This morning I completed my first bike riding event of 2010. It was the Tour de Lakes in Lee’s Summit, MO – a ride that I have never participated in before.

The Tour de Lakes was different than other rides I have done in that it was almost entirely through developed areas. But traffic really wasn’t a problem and the volunteers and LSPD did a nice job of watching out for the bikers. Probably the only thing I didn’t particularly care for was the rest stops, or lack of – only 1 on the 32 mi and 4 for the 65 mile route. Things I liked about this ride were the areas around the lakes, the ice cream at the finish line, and the goodie bags (complete with cool t-shirt, nice biking socks, water bottle, headband, and a few other things). It was by far the best goodie bag I’ve ever received at a cycling event.

This was Ian and Cara’s first official ride event and I think they both enjoyed it. While it was not my first ride, it was my first ride on my new road bike, and not to my surprise it worked great! We only rode the 32mi route, so it served as a nice warm-up for some of the other upcoming rides, such as Tornado Alley, Maple Leaf, and whatever else I may end up riding.

With South Dakota less than a week away, I decided we should try out the new backpack Saturday morning. This backpack has a neat little slot where you can stash a small person, enabling us to go on some hikes that would otherwise be out of the question…assuming she will actually ride in the backpack.

First I set it out in the room and let Emma check it out on her own terms. She seems interested.

Then I sat her in the pack and Steph strapped her in place. She’s a little unsure but isn’t trying to squirm her way out – so far so good!

Finally I hoisted her up and we went for a stroll around the barn and garden. While next week will be the real test, I am certainly excited that she seems to be diggin’ the back pack so far!

Occasionally conditions are such that a rainbow forms. Generally this occurs when a late afternoon rain shower is followed immediately by clear skies. I suppose this could also happen in the morning but our weather generally comes from the west and in order to see a rainbow you have to be located between the sun and the rain. At any rate, rainbows are awesome.

This particular specimen was cool because it was a partial double rainbow. One side appeared to end near the big Bur Oak tree out in my field, and the other side (pictured) ended in the front yard of the trailer house across the street from me. I checked and there was no pot of gold or any Leprechauns under the Bur Oak so it must have been at the trailer. Dang the luck!

Lately Emma’s favorite thing to do is ride on the 4 wheeler. Whenever she wants to go for a ride she will grab my hand and start leading me toward the garage. When the garage is in sight she’ll point and I’ll say “want to go for a ride?” and she responds “ry ry” (ride). She also calls me “ry ry”, but i can usually tell which version of ‘ry ry’ she is using.

I tried to take some pics of her out in the field of tall grass but she wasn’t really diggin’ the grass gettin’ all up in her grill. But we still had a good time anyway!

Now that Artsfest is done, I am looking forward to the next big thing on the horizon – which is a road trip Steph and I have planned to South Dakota. For whatever reason most people seem to find our choice of destination a bit odd, but I am very excited.

The last time I was in South Dakota was in college when Grant and I weaseled our way into my grandparents trip to Yellowstone and the Black Hills. The four of us took their RV, staying in random small campgrounds along the way where we’d eat Granny’s home cooking and play cards every night. We saw a lot of sights, however most of the time was spent just enjoying each others company as we drifted across 3,000 miles of America’s interstate highway system. Over the course of those 8 days we saw mountains, geysers, and every waterfall between here and Idaho. It was one of the best weeks of my life.

So now here I am preparing for my first family road trip of my own. Needless to say, I am very excited and ready to hit the open road!

It is now May and Artsfest is officially over. In some ways I am glad to be done but in other ways I am already looking forward to the next festival if for no other reason than I enjoy spending part of 3 days with my dear friends Bridget and Andy.

This time around we made some significant improvements over Cider Days. The 3 biggest being that we each had own own space, new tents (with sides to protect our stuff from rain!), and I made some display panels from which I could hang some larger sized framed prints. I also brought more (and better) framed prints. I am still learning but this year was infinitely smoother than Cider Days. I was also excited to have won the “Best of Show 2D Category”. Personally I saw lots of other artists with stuff that I felt was far superior to mine, but nevertheless it was exciting and encourages me to keep doing it.

At any rate, Artsfest was a success and lots of fun in the process!!