The good stuff

Sometimes, the most ordinary evenings are the very best there is. Last night was one of those evenings - hardly anything worth writing about, yet about as close to perfect as you can get.

After supper, we set up the tent in the backyard. We hadn't used it in awhile (since we got the camper a few years ago) and are planning to use it this weekend, so we wanted to make sure it's still in good shape. The girls had fun playing in the tent, and were determined they were going to sleep in the backyard last night, but we couldn't find the pump to fill the air mattresses.

At some point, I remembered that I was supposed to visit my Mom's apartment while she's away to check her mail and water her plants. It was a beautiful evening, so I convinced the family to bike there with me. Again - nothing out of the ordinary - just a quiet family moment doing ordinary things.

Here are some of the extraordinary, ordinary moments:
- listening to Maddie have conversations with herself in the buggie behind my bike
- watching Julie and her Daddy race for the stop sign
- seeing the Red River and all its glory at dusk
- giggling with Nikki and Julie when we "stole" a coke from Mom's fridge
- watching the teenagers goof around on their mini-motorcycle (I think they're called "pocket bikes" - wacky and uncomfortable looking, but Nikki was rather fond of it)
- riding over the bridge, looking back and seeing my kids following me
- just plain old riding with my family - it doesn't get much better than that!

This sappy moment brought to you by Heather.