Every Day with Eli: June 28

Oops. Today was Eli's 5-month birthday, and I totally forgot to take pictures.

But honestly, even if I had remembered, I wouldn't have had time. I woke him up at 8 am to go to church, and we went from church to Costco to a picnic at the park with my parents. It rained on us there, so pictures wouldn't have been an option. The poor kid went all morning without a nap, so as soon as we got home it was naptime for him. He woke up three hours later, just in time for an early dinner before we went over to our friends Jessica and Travis' house for small group, and we got home in time for tornado warnings and basement time and bedtime.

It was a hectic day, and I'm exhausted.

In the middle of the day, while Eli was napping, Chris and Caleb went for a bike ride. Travis and Jessica live about ten miles from us, but there are bike trails that lead almost directly from our house to theirs. Chris has long wanted to take Caleb on a ride from our house to theirs, and today was a perfect day for it. A quick check of the weather showed us that riding home from their house would be questionable, due to the threat of severe weather. We decided that they would ride there, and load the bikes into the van for the drive home.

This was Caleb's longest bike ride to date, so it was kind of a big deal.

I offered Caleb his sunglasses, and initially he declined, saying, "No, thank you. But I would look really cool if I wore them."

Eventually he changed his mind, and guess what? He did look really cool.

Off they go! Caleb's Tag Along is a really cool little thing; when he pedals, it actually helps lighten the load for Chris. The boys really like riding together!

Thirty minutes later, Chris sent me this picture:

The bike trail crosses a river, and they were at a lookout at the midpoint of the river.

They had so much fun, and covered 9.5 miles in 51 minutes. Not too shabby, I say! They saw a skunk, and rewarded themselves with ice cream. And Caleb was devastated when he learned that they weren't going to bike home, too.

Meanwhile, at home:

The children took much-too-short naps. I placed Eli in his swing so that I could throw together a quick, early dinner, and Lily came up and offered him a highly-coveted gift: Pinky, the blanket.

Pinky is Daisy's blanket, and she used to sleep with it. Then she got tired of it, and Lily took a liking to it. But now that Lily likes Pinky, Daisy likes Pinky again, too.

The girls are practicing sharing and taking turns.

But Lily offered Pinky to Eli, and even spread it nicely over him. I love the look on his face. He either loves Lily or the blanket or possibly both.