to straight up two wheels but three years ago we were successful. We have spent the last three now getting them to learn to pick up their pace and go longer distance. Now we're not talking miles upon miles, we're just talking 1 or 2 along the River Trail in NLR. Well, this year their heights (because my girls are not going to be short women) we had to upgrade their bikes. We had upgrade Dad's from the Wal-Mart special to a GT two August ago and he had been telling me how much easier and faster it was but bikes are now expensive and I just knew he was full of crap. Well two Saturday's ago, after the girls had biked the 14 miles from the NLR submarine up to the NLR side of the Big Dam Bridge and back and my baby is complaining of how much her back hurts and I've watched my eleven year who is only 8" shorter then me with her knees almost up to her chin, my mind was made up. We were not going biking again until those girls had bikes that fit their frame. Both were on 20" tires on 9 to 10" frames. What in the world was I thinking. Well, we started looking at the lower end markets (Wal-Mart, Academy Sports and the like) but my husband was not satisfied with anything. We made our way to Arkansas Cycling and Fitness and both girls with in minutes had picked Trek's that they were in love with. The guy (and forgive me because I'm terrible with names) that helped us was a true doll. He helped us size the girls and made recommendations for them. The girls got exactly the bike they wanted but in their size. One is now on a 26" tire and 15" frame and the other is on a 26" tire and 13" frame.

Well, we had to take those for a spin, so we loaded them in the truck and headed out to the trail right then. The girls took off like rockets. Now Mom is still on a Roadmaster from Wal-Mart and Marty and the girls are sporting aluminum frames and gears that shift with a press of the thumb. I had to work hard to keep up. It was a labor of love but it was labor. The girls were all smiles and no complaints about my back is hurting.

Lucky for me, I'm the special girl in my husbands life, because he couldn't stand it that I had to work so hard to keep up. Saturday, he purchased me a Specialized bike from the same guy at Arkansas Cycling and Fitness. I'm not a high tech bike sort of girl. All I really care about is will it shift gears with ease, will it travel down the trail and what color it is. I've been looking at the bike and the adult women are just not appealing to me. Well my fabulous husband did great. This one has all the tech stuff he wants me to have and I got a color that I can stand (metalic baby blue) and gears that shift without throwing a chain or having to wait on them to change.

I had to pick the bike up yesterday because it wasn't even on the showroom floor. The awesome guy had to put it together for me. That's a first for me. Well the girls and I meet Marty at the Submarine after work and we hit the trail. Man, what a difference. Other then my butt hurting because of a different saddle, that was awesome. We cruised down to the bridge and back and it was just fabulous. I even passed Marty and Em going up one of the hills because they were going to slow. That is a huge improvement.

Wow. Thanks Arkansas Cycling and Fitness for helping get us on the trail even more. I can't wait until 5:00 pm tonight.

Celebrating

Today has been a really good day for me and tonight is going to be even better.

I have been working on a project at work for about a year now and I finally had a huge break in the work yesterday. Today I got to make my boss' weekend by telling him about yesterday. That is really a nice feeling. Though I'm a long way from finish with the complete project, I'm a heck of a lot closer. I've been feeling like I've been spinning my wheels for months now and have hated going to work but this makes it so much better. I don't feel like I'm banging my head on the wall and a project can go out to the field in stages so that they know that we really are working on helping them. Guess I just needed a boost to my professional ego because I was really wondering if I wanted to continue to be a professional.

As for tonight, my wonderful "sisters" are taking me out for my birthday. It was last Thursday but schedules (and this time it wasn't mine) wouldn't allow it. So we are going to have a girls night out and go have a relaxing dinner at Chili's. Now, does anyone know where my Zyrtec is so I can enjoy having a DD for the evening? (THANKS Tammie) For those of you who don't know, I've developed an allergy in the last few years that causes me to sneeze and have a runny nose and not be able to breathe clearly when I consume adult beverages. This is not very much fun when I just want to drink even one glass of wine or one margarita (my favorite adult beverage).

That's okay, I'm planning on having a really good time because I will be with all my besties. Well, almost all my besties, because there are a few that will be missing tonight but I know they will be with our celebration in spirit.

Watching my daughter play

It is very interesting to me to watch my daughters play. At the moment, I'm setting in a hotel room in Branson watching Erin play with her best friend Elena. The pretend world of 8 years is so amazing. Tonight is Beverly Hills Chihuhu with Elena being the beverly hills prima donna and Erin her trusty servant.

It is funny to hear pretend phone calls to the front desk because the dog food isn't prime rib or because the plate is just a common kitchen plate. I know they get this from the show but really where do they get this.

