So I have convinced Eric that biking around the monuments in Washington DC makes more sense than riding the silly trolley again or walking again. Now don’t get me wrong, the trolley is great if you need the misinformed history lesson by tour guides who try (and fail miserably) to be funny.  And yes it is great for those who are immobile, like say after knee surgery.  But we’ve done the trolley (and also a private tour through the Department of Interior thanks to Callista Gingrich).  And walking the monuments is just a daunting task.  Trust me, we have walked the monuments.  Actually we did 5 monuments (Washington, Lincoln, WWII, Vietnam War and Korean War) by forced march in one hour…in 100 degree heat and 100% humidity.  That was courtesy of Hiram. So we have done it both of those ways, but we haven’t biked to them.  Doesn’t that sound pleasant? Let’s go for a little bike ride, stop to see the monument, go for another little bike ride, stop to see the monument, repeat. So that’s the plan, we are going to bike around the city.  I’m so excited.  And it isn’t really that expensive.  We can rent a bike for $35 all day.  That is a little cheaper than the trolley and less taxing on the feet than walking. 

Here is where the title comes in; do rent a tandem bike or not?  A tandem bike is only $60 for the day so we would be saving $10.  And how romantic does that sounds? “Eric and I rode our tandem bike down the National Mall.”  But alas, it probably won’t happen.  Firstly, we would have to agree on a cadence. Eric already complains when we are riding separate bikes that I never stop pedaling.  He always says “don’t you every rest”…um, no because once I get this big ass going, it is harder to stop and start than it is to keep going. So that is something we would have to work out. Secondly, there is the whole turning thing, not as easy when two are riding. And who would be captain controlling the turning??  And finally, there is only one gear.  I love switching gear often. Eric seems to get annoyed that I switch gears all the time. So we would have to cooperate with each other and to be honest, I see this turning ugly. Our nice vacation ends in divorce because of a tandem bike.  However, I just had a brilliant idea.  We get the tandem bike, Eric can do all the pedaling and I can take all the pictures while we are riding.  Hum, maybe that isn’t a bad idea after all.  

Has anybody ever rode a tandem and can offer some advice? Only 7 more days until DC. 

Ok, Swirl, I get it. The birds are making noise outside so you think it is time we wake up. BUT it is 5am. I still have another hour of sleep so STOP MEOWING!  And it wasn’t the ordinary meowing, it was that LOUD, deep, whiny meow with his friendly bee in his mouth so it sounds really gargled.  It almost sounds like a crying baby.

Swirl has a habit of doing this in the evening.  He constantly meows as he brings his bee upstairs.  He doesn’t stop meowing until he comes into our bedroom and we say “Good job Swirl.” Then he spits out the bee on the floor (directly in footpath to the bathroom so I get to step on it in the middle of the night). If we don’t say “good job Swirl,” he continues to meow. It doesn’t matter where in the house the bee is at the time he starts this process.  If it is already in our bedroom, he will come get it, go downstairs and start the long, loud trek up the steps to the bedroom.

Swirl really loves his bee. It has been all over the house. On the bed, in the bathroom, on the steps, in the living room, on his recliner.  And it is always moving around the house, but we never see him move it. It is really weird.  The bee could be on the floor in the living room when we go for our evening walk and by the time we come home 30 minutes later it will be in some other completely different place.  He doesn’t like to move it when we are around…except for 10pm at night.  And when I hear him coming up the steps and peak outside to see him, he spits it out turns his head around and acts like nothing just happened.  “Nothing to see here.” We aren’t really sure if he always meows like this when he is moving it around when we aren’t home. Or if that meowing is just for our “benefit.”   

I’m hoping this morning was just a one off and he won’t be doing it again, but if this becomes a habit, I might have to take the bee away at night. 

What a goofy cat!  Nonetheless, he is our Swirl.

I love long weekends, but coming back to work is tough. I don’t want to get out of bed, I want to sleep some more.  Why do they have to go by so fast?  ARGH!

This weekend was busy.  Saturday I went to the local Laundromat to wash my oversized comforters. Interesting experience…interesting clientele…but I won’t go into that.  I also donated a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. I had a clean out.  After that we went out to lunch with Greg and Celeste and did some shopping. I got a nice frame for my new painting for $10 at Michael’s. It was in a bin outside, originally priced at $60.  So I got a good deal! The afternoon we spent shopping for things for the house and of course a visit to Kohl’s. I’m addicted to that store. But I got $20 in Kohl’s cash that I need to use soon! We finished the night with a walk.

Sunday was Eric’s running test for soccer in Eden Prairie. He passed! It was a very windy, cold morning which is typical for his test. Every year it is cold, windy.  This year it didn’t snow so that is good. I few years ago it was snowing. After his test we hurried down Hwy. 35 in Wisconsin to Arcadia for the Broiler-Dairy Days Parade.  It was cold and wet.  It rained for most of the parade. Mike was in the parade pulling some of the mini tractors that were pulling in the evening.  I was disappointed there were only 3 bands.  The Arcadia HS, Arcadia MS and the Winona HS.  The middle school band looked better and sounded better then the high school band.  Very sad!

Mike in the parade

After the parade we headed up to the Pavilion for some charcoal chicken.  Yum!  Since Mike was the organizer of the tractor pull we got a front seat spot in the car. It was so nice to be able to sit in the car where it was warm and a sound buffer for the really loud tractors.  It was a good afternoon.  After the tractor pull was done we stopped for a pizza and went to Mom’s place. The day of being outside really made us tired, we went to bed before 10pm!

Yesterday we went to Red Lobster for lunch and then over to Grace’s house. It was her 80^th birthday.  We stayed for a while. I was able to beat the level she was stuck on in Candy Crush.  Actually I did so well she was number one of all her friends.  Eric had to share it and put, “I’m better than Kim.” Nice!  The drive home was very chaotic. There was a lot of traffic and it rained most of the way and people were driving stupid.  I was so glad to finally get home.  It was good weekend.  Now I have the week ahead to look forward to.  And only 3 days of work. :)

My volleyball friends and I did another painting class. It was so much fun!  Now I have convinced Eric to do one with me. :)