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I. Prologue

As you may know, I've been planning to take Corbin bike-camping this summer. We'd practiced sleeping in the tent, without success. We tried again last week, and again were unsuccessful. Continually with this mentality that we are "playing" sleep-in-the-tent. So I was a little worried. But I made a reservation! And reservations at state parks are annoying! So we were going!

II. Also

We are bike travelers. We camp by bike. We tour by bike. It's something we like to do. Erin and I have done it, and I've done it without the family.

People have told me, when Corbin was born, and with Eliza, that "your life's gonna change." And that's true. My life has changed (obviously). But not in the way "those people" think. I will not stop doing the things I like to do. I refuse to do that. But I will change so that I can do those things in a new way, a whole-fam-damly way. So life changes, yes. But the main way it changes is that now I load up my bike with stuff, and then hook a trailer to the back.

III. Day One: Home to Larrabee State Park

Miles: 14.04 (14.04 total) Riding time: 1:25:49
Trains: 5

We left home after Corbin's nap, which he miraculously took to early and well. The night before he had been a wreck because he wanted to go camping "Right now! Ride bike right now!" In the morning we had to tell him the campground was closed for us until after nap to get him to shut up about it stop fussing about it.

My plan was to ride to Fairhaven mostly by road, and then take the Interurban Trail the rest of the way to Larrabee. This was partially successful.

The trail from Fairhaven to Arroyo Park was excellent. Very flat, very easy. I passed a bike commuter. I...er...wasn't keeping track of who passed me. Anyway, at Arroyo Park the trail became suddenly treacherous. Impassable by kid-trailer. So onto the road I go.

This was kind of annoying, since the main reason to take the trail was to avoid a narrow, curvy, uphill section of Chuckanut Drive. And this was exactly what I had to go up, now that I was back on the road. Ah well. Traffic wasn't too bad. And I did have two flags.

After surviving the least pleasant part of Chuckanut Dr., I rejoined the Interurban. Very nice. Until.

Sigh. Such good intentions they had. A fresh layer of gravel covered the trail. Perfect for walkies. But for me, with my touring tires, it was a bit mushy and pretty slow going. First chance I had, I abandoned the trail for good.

And then we arrived. Corbin hadn't fussed at all the entire ride. I had fussed more, actually.

We had a snack of breadsticks as we set up the tent, and then headed down to the beach to put our feet in.

Feet in

Rocks

Corbin on rocks

Snack on the way back to the campsite

Contemplating a slug's life

When we got back to the campsite, Corbin's friend Alden and his dad Eric had arrived. Eric just finished climbing some really tall mountain around here, and was a little tired for biking and/or camping, but they'll make it next time. It was still fun that they got to come have dinner with us!

They had the fire going when we got there, so we got straight down to what boys do. Poking sticks at fire. Alden and Corbin were both well behaved and kept a safe distance, for the most part.

Cooking dinner

At some point Corbin lost his shirt. And by "lost" I mean refused to keep it on.

"Seriously! I have no idea how all this dirt got on me! It was on the ground, and now it's on me! It's a mystery!"

Corbin got to have s'mores for the first time. He found them delicious and sticky. And his first line after finishing? "I want some more." I didn't give him any more because he didn't say it right. OK. I gave him half of one, and I ate the other half as a language-precision-penalty.

Alden and Eric left around 9(?). We packed some things up and headed down to the bathroom for diaper changes and teeth brushing and what-have-you.

Secret weapon for tent success: Lightstick

We got in the tent about 9:45. No sense going to bed at a reasonable hour. We read some books and sang some songs. We played with the lightstick, which I eventually had to put away. Corbin has only slept with us a couple of times, mostly with Erin on trips. Never in a tent. I wasn't sure exactly how (if?) it would work. He decided he didn't want his sleeping bag, for one. He used his blanket. And then he proceeded to lay on my arm, on my chest, on my neck. To climb over me to the other side. It finally ended up something like this:

Tent wall--Corbin--Me--Corbin's pad--Corbin's sleeping bag--Tent wall

I estimate it was between 10:30 and 11:00 when he/we fell asleep. He never asked to go home or sleep in his bed. He said several times, unprompted, that he was "Having fun." So, I don't know, dodged a bullet?

