Weekend Recap: Birthdays and Bikes

Yet again, I am falling behind on my weekly post.  We really do not have much down time!  If we did, I like to think I would work out more than once every other month.  We keep saying we are going to start P90x or Insanity one of these days.  On to the weekend.  It was fairly low-key, which was nice.  On Friday, Benji and I went to see great grandma.  My dad made her a DVD of Benji YouTube videos, but  nothing beats a live visit!  She loves him SO much.  She talks to his picture everyday and tells him to be a good boy.  He always listens!  His cousins and Auntie Anna were also there, so he was loving life.

When he wasn't engaged in convos with his cousins, he was quite busy playing with each and every toy.  He also had to make sure to show off all of his new tricks, especially standing, walking, and clapping!

On Saturday, it was Ben's first friend birthday party!  His buddy turned one!  Obviously neither of the little ones really knew what was going on, but Ben was loving all of the kids and the new toys.  He was smiling the whole time and he made SO many friends!  I could learn a lesson or two from him!  He loves people, but he especially loves other kids.  I had to refrain from going into mama bear mode when one of the kids took a toy from him, but thankfully he did not seem to mind.  Andy and I could have watched him play for hours.

We made last minute plans to go out on the town on Saturday night.  Our friend made some birthday plans, and we were fortunately able to find a sitter on short notice.  (Everyone wants to hang out with Ben!)  It was nice to have a grown up night!  We had a nice dinner on the river before hitting up a few more bars.  I can't remember the last time we had a night like that, but we had a blast.

Sunday consisted of lots of running errands and shopping.  I just have to brag about the amazing deals I got at the Gap.  I bought $145.00 worth of stuff (original, full prices) for.....$1.40!!!  Everything I bought was on sale, and then there was 40% off of sale, and then I had a $20 rewards coupon that just so happened to double that day, bringing my total down to less than a cup of coffee.  I just love a good deal and this might be my best story yet.  I will have to figure out how to get the stores to pay me to shop. :)

Although I still am was pretty pumped about my steal of a purchase, the biggest excitement of the day was our bike ride.  We have been wanting to get into biking for the longest time.  I recently bought a bike on Craigslist and Andy had his bike tuned up.  My cousins gave us their old bike carrier.  Three new bike helmets later, we were ready to go, in theory anyway.  Since we couldn't get the carrier on Andy's bike, we ended up putting it on mine.  We initially had big plans to bike to get some froyo and and then to grocery shop at Trader Joe's, but after my bike essentially broke going up the first big hill, we ended up just stopping at a nearby park.  I am really hoping that it is an easy fix, but we couldn't figure it out.  I am also hoping that I did not buy a lemon!  Although it was a bummer that my bike wasn't working, if you ask Ben, the biggest tragedy was having to wear a helmet for the ride.

We ultimately gave him a break from the helmet when I looked back and realized that the helmet was completely covering his little face.  Luckily (or unfortunately) I had to walk my bike which I decided is essentially like pushing a stroller, therefore he didn't need the helmet.

Although he pitched the most dramatic fit of his life, his sadness became a thing of the past when we got to the park.  Clearly, he forgave us for torturing him.  Although this little adventure was less than perfect, we are going to try again soon.  I was loving it when my bike was actually working.  Plus biking is much needed and greatly missed exercise.

Thanks for trying to fix my new bike, babe!

I am going to continue to try and write more often, but I guess it is actually more important to DO fun things than it is to write about it.  Ben had a surgery follow-up appointment today, and I hope to write about that tomorrow.