Stuck on the Hill... How we accidentally made a stranger's day

Today there is a bike race going through our neighborhood and the roads have been closed for the middle part of the day. Rather than risk being stuck down the hill, I decided we would stay home for the day. I can't pretend I wasn't a bit annoyed by this, since we missed Bible study, which is the hilight of the week for both Moses and me, and the one day we see all of our friends. In fact, the whole thing has been a big pain since they have been "fixing" the road to our house for the last few weeks in preparation for the race. Apparantly, "fixing" consists of tossing a bunch of loose asphalt across the road and letting all the hillside residents drive over it in lieu of using one of those rollers to tamp it down. (Every time we drive through a patch and send gravel flying Moses shouts "Mommy! What that?!?!") Now, I'm all for bike races and am sure all those bike riders will have a glorious trip through our hills, but there is something about being told you can't leave from or return to your home for a 4 hour period that just sticks in the ol' craw (is that a cliche Jen?). And seriously, that dang asphalt. Every time I drive home I get more angry about this bike race.

So this morning I told Moses we were staying home because of the bike race, and we decided to walk up our street to the main road where the bikers would be riding past. It was really just for something to do - it was much too early for the bikers to be riding past. So we bundled up and made the short but very uphill trek to the main road. Moses was pretty disappointed when we got there and he didn't see a single bike, and he kept peering up the road hopefully.

After a few minutes he shouted "There a bike mommy! There it is!" and sure enough, down the hill came one single solitary biker. As he whized past us he waved enthusiastically and shouted "Thanks! Thanks so much!!!" I was momentarily confused until I realized that he thought we were FANS of the bike race and had been standing there to cheer him on. HA! I got the biggest kick out of it - it's making me laugh right now. I've been complaining about the race for the last month and then end up looking like some crazy bike fanatic waiting along the road at the crack of dawn to cheer on the lead racer. I'm glad, though. That guy was so happy and it absolutely thilled Moses - he keeps saying "That guy said hi to me. Thanks so much guy!"

And, of course, it has turned out to be a gorgeous day. It rained last night so everything is clean and fresh - those pretty purple flowers just started sprouting out of my dad's lawn. I'm sure he isn't happy about them, but I think they're adorable.

Then there were the requisite getting wet and muddy (I've resigned myself to the fact that Moses goes through at least two pair of pants each day) and game of "you'd better not step on my shadow!"

And now it's nap time. Not too bad for being stuck on the hill. :)