Here's our mates little girl dancing like a queen. Pretty cute right?
Masaru went to the doctor's for a normal check up and things are looking good. Takeshi was showing off his wart things on his knee and the Dr said he'd hit them with some dry ice. Takeshi thought this sounded awesome so gave it a go. After the first hit he said he was ok and backed away.
He wanted me to take a picture of his wart. It's so gross man. But this is his journal too I guess so it is what it is. Masaru has some on his knee and he opted to just let them get rid of themselves on their own after witnessing Takeshi's frozen hit. Hahahaha crack up.
Dru set up both of the hammocks the other night and we sat out there for a while. It didn't really work and we need to shuffle some hooks around but it was ok for that one night. My brother said he looks like the main character in '300 Sparta' which is a little true right? I figured I'd get my leg in there just to prove we were hanging out together.
Also see those shorts? Well my mate Nat said her mother was getting rid of some of her clothes and if I'd like to come over and see if there's any I'd like. I said sure and it was like a gold mine with the gold already picked out and laid on the ground for you.
I got some sweet clothes and now can spend my birthday money on mtb stuff instead of clothes.
What a blessing that was to have her ask me to come over. Now I've got some cute summer clothes and shorts and pants that fit me. I made out man. Thank you Karen Rock!!!
Then I went to Takeshi's field trip the other day. They went to the Foothills learning center. It was pretty good I thought. I told all the kids that this was where I mtb and run over snakes, bugs and other hikers!!
Takeshi saw this spot and said he wanted to get a picture there. Cute.
Here he is making a big attempt to sit still and be quiet during the reading/talking/teaching time. He did alright but he's a mover man and has a rough time keeping it together. His teacher does so well with him. I'm scared for next year.
He's got his father's hat on, which he was pretty pumped about.
Emiko decided to get in there on the fun.
I'm glad we went.
Then Yuki had a poetry party in her class and performed. Emiko and I attended that one.
Here she is doing a group poem.
And here she is doing her individual poem about what she'd do if she were in charge of the world.
Class performance.
Here's her poem. It's pretty deep man.
She'd save all the animals and homeless people and make sure they got free medical care and food.
She'd also get rid of bully's and money.
She'd also make dessert dinner and you wouldn't get sick eating dessert all the time.
At the end of her poem I was like "Man what a deep thinker she is" as most other kids said no school no homework no insects etc, then Yuki rocks up and actually makes a better speech than the candidates for President of the USA right now.
She's got my vote. And just when I didn't think she could get any cooler........................sheesh
Here's her Haiku.
Look at that cute squirrel.
Then Masaru and I finally went to get his free drink from Dutch Bros that he got when he'd just gotten out of his traumatizing doctors appointment.
I looked at him out there and realized I needed to get a shot. Doesn't that look relaxing? Smoothie, music, hammock chair, feet up and some sunshine. Bliss.
We were talking in the car on the way to get his drink and he was telling me about his project at school. They had to combine two animals to make one and then talk about it in a powerpoint project.
He did the HoneybadgerWolverine. It's a pretty awesome animal if I do say so myself.
He spend a decent amount of time researching it and came up with a pretty awesome project.
He was working on it during the weekend we were in Bend and showed us when we got back. It was impressive.
He said his teacher and classmates were impressed too and his slide show was pretty awesome and they could all tell he'd spent a lot of time working on it. The notes he got from his classmates were great.
When Masaru's into something, he makes it his mission to know all about it. I love that about him.
And lastly check it out man..................our first produce from our garden we're sharing with mates. Radishes. Don't they look as beautiful as a bunch of flowers? We had them in our salad last night and they tasted so great.
I couldn't believe it man. They were just seeds and now look........................ I guess I didn't know they'd grow so fast. So awesome.
And that's about the latest and greatest of what's going on with us.
So that Thursday night before we left was kinda crazy for us. Not only were we packing for our trip and trying to get ready, we also had a friend out of town come in for a job interview.
His name is Clay and I served my mission with his wife Emily. They're hopefully gonna move here so they can have the sweet life like the rest of us ;)
We picked him up from the airport and brought him back for dinner and hang out time.
Also my mate Mari dropped off these cute kiddo's so she could have some quiet time at her older two kids final concerts that night. She was only meant to drop off one, but the other one saw his options and chose wisely I think.
They had a blast and I didn't even hardly notice them amongst the other chaos that was happening.
Also Dru's parents arrived that night with 3 more cuzzies to hang out with for the weekend and our mate Tashi came over to pick up Chewy the sweet fluffball dog.
So it was a regular old party at the Nakaya house hold.
I feel a little bad cause it was a little crazy, but that's also just how life works out you know and it all did work out. People were fed, picked up, dropped off, entertained, and looked after just fine.
It takes a village you know!!
