We had a terrific day! We enjoyed our second annual Mother’s Day brunch at The Dish in Ballard. We even had the same table by the window as last time. Baby Rijder made the most of his first M-Day brunch and repeatedly spun in his high chair to flirt with diners and waitresses behind us. He may have convinced our previously-done-with-kids waitress to have a third baby.

After brunch we rode to the Ballard Farmers Market where D and B split an ice cream sandwich. We also had to find every booth with radishes–Brandt is way into radishes after recently reading some Peter Rabbit books. He has no desire to eat radishes, but he really likes to point at them. He also did a lot of horsey dancing in front of some street musicians. I thought we’d never pull him away from them, but eventually we got back to the bikes and made our way to the locks.

We had hoped to hang out on the grass at the locks for a while, but it’s just so covered in goose poo as to make it not worth staying long. But Brandt ran up and down the steep hills for a bit and we watched lots of boats make their way through. Baby Rijder found the bottom rung of the metal fence the perfect height for holding while standing. Unfortunately it also proved the perfect height for creating a big welt on his head while toppling. Thank goodness for sun hats and their lump-hiding properties.

We rounded out our big day at Golden Gardens beach. I almost had a chance to take a leisurely nap on the shady grass, but I made the mistake of announcing “Baby Rijder is asleep in the Burley” within Brandt’s hearing so he promptly shook his baby brother awake. It’s hard to be too upset when Brandt looks so surprised and excited as he says, “Hey, Baby Rijder woke up!” We met a 10-month-old baby boy who had just started walking. I tried to keep Baby Rijder from watching him, but I think he saw what was going on. The dad admitted he tried to prevent the baby from walking by pushing him down. That’s not the first time I’ve heard that one.

In other exciting Mother’s Day news: I made it up Stone! But that was only because my Bianchi city bike is in the shop finally getting tuned up so I was on my Specialized road bike. It’s so much easier to go uphill on a road bike with SPDs, though it was still harder than last July 4th on the city bike. Go figure. We each had a trailer and one kid and it worked out well. Once the boys can sit next to each other in the big trailer, I might do more road bike riding.

Today was the Celebrate Urban Nature bash at the Magnuson Community Center and I made the mistake of thinking it’d be nice to ride the bike there. The good: Brandt got to try out his new Bobike wind shield and liked it, and I got to see a couple students doing the walk of shame as I pedaled past the university. The bad: it was more ride than I’m ready for. In retrospect, I see why this ride caused so many contractions ten months ago.

It took forever to get there, but since the band started late we were able to see Caspar Babypants live finally. After the festival, playground visit, and lunch, I really wanted to call for a pickup, but I ended up braving the windy ride home. I only made it up one block of Stone this time, but some day I’ll be back in shape. Sigh.

I got a new helmet for Brandt (matte black with blue flames) so the yellow bird helmet is now Baby Rijder’s. I tried it on him, but he wasn’t a happy camper. Maybe we can practice wearing it around the house so he gets used to it, but in the meantime, he’ll keep riding in the car seat. So today was just a normal ride down to the Ballard locks. There weren’t a lot of boats passing through, but fortunately a train went by while we were there.

I decided to take advantage of the great weather (great = not pouring rain) and take the bike down to the Burke-Gilman Trail. I haven’t made the trek since the 4th of July and was in much better shape back then. The ride down was great and we had a little picnic along the canal. Baby Rijder slept the entire time and missed the whole thing. Probably for the best because it was pretty cold out.

Watching boats and ducks on the canal was OK for Brandt, but he had his heart set on trains so he [slowly] took off down the trail in search of train tracks. He’s not much of a strayer so I waited on the picnic blanket for him to come back…and waited…and waited. Eventually I hopped on the bike and rode down the path to retrieve him. To appease him we packed up the picnic and rode further along the trail to a couple retired train cars that live in Ballard. That seemed to do the trick.

The ride home was a bit harder and I had to walk three blocks up Stone. I should find a convincing stopping point halfway up the hill so I can pretend I needed to pick something up at the bead store rather than admit I’m about to pass out.

This evening Brandt’s to-be preschool had a lantern walk by the lake. It wasn’t raining, but it was pretty cold. Most of the lanterns blew out right away, including ours, so Brandt was able to tuck his hands in his pockets as he trudged along. He’ll toughen up into a Pacific Northwesterner soon, though. Another mom there mentioned Baby Rijder was a real PNW baby. However, she couldn’t see he was heavily layered (long-sleeved onesie, pants, baby legs, socks, shoes, coat) inside the ring sling. I think Rijder’s being born during a heat wave makes him just as cold blooded as Brandt’s start in the desert makes him. We’re all wimps! Even Dan spent enough years in California that he’s pretty wimpy now, too.

It didn’t occur to me that it would be dark by the time we rode home (duh, lanterns) so we had our first night ride. There are only like three hours of daylight in the winter up here so I’m sure it won’t be our last.

I took my first bike ride with the trailer today. Actually, I took a test ride with the empty trailer once last week, but today was my first bike ride with both Brandt in his front seat and Baby Rijder in his car seat in the trailer. It’s hard! I even had to walk a block. It is going to take a lot of practice before I can make the ride up Stone…and Baby Rijder’s just going to keep getting heavier!

For the record, my only reason for biking was because I got a parking ticket at Revolutions Coffee last week (I tried to buy a parking sticker, but the stupid machine wasn’t cooperating). Of course it rained cats and dogs on us (ooh, I’ll have to teach Brandt that term–he’ll love it!). It wasn’t awful. The bike has fenders and the rain shield kept Baby Rijder dry, but I don’t think I’ll make a point of riding in the rain. I guess I’ll know I’ve become a true Seattlite when that changes.

We took our first whole-family bike ride today. Our 2.5-year old rode in the Bobike Mini on my bike and our 2.5-month old rode in his car seat in the Burley trailer behind Mr. Family Ride’s bike. The photo is from after the ride–he’s smiling because he liked it, not because he’s glad it’s over.

Our first stop was Canal Street Coffee. It felt just like being in the Netherlands: sunny, but cold and windy, and sitting in a coffee shop next to a canal. The WC was even decorated with Dutch reprints. The Night Watch hung in the prime location above the toilet, natuurlijk.

We continued along the Burke-Gilman Trail to the Ballard Farmers Market for lunch–Canal Street Coffee was more about the coffee and the view than food.

Heading home, the mile-long uphill of Stone Way was incredibly hard, but we made it without stopping. Funny to think I was in better shape nine months pregnant on the fourth of July than I am now! I’ll have to do a lot more riding before I attempt Stone with both kids on my bike.