Day Two: Larrabee State Park to Home

Miles: 12.21 (26.25 total) Riding time: 1:19:39
Trains: 2 (but also, foghorn!)

I don't really like sleeping in tents. Sleeping bags and pads don't really agree with me. But I survived.

I think I woke up at about 6. Corbin was covered in my sleeping bag, and I was spread across what part of my pad he gave me and his pad. I managed to nick some of my sleeping bag, too.

At about 6:30 Corbin woke up, said "Mommy go?"

"She's at home," I said. His response was to fall back to sleep.

At about 7:30 he woke up for good, and his first words were "Ready go home now." They were also his second four, his third four, and maybe his fourth four. Clearly, it was time to get moving.

We had instant oatmeal and bananas for breakfast. I had hot cocoa. It was chillier than I expected. Corbin insisted on sitting on my lap during breakfast. Also, triangular cups are awkward for drinking.

Once we were up and about and playing with a dead lightstick, spirits were a little better. To make sure I kept things moving along, Corbin decided to wear his helmet.

The ride back was uneventful. I skipped the Interurban altogether. Chuckanut was not too busy, and I took the lane down the curvy narrow part and made the Volvo behind me wait until we got to the bottom.

As we approached town I ran through several potential routes, all containing more hills than I preferred. I ended up zig-zagging through the cemetery to avoid steep uphill gravel trails. It worked out, but was a little haphazard. I also had to avoid playgrounds, since Corbin was informing me of his interest in getting out and playing at a playground, and I had no intention of stopping or increasing the intensity of his pleas.

We made it.

IV. Epilogue

My knees hurt a bit, despite not much riding, but it doesn't really seem like things went that much slower pulling a twenty pound trailer and a thirty pound boy. Slow patches were more because of the trail than the load.

Corbin went to sleep early for his nap. I will go to sleep early tonight.

Next year, Birch Bay. Who's coming?

1 month

Little Eliza was one month old yesterday!

She is starting to smile. She has dimples. She is hard to get to sleep unless you put her in the swing. She sleeps well at night and has been giving me a 5-6 hour stretch already! She grunts in the morning after her 2nd feeding, even though she is asleep, she keeps me awake. Corbin loves her.

Here is the post from when Corbin was one month old. Hopefully I will get some side by side shots to compare how similar or different were at around this time. Look how big he is now!

Mariner's Game

Sometime this past spring we decided it would be fun to take the boys to the baseball game. Sometime before there were two kids. But we did it anyway today and had a blast! We got tickets with Kevin, Becky, Brody and Aimee, Eric, Alden, and Uma. We told Corbin yesterday what we were doing. He wanted to leave right away. He got his shoes out and we found him a Mariner's hat to wear. He was ready. Since the game wasn't till today, we played some pretend baseball at home last night. We also had a plan to get Corbin to sleep in like he has been lately since he wouldn't get a nap because it was a day game. Of course he fell asleep really late last night and then woke up earlier than we wanted...oh well. We left Bellingham with 6 newborn diapers, 3 changes of clothes, just barely enough wipes, tons of food, rain coats, books, baseball hats, and more. Corbin spotted all the excavators along the way and Eliza slept the whole way (thank you!). As soon as we got to our parking spot I decided to nurse Eliza and give her some wiggle room before putting her in the Ergo. Corbin and Adam looked out the back of the car at all the trains going by. Eliza had some major gas yesterday and no poops (yes, we are talking about poop again). So I knew today might be bad. She started making a lot of farting noise and I decide to get an extra sweat shirt and put in on my lap, as I did not have a change of clothes. As I was doing this, Adam pointed out that she was already leaking and bad! I covered up just in time! We didn't get it on everything except her, my hands and a little on the sweat shirt. Change number one. We finally got walking to the game as the sun was coming out. She fell asleep right away and Corbin rode on Adam's shoulders. We got lucky and the bag checking lady gave each of the kids a baseball card because it was their first game. She also told us where to go and get certificates for them.