I love to watch them though because they are so innocent.

Just another month in the Bowie house

It's not that I have a boring life but that it's just isn't all that interesting when I decide to post. Guess I could start with catching you up from my last post.

Several things have happened that I'd like to share.

Erin has ran her first 1 mile race. On March 14th, she, along with her fellow students in the running club at Magness Creek, participated in the Little Rockers Marathon. Though she didn't run the whole thing, she did get away from the TV and participated. She really has enjoyed running club this year and her Daddy is so very excited that he has decided that he would start running with her. Not a lot of running has been done yet, so don't be looking for them in the next Marathon, but who knows.

I don't know if I mentioned it before but in January Emily took the Duke Tip Explorer ACT test. This is offered to GT students as a challenge and a gage as to where they are at an early age. We received her test scores finally and out of a possible total composit score of 25, Emily scored 20. She made a perfect score in one part of the English and a 99% on the second part of the English.

Marty and I are so blessed to have two wonderful students.

The girls and I finally talked Marty into a new dog. On Saturday the 4th of April, we went to the Cabot City Animal Shelter and adopted a 4 month old German Shepard/Boxer mix. The girls named her Ginger and she is one sweet pup. She is an indoor/outdoor dog at the moment and is doing very well. She has learned to sit and not doing to bad on the house breaking. The biggest obstacle is her and Snowbelle. They will come to terms soon enough but it does get interesting if someone accidently lets go of Ginger's leash and Snowbelle is in the same room.

My junior troop has finished it's Bronze Award. WaaHoo. This is a big first step for them and has been a small chore this years due to some lack of planning on my part, but it is now done and all the girls will be receiving their Bronze pin on May 17th from the council.

Emily and Erin will both be bridging to the next level of scouts this year. Emily is becoming a Cadette and Erin is becoming a Junior. It is amazing to me at how much they love scouts. It is so much fun watching them and listening to them as they explore new things through scouts.

Well, Emily and Chip Bredfield and family are moving to Arkansas. On May 15th they will arrive from Germany. Chip and Emily were just here to find a house and their prayers were answered as they are now owners of a beautiful house on the south side of town. My only dislike of the house is it's location (the south side of town) but it is gorgous. My girls are so excited about them getting that house because it has an awesome playhouse that came with it and there is talk of a pool. We keep telling Emily and Erin that it isn't their house but Chip and Emily may be finding themselves with 6 daughters insted of 4. LOL. Sorry Chip.

I got to see Tiffany!!!!!! It was a whirl wind visit but I got to see and hug and chat with Tiffany. It's amazing at how fast that visit went by. She is looking good and the kids have grown sooooo much. Alexis is 2 or 3" taller then Emily. Course we knew she would be tall but gees. I've got a really good photo of Emily and Alexis going through Emily's yearbook from last year. I'll post it soon.

We had a wonderful Good Friday service on our church property. Some 50+ people were there and the service was awesome. The Men's Ministry did a fabulous job cleaning up the property for the service and though somewhat cold, the fire was perfect.

More Good News

I love getting good news.

The Bredfields are 90% sure that they will be moving back to Arkansas and most importantly to Cabot. Their move date is May which they know for sure but the paperwork with the actual location hasn't hit their hands yet.

In 2002 when I watched them drive out of my driveway headed to Valdosta, I felt like they were driving out of my life. To say my heart was breaking was putting it mildly. From all my past experiences, I knew that the promises to stay in touch and remain good friends were just that, promises. Though I prayed for it to be different, because these friends felt more like family then just friends, I just couldn't help but fear change.

Well it's 2009 and the feelings for this family haven't changed. They are still like family to my family and I can not wait to have them in driving distance again. I can't wait to spend time watching our kids play together, going to each others house for lunch or dinner, and just plain spending time with Emily. Now, I'm sure that it will never be like it was before because we have all changed. It has been 7 years after all, but it will be much easier being in the same time zone to share the experiences of our lives. And who knows, maybe the experiences that have changed us will have changed us all for a better relationship together.

I really looking forward to talking to Emily about something that is very important to me and that I think she will enjoy. Not that I couldn't share it with her where she is now but I really want to experience it WITH her and for that to happen she must be here. So for now, I wait.

But the main point now is finding a house for their needs and then getting them safely here. Prayers, prayers and more prayers.

Thank you God for another wonderful gift. The gift of friendship you have given me that has helped me grow and learn that even through distance, true friendship can grow and thrive. This gift has been a blessing and a source of peace in dealing with the transfer of another true friend just last year.

Life is a circle. Let it go and through love it will come back to you.