Mom And Shay's Day

Today was the awards assembly for Shay's school, and I was really glad I got to be there. He was given his Perfect Attendance for the whole year, which included a certificate, a bunch of freebies like free bowling for the summer (every darn day!) a free lunch at a couple of places, and his name was entered in a drawing for Sea World passes. He didn't win the passes, but it was thrilling all the same. There were only 14 kids at his school who got Perfect Attendance. Yay, Shay!
And then there were the surprise prizes. He was awarded for Citizenship and Sportsmanship. Whaaatttt??? Neither of us were expecting those.
To celebrate, we went to the K-Mart and got Shay a new Razor scooter. And then Payless (Why pay more?) for a new pair of skater shoes. Then Chili's for some lunch. We were going to do some more stuff but he decided he wanted to go to a friends's to try out the new scooter.
Here's a demo of the new scooter down at the skate park:


It apparently works ok.


But I had fun with the alien looking clouds, after all that hoopla. We had some strange winds whip up, and the result was some cloud formations that reminded me of my time on Alderon.




Pretty cool, eh?

Tomorrow morning I head out to Ensenada, Mexico, for the Baja races. I wish I could update the blog from there, but it is usually a miracle to find any kind of decent cell phone signal, let alone a wireless connection.

Wish me luck!!

I Just Gotta RIDE Man...

I had to stop running and hiking and walking a few weeks ago, because the little foot problem of mine flared up--as well as a new and improved case of tendonitis.
But I was hooked on the cardio workout. I started scouting for a good deal on a nice exercise bike, because I figured it would be the sensible choice for a gal who lives on the surface of the sun (yay, Arizona summers....) who wants to exercise without hurting her tootsies or having a heat stroke.
No luck with the exercise bikes. They're expensive, and I'm not willing to spend a big hunk of money on something that I may or may not like very much.

I decided to look around for a regular bike, to see if maybe that would be the answer. Bikes, it turns out, aren't that cheap, either. I was looking for something around $50, and everything was $100 and more. Thrift store!! Aha!!
I went to the Thrift Store and found a bunch of very nice bikes that needed a LOT of fixing. Broken gears, flat tires, broken chains, and on and on and on....

As I was leaving the Thrift Store I ran into one of Shay's friend's moms. I told her what I was looking for and she said, "Well, I have an old 1960's Beach Cruiser that I picked up for $20, you can have it!"


Whoa.




Shay and I painted the frame powder blue, and I polished all the chrome. I have a little rack that fits behind the seat, and I have it off right now while it's being polished.
Unfortunately the wheels are covered in rust, so I've emailed pictures to a friend of mine who is a self-proclaimed bike nut and he's going to tell me what to do about that.

So far, I've invested about $29 into the bike, which includes the new handle grips and the original-style peddles that I've ordered online. When I'm in between bike improvements, I'm peddling around at the airport getting my exercise. It's awesome!! I ride at the airport because the hills on the streets out there are way less steep than the ones at home, and there is no traffic to worry about. I just put the Bee Gees on my Ipod and start peddling.

I love my Beach Cruiser!!