Masaru always loves the opportunity to teach people how to drive the John Deere and have some fun. They were all loving it.
So that next morning we left super early before anyone was up and the kids were left with their Grandparents and cuzzies.
I'm sure they made their own lunches or at least helped, since they have to make their own lunches about 1-2 times a week anyway. It proves to work out when someone has to come in and watch your kids, it means they can actually function without you....................works pretty good. I like to call it 'free range parenting' ;)
Takeshi had a music show that everyone went to. Here are some pic's and some videos of it. I asked them to take these so I could see a little of it.
I felt bad that I missed it. But that's ok.
Pretty cute man.
They went out to costco for dinner and then they headed out to a movie 'Jungle Book'
They all raved about it and totally loved it. I'll need to see it.
Here they are being crazy. Is it just me or is that Shark really scary looking?
I heard the rest of the weekend worked out great.
Masaru had a rugby game on Saturday which was great.
Dru's father put up two ceiling fans in the guest and girls room which is a huge help to us. Dru was meaning to get those up and now he doesn't have to.
He also brought the boat up, so that's good.
Dru's mother said she had a great time and would look after them whenever we wanted her to. (Don't tempt us Grandma, Bend is only 4.5 hours away!!!)
She said they were easy and just looked after themselves.
That's not hard to believe though as I don't entertain my children, they entertain themselves. Plus they had their cuzzies in town and we have a sweet back yard and live in an amazing town.
It's always nice to hear that your kids were ok. I know they probably fought a little and she probably had to be a referee at times, but she didn't mention anything, so for the most part, they must've been pretty good.
They didn't even sleep in our bed! So the guest bed must've been somewhat comfortable, which is great, cause I wasn't gonna change it anyway!!! Nah I would've gotten new mattresses I guess. So I'm glad I don't have to.
What a huge help to have your kids looked after, fed and happy while your gone. They didn't even miss us, which is so great when you leave your kids.
Emiko summed it up nicely when she said "Mum I missed you but I was having fun and did you miss me?"
'Yes'
"But you were having fun too right mum?"
'Right'
I'm glad that she and the others are aware that both of us can be having fun at the same time, apart from each other, yet still look forward to seeing each other when we get home and back together again. Pretty healthy I'd say. I love my kids man, they're the best.
So a big shout out to Dru's mother and father for tackling that weekend like champs and helping Dru and I have a relaxed fun time. Best Grandparents ever!!!
My kids are lucky to have two sets of Grandparents who love them. Some of us don't get that.
So we have our mtb group that we ride with. They're all great mates and it's nice to have a group that get along so well together.
Remember when we went on that sleigh ride with the Thompsons waaaaaaay back? It was freezing and there were horses etc? Anyway we'd brought up the idea to go on a Bend mtb trip in May sometime.
So Dru and I set it up with his parents, then we told them to go ahead and then the others in our group rallied and tried to make it happen for those dates.
3 couldn't make it, but 7 of us could.
This past weekend was THE weekend. Dru and I didn't know what to expect, but our buddies had told us it was pretty sweet, so we moved forward with faith in them hoping for a great time.
Dmo had organized a house for us to all stay in and Dru organized the food with his spreadsheet from Lake Powell and said he wanted to cook, so we were good to go.
The one problem with getting to Bend is you're not allowed to go more than 65 miles per hour. So what COULD be a 3 hour trip is turned into a 4.5 hour trip which is a bummer. Plus the speeding tickets START at a whopping $250 and go up from there. Not even worth it people!!!
Here we are setting off with high hopes.
So Pzipp and his wife Lynette were already there and had started riding. We arrived around 11:30am and they met up with us. We started riding with them.
We wanted to do a trail called 'Tiddlywinks' but there were fallen trees over the beginning part. It was quite the adventure. I told them next tree I was snapping a picture!!
Lynette had just gotten a brand new bike. It's sweet man and it took all my will power to not covet. I like my bike and my bike likes me and that's what I kept telling myself. Hahahaha it wasn't that bad. I'll keep my bike for a couple more years!!
We also rode a trail called 'Funner' and then a bunch of other trails as well.
The problem happened when Dru and I both ran out of water and were still far from the car. I drank all the rest of Lynette's water and her husband's water as well, then we were all out. Dru started getting dehydrated and that was no good. It was so fun though!!!
We rode around 25-30 miles when we met up with our other homies for a last final run. We were so hammered we basically did one of the funnest DH trails called 'Whoops' and stayed on our seats almost the whole time hahahaha
Here's Dmo. He decided to try out a demo bike for a couple of days to see if he liked it.
Here's Matt riding a 'skinny'. I never tried them, I was too scared. But it's just biking over a log and trying not to crash and take out your derailleur. Seems simple but it's not, it takes skill, balance and some back bone.
Jobecka doing a skinny.
