A Day in the Life

I've realized that there are people who only know me as the single guy. He travels a lot, he races bikes, he works too much. Even when they ride with me and see the car seat in the back they really don't get to see the other half of the adventure that is my life. So this weekends posts will be about that. An ordinary weekend with my kids. I picked them up after work on Friday. We stopped at the video store and rented Shrek the Third. We had dinner with our friends Heidi and Hannah. I read to them from Harry Potter. I fell asleep reading a book about excavators and bulldozers to Bennet and woke up around 11pm, in bed, fully dressed, no idea where I was. And so my weekend begins....

Saturday morning. Pancake morning. We lounged in our pjs until past 10am. The vote was for pancakes, I overruled Clara's request for Swedish pancakes (her choice every weekend) and made some fabulous pancakes with chocolate chips and diced banana. The recipe came from my new Joy of Cooking cookbook (thanks Heidi!).








Ben LOVES to help in the kitchen. If I don't do it for him he will drag a chair from the table into the kitchen just so he can get up and help. So it's become part of our weekend routine for him to help me make breakfast. Usually pancakes, although he's also quite good and making banana bread! He's whisking the dry ingredients together here.








Clara is also getting interested in helping out in the kitchen. Today she ladled batter into the pan, put in the chips and bananas, and even tried her hand at flipping. Many hands make light work, right?














After breakfast and some more lounging in jammies we finally decided to get out of the house and do something. Clara's been asking for weeks to go to Creation Station. We've been several times and had a blast, but it's been a while. Basically, it's a place where you use all kinds of random recycled parts to build anything your imagination can conjure up. I talked with the owner today and he said most of what he gets is from local small businesses that donate to him as an alternative to recycling. Regardless, you can find some cool things here, and the kids have a never ending supply of imagination. Today highlights were a perch for the kids bird Sherbert (lives with mom, thankfully!) constructed by Elise, a marvelous handbag by Clara, and several 'Monster Trucks' created jointly by Bennet & dad.












Bennet hard at work coloring the wheels on his monster truck.












So, after spending a solid 3 hours at Creation Station we stopped at Wendys for lunch, Best Buy, and then home. We recovered by playing with our creations and then I got to work on dinner. The kids do actually have a refined palate (Elise tried sushi just this week and liked it) but tonight we went pub-style with nachos. Amazing what a ton of cheese and some black olives can do to tortilla chips! We feasted on these, then chilled out for a while. I read more Harry Potter, about 45 minutes worth, then got em in bed.

What next you ask? Lounging on the sofa? Early bed time? Do laundry & pay bills? Nah....I set up my bike on the trainer and rode for 2 hours whilst chatting on the phone and watching a movie. All part of the post-holiday recovery program! BTW, I watched 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to 28 Days Later, and it was lame. Wouldn't recommend even a rental, unless there's nothing else!


So now I've ridden, showered, posted, and it is time to crawl into bed. What's on deck for tomorrow? Another pancake breakfast, Swedish this time. Perhaps a trip to the aquarium, or the park if it's dry. Clara has knitting lessons at 230p, and who knows what else life will throw at me! But it's never boring, even when it's just a regular day in my life...