"The Best Day of My Life!"

At least that's what Pen said at the end of the day today.  Rophone has been working a lot of weekends and usually has band practice on Saturday mornings, so for us to have a complete day to spend together as a family is definitely a novelty.  We decided to make the most of it. 

First thing this morning, Rophone took Pen and the boys to pick up the new bike we purchased for Pen yesterday.  The shop made some adjustments and added a bell.  Pen's first word (besides Mom, Dad and Hi) was "bike", so to say she was excited is an understatement.  I can't believe she's 9 1/2 and can ride a bike only one frame size smaller than mine.  I think I may end up being the shortest in the family again.

After picking up the bike, we headed out to have some creative fun.  My youngest sister (we'll call her Auntie Art) teaches high school art, so we went to her school to see what we could create.  While I threw a pot on the wheel Auntie Art and the kids had a blast working with clay and painting pictures.

Here is one of Pen's creations (a bird):

Ginger made a snowman with a long carrot nose.

Bud and his ladybug.

A great mask that Pen created.  I'll post a picture of the finished product in a few weeks.

After working with clay the kids got a chance to paint.

Ginger is having a good time.

Today was the first really good day for a bike ride.  Warm enough that the wind wasn't cutting, yet cool enough that you wouldn't get sweaty, and since Pen has her new bike we decided to take advantage.  So, after lunch, the 3 older kids rode around the block again, and again....and again.  Ginger is a little worried about learning to ride without training wheels, so we allowed her to ride her old bike one last time.

All of the kids loved the bike ride, especially Bud.  He must have gone around the block 10 times.  They rode for about an hour and a half .  Trying to get Bud inside took a little persuading, and then once we got him in he wanted to keep his helmet on.  He was so proud of himself....I think he just wanted to keep living the moment.  He ended up wearing the helmet through snack-time, to Costco (where we saw a Joey Buttafuoco look-alike), during dinner and to the grocery store.  He finally allowed me to remove it to get him ready for bed.  Bud wore the helmet for 5 1/2 hours!!!  Gives new meaning to hat head.

We are really beginning to realize how much we enjoy being together as a family.  Hopefully we'll have another free Saturday soon so we can have more fun.  I told Pen how sad I will be when she doesn't want to hang out with the family anymore.  She looked at me like I was talking crazy. How I wish I were.