It's all about the socks!!
Here's Dmo riding a skinny.
Here's pzipp riding a skinny.
Here are the Thompsons and Dmo together for some fun.
These guys stayed out and did one more run while the rest of us when home to some much needed water, food, shower and some unpacking and rest. We also had dinner to make as well.
We went home and did all of those things.
Dru needed a little recovery and so we did some rolling, massaging and protein/water intake.
We made burgers that night and sat and chilled together while we all rolled and took status on how our bodies were feeling after such a fun/long day.
I'd never ridden 30 miles of mtb in one day before. It was quite the feat. I think if we'd prepared better, it would've been ok.
So what do a bunch of people who are in Bend to mtb do at nights? We watch mtb video's of course.
So we sat and watched a bunch of pro's making it seem easy to pump us up for the next day while we all rolled and stretched our bodies out. Talk about awesome.
We then all rolled into bed.
The next morning we had a protein packed breakfast and packed snacks, but were planning on coming home for lunch and just doing around 15 miles that morning. I had to get a shot of us all ready to ride.
Left to right: Dmo, Matt, Jobecka, Lynette, Pzipp and Dru.
We did funner again and took a cross trail to Tyler's.
So this was a really fun morning. It'd rained a little and so the trails were really nice but the weather was ok for us not to have to wear jackets.
Funner has some features. This means that it has skinnies as well as rock features that you can either jump or roll over. It's like coming upon a rock pile or a massive rock drop and figuring out how to get through/over it.
Now I won't do skinnies BUT I will attempt rock features. So I followed Dru while he forced encouraged me to do them all.
After my crash on my bday I lost my mojo and when I rode with Dru that night of my bday I didn't ride well at all. I was scared of everything and had taken 3 steps back with my skill.
I was super bummed about that.
Well while doing this trail Dru helped me to work on these features and I slowly but surely got my confidence back in myself and my riding skills. It came back more and more after every feature I attempted and completed. It was really awesome and felt so good.
There was one rock that Dru had come across the first time and wouldn't do. Only after his second time coming across it and pzipp doing it, did he attempt it. Dmo wouldn't even do it. I didn't know all of this information when I came up to it and because I'd done all the other features I just rolled right into this one and totally did it.
Dru couldn't believe it and Dmo said that was his favourite part of the day, me doing that rock.
I'm not gonna lie, it felt awesome!!
No one got a pic of me doing it though...............................where was Dru on that man!!!
Matt.
Dmo
We ended on a really good high with a trail called Tyler's. Man that trail was SO fun. I loved it. I skidded off of my bike at one point but the rest of it was so perfect. Talk about awesome.
We headed home for some lunch.
Jobecka and I once we got home.
It then started raining. There was ideas being thrown around about what trails to do next and maps being looked at and things being decided.
Dru looked like he was done, I was undecided but the rest were gonna ride no matter what.
We decided to go try and easier way to Tiddlywinks and do the fun part of the trail. That sounded good to me as they'd found a way to get there without much riding uphill.
Once Dru realized I was gonna go and everyone was gonna go, he decided to take an excedrin for his head and come along.
I'm glad we did. It was really fun. I love that trail. Once we'd hit it Dru, Lynette and I headed home and the others stayed out to do a couple more laps.
Turns out Dmo and Jo only got one more lap as he did a skinny and totally messed up his derailleur.
I learned that if you don't have a derailleur you can still bike and have a couple of gears, so enough to get you out of the trails in a pickle.
So they came home and Dmo and Dru went and got him a new one to fix later on that night. Matt and pzipp stayed out and did one more round.
Once we were all home and showered, rolled out, stretched and watered we decided to go out for dinner. While we were waiting for the others I kept watching mtb videos. People are so good man.
We went to a pizza place and we sat and had a great time talking and hanging out.
Then we came home and watched mtb video's while the girls and pzipp did a little shopping. Then the guys all went into the garage and fixed Dmo's bike and us girls tried to watch a movie called 'Lost in Translation'
It sucked, so eventually we all just went to bed for some much needed rest.
The next morning we had to get all packed up and ready to leave. So we woke up, made breakfast, packed and got things sorted and ready for check out.
It's way easier to pack up with no kids around man.
We decided to do Tiddywinks one more time cause it was so fun and I totally took a wrong turn and got a little lost.
Dru eventually found me cause I'd turned around and had started to head back to the right crossroad. I knew everyone would be mocking me man cause I'm pretty useless with stuff like that.
In my defense though I did ask if it was a straight shot and they said yes. So I went straight and it turned out it's not so straight.
But we'd done that trail multiple times and I still veered off into the wrong direction so...............
Here's a pic of me in my mtb rain gears. We were kinda matchy.
Here's pzipp getting some air.
Here's Matt looking amazing.
