A Bike Ride to the Inside of My Head

One of our favorite activities to do outside when the weather is nice, is to go to the church and let the kids ride their bikes in the parking lot. Usually several of us from preschool group go together so that the moms have something to do while the kids are riding. The kids love having an almost unlimited amount of space to ride in.

Ivan did so good today on his little trike. He's usually the slowest when we ride to the church (since all the other kids who have bikes have pedals), and it doesn't help that he gets distracted by the rocks and sticks and whatever else he can see on the ground. But today he did so well. And although he and I were still the last ones, we were right behind everyone else. And he stayed on his bike all the way to the church. Usually about half way there, he decides he'd rather walk. But today he went the whole way. Hooray Ivan!

His birthday is this Friday, and I still can't believe it. I should though, because already those terrible twos have started creeping in. Ivan is in the top bunk of the bunk beds. The bedroom is small enough that no matter where in the room the bunk beds are placed, he can reach the light fixture. So every time he's in his bed (nap time and bed time), almost without fail, he unscrews the light bulbs and drops them on the ground. Only one has ever shattered, but dropping them breaks the filament, and then the light bulbs are no good. We're a little bit hesitant to leave the light bulbs out, because if the light switch was on and he stuck his fingers in the light socket it would electrocute him. But due to the tab we're racking up replacing light bulbs, we have currently removed all the light bulbs and duct taped the light switch down. They don't get much natural light coming into their window because there's a fence about 3 feet outside of it, so now that we can't use the lights, their bedroom feels like a cave. When he can't unscrew light bulbs, he eagerly pulls down the curtain rod, which he can also reach from his bed. I'm hoping the boy's bedroom in our new place is big enough to eliminate these issues. I can't wait to move...

But then I see pictures like this one above, my two boys and their pal Nathan, and these below, of a lot of the kids in our complex, some of which have already moved, and those of us who will be shortly, and those staying, and the picture even further below of some of my girl's night buddies...and I am reminded how much I am really going to miss the people here, even if I won't miss the apartment itself.

(thanks Cali for letting me take these last few off of your blog)

And so it happens, that I can start a post with the intent of writing about a bike ride on a lovely afternoon, and end up reminiscing and all sentimental due to the upcoming move. :) Welcome to the inside of my head.

Moving is so interesting. On one hand it's so exciting and so wonderful to (finally!) be moving on with life. But then on the other hand, you think of all the wonderful friends you've been surrounded with and you just want to pack them up and take them with you, and all live in the same neighborhood. At this point it would be a pretty big neighborhood with my good friends from high school and freshman year at college, two of my sister-in-laws that were my neighbors in Phoenix, my ward family from those eight months in Texas, and now all the wonderful friends that I've met here in the last three years, not to mention our family members. But I think about all of you a lot and the things that I've learned from you. I'm glad we sort of get to keep in touch through Facebook and blogging, but it's not the same. And so I think about what it would be like if all the people I love and care about lived in the same neighborhood...I like the idea.