Brody came along later. They had fun climbing up and over the seats. Then Brody sat nicely in Kevin's lap while Corbin continued to do gymnastics on the bleachers. They switched hats, shared food, and had a good time screaming Mariners and just screaming in general. Alden was a little late joining us because he actually fell asleep in the car, so Aimee decided to let him sleep a while before coming into the game.

I am not quite sure what Brody is doing here... maybe getting ready to head butt...which they were doing but it's hilarious.

Some tummy time while at the game. She lasted just over an hour in the Ergo before over- heating and getting hungry again. She loved just looking around after that for quite a while.

Breast feeding mamas at the game!

Alden and Corbin got to dance with the Moose!

It was kids day, so we got to go and run around the bases on the field. The line was longer than we were expecting... but it went fast. At this point, Corbin was about ready to lose it. He didn't have a nap if you remember. Some kids get all cuddly when they are tired, like Brody. Corbin gets crazy. He wanted to run and run and run, not be held or hold hands.

Here he is all teary and had been crying because he wanted to go back out onto the field. He was trying really hard to say "cheese" and be happy but it was hard.

Sorry for all the bumps, it was too hard not to laugh!

We made it back to the car. Adam was awesome at carrying Corbin even in his completely melted down state. Eliza stayed mostly asleep during the whole base running and standing in line episode. We had a little nurse and hopped in the car to go to get burgers at Dick's Drive-in. We called Kevin and Meghan on our way there to say we would be in town. Eric and Aimee parked next to us and we had a car picnic of burgers and shakes. More nursing, another change of clothes and some crying by a melting down little boy and we started back up to Bham. Corbin did not fall asleep and mostly whined the whole way back up while Eliza went in and out of sleep amazingly enough without crying. And phew, we made it home! What an adventure.

Pajama time

Purple mouths, babies, beaches, birthdays, and family

I barely have time to brush my teeth between nursing every two hours, playing with Corbin, eating food, trying to get a baby to sleep (or toddler for that matter), and trying to take a nap, let alone blog. But here are a few pictures I have been wanting to post.

Book club babies.

Wanna be just like Daddy.

Corbin and Brody at Baylor's Beach Birthday party.

Baylor joins in on the fun.

I had some signs of Thrush on my nipples and Eliza on her tongue. It's a kinda of yeast. Not fun. Painful nursing. Again, another expectation I had, nursing would be easier this time. Not true. I am having lots of trouble with one nipple in particular. It makes for some very painful nursing. So my midwife prescribed Gentian Violet. It stains everything it touches purple. We had to paint her mouth purple and my nipples. It made for a very funny looking baby. She looked at times like she had drank too much grape Koolaide or was turning goth on us. The inside of her mouth was BRIGHT purple and it turned her lips purple. Right after nursing she would have this purple smudge around her whole mouth. We had to put this stuff on for 4 nights. It's just now going away on her outer lips. Luckily we didn't have to make too many public appearances were explaining was needed.

Oh yes, my beautiful baby! She will love this picture later in life :-)

Bath time for both kids!

I celebrated my 31st birthday last Friday! It was a great day. I woke up to waffles with raspberries and whipped cream for breakfast. Then I left the kids at home with Adam and his mom and went and got a pedicure and coffee with Jill and Aimee. Then came home and took a nice nap. We played outside and had a picnic of pizza on the lawn for dinner and chocolate wacky cake for dessert. Adam and Corbin made me wonderful cards. All in all it was a great birthday. My parents then came up for the weekend.

Buppa and Corbin. Corbin would not let us take a picture with his Webcyclery shirt and his bike. But we got this one. Someday we will get a good one so he can be posted on Buppa's blog.

She was 3 weeks yesterday. Wow. Where has the time gone? She is almost smiling at us. Corbin is being a great big brother and a pain in the but two year old at times. Bed time seems to be especially tough. I find myself saying "no" a lot and he just does the exact opposite of what I want him to do... ah the Two's. I had both kids on my own for 20 minutes today. Small steps. Ok. It's bed time...