Here's Dru clearing the jump. Pretty awesome right? One day I'm gonna get a picture of me doing that!!
We then had to say bye to the Thompsons and Dmo which was sad.
The Zipps and Dru and I headed off to do the trail 'Whoops' one more time, however, and it was totally worth it.
It was an easy uphill to get to the section we wanted to ride which was so nice.
I never did get to do the whole trail, next time maybe.
There was so many things I wanted to do again but just not the time to do it. Also I would've loved it if the upper part of Tiddlywinks was open too without any trees fallen.
But, that said, it was the perfect weekend with a bunch of great, great people.
Dru and I just were so happy with how it'd went and I was happy I'd gotten some confidence back and we were already planning the trails we'd do when we go back.
It was just so fun.
I rode with Jobecka yesterday and was skidding out everywhere. There's no burmed corners in Boise just sand!! But I went back to the trail I did with Dru and my birthday and did 100% better. It felt so good man.
We even found a skinny for Jobecka to do. Sweet right?
We couldn't have done it without Dru's parents coming up. But I'll blog about that in the next blogpost.
For now we'll just relish in the Bend mtb post that was amazing.
So good to be with people who share your same passion so you don't get the stares when you start going off about something to do with mtb and they're like o.0
Best weekend man, with the best people.
So I got up and Dru had wrapped my presents for me. I opened them and it was just what I wanted. Elbow pads.
And then some knee pads to help with all this crashing that I do. It's nice to feel like I'm a little more protected. They're great.
Jobecka came around and dropped off this gift to me. It's a little garden bike. I'm going to plant some flowers in the basket. She got me the tricycle to remind me to slow down and smell the flowers.
The flowers smell so good this time of year as well. I'm pretty slow on the uphill so I think that totally counts right? It's so perfect.
Yuki made me breakfast. It was sitting and waiting for me on the table when I got up. Totally something Yuki would do.
My mate Nydia got me this sweet windchime for the back yard. It's perfect and I love it.
Jobecka and I went for a mtb ride together. It was pretty windy in some spots but I'm glad I was out riding. It was nice to try out all my gears.
Cesha looked after Emiko while I was out and then surprised me with these sweet gifts. She got me some sweet gloves, just what I needed, and an awesome top and a gift card to the bike store. I'm so pumped to go and spend it. Perfect gifts. She also got me some chocolate!!! How awesome is that!!! She said that Emiko said I'd like all of those things and needed everything in the bike shop. Funny.
I came home to some more cards from family and friends which is always nice to know you've been thought of.
I got some email's, phone calls and texts throughout the day as well which was really nice. I also got some cold hard cash from my mother in law which will go towards some much needed clothing.
Natalie popped over and we hung out for a while and caught up since she was gone for the weekend with her family.
She got me this awesome plant.
Look how beautiful the flowers are? So pretty. It was nice to sit and chat for a while.
Then I had a few minutes to myself and while I was down folding washing I quickly snapped this video of Emiko singing about my birthday. She was down there singing for around 10 mins, just making up words and singing about my birthday. So funny man and so cute. I had a moment where I realized I needed to video this for later on in my life so I can refer back to it cause it's so cute.
I missed the part where she was singing "Happy birthday to my mummy, I love her so much, she's my favourtie mummy"
Oh well. Chewy barking in the end is my other friend Amy showing up. Her and her daughter came and visited me and gave me flowers and a pineapple and a card. We sat and chatted for a while. It was nice and I ended up putting the flowers in my tricycle garden piece.
Then the kids came home from school and we started to get ready to leave. Sarah and Nydia both looked after the three younger kids so Dru and I could drop Masaru off to rugby practice, get a quick ride in and then go pick him back up.
Here I am at the top of the hill sporting all of my new gears on. Looking good I'd say ;)
The hubby wife pose.
I even had a cow on the trail wanting to wish me a happy birthday!!
There was a lot of people on the trails last night. They must've known it was my birthday and wanted to come out and make sure I didn't go fast and crash!! That was nice.
We got back and picked up Masaru then went out and got something to eat.
We headed home and picked up the kids and chatted for a bit then put them in bed. I'm grateful to my mates for helping me out by watching my kids.
I have some pretty amazing friends to say the least.
Dru talked to his brother for a while while I just tidied up the kitchen a bit then rested.
We watched some TV, took a shower, talked then went to bed.
It was a really, really nice day because I have such great mates. I'm really grateful for the effort they put into making me feel special cause I really did feel loved and it made for such a great day.
I'm glad that I feel like I have support and 'family' here in Boise. It helps me a ton and is reassuring to me.
I'm lucky to be 39, some don't reach that age. One more year until I'm celebrating being 40!!
I know I'm getting older and that's just fine with me. I feel good, have everything I want and am happy.
What more could a 39 year old girl ask for?
