Surf and Turf Biking Style

Two angelic little boys lay sleeping last night. Thank goodness for that or else they would have not had energy for what was to come the next morning. . .











When you come from a state that regularly has red-air days that force you inside, or sub-freezing weather accompanied by snow storms, or any combination of the above, you don't stay inside on 70 degree, sunny weather days when you get them in December. The plan- go outside and stay there. All day. Mission accomplished.



We began our day at 9 a.m. biking along the Back Bay trail through a nature preserve where pedestrians, bicycles and bird watchers co-existed peacefully. Miles of paved paths meander through this lovely ecological preserve hidden (well mostly, it is Southern California after all) from traffic and subdivisions. At the end of that trail we ended up at the PCH and made the call to head to Balboa island on our bikes. It was only a mile to the bridge and the promise of an arcade and lunch helped keep the boys excited and motivated to keep on keepin' on.


We visited Balboa (not on bikes) last year, but the boys didn't remember much about it until we got on the ferry. That moment the "oh yeah, I remember"s started to come. I watched the bikes (Thank you very much for the stolen bicycle paranoia, Vancouver.) while Bill took the boys to the arcade for a few minutes. The boys weren't hungry for lunch yet, so we rode our bikes along the ocean for another couple of miles to the Newport Beach Pier and back and hunted down some chow----


Pizza so large it required not one, but two plates to contain it. We felt the boys had earned that pizza slice by biking a total of 18 miles today. They never complained. Nope, not once. Not even our youngest with the shortest legs. In fact, he kept William and I moving trying to chase him down the path. He was so fast. (Bill, of course, had no problem with the speed or length of the ride.)


We hooked up with Anne and Q for a quick trip before the sun went down to park with a wonderful climbing wall for the boys to practice their Parkour skill. We killed some time at a Barnes and Noble and then hit dinner (guess where) with our favorite Southern Californians. Romney spent part of the night amazing passerbys with his rock climbing skills as he bouldered up and down the pillars of the exterior of the shopping center. (That should teach whoever not to build them with handholds so easily available.) Q who spent the evening chasing the boys around playing tag asked why we had to keep them so physically fit. Because even after a long bike ride under the warm California sun, he couldn't catch my two munchkins. (Q gets the benefit of the doubt here though, as he is recovering from a cold.) Our day has now come full circle, as I look to my left and see two angelic little men curled up together sleeping in our hotel room with the scene looking much as it did in the photo at the top of the post. Gearing up for another amazing adventure tomorrow.

Photo note: William, if I ate a piece of pizza that big, I would look like I wanted to throw-up, too.