Oh, Mom

My mom made a suprise visit yesterday. My dad was taking my brother, his roommate, and the German intern living at our house up to Wisconsin for Summerfest. My mom was supposed to join them, but didn't really want to, and secretly escaped while my dad was out playing golf.... Sneaky, sneaky.

Due to the limited notice, I spent yesterday morning cleaning my apartment. She told me I didn't need to, but it was a MESS. In conclusion: no 4th of July workout. Oh well. Happy Independence Day to me.

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This morning, after spending the first hour of our day watching a crappy Vince Vaughn/John Travolta thriller movie, we dug my Purple People Eater out of storage and went for a ride.

Side Note: I'm sorry, mom...

Continue: My mom hadn't been on a bike in years... YEARS upon years. And I've been in that situation... it's not fun and it's not easy. That old expression comparing something to remembering how to ride a bike is stupid. Remembering how to ride a bike is hard. Regaining that balance is hard.

So, after her first 5 feet on the bike, she ran straight into a cement wall. I wish I had a picture of that... it would have made my day perfect. She immediately wanted to turn back, but I wouldn't let her. So she saddled up and continued on (just fine, might I add).

We rode along the bike path near my house. Her on my rusty noisy old bike; me on my beautiful new love. During the ride, she asked, "so how far do you bike in the triathlon again?" I told her that it was a little over 6 miles... which is just about the shortest bike race you can find. She laughed and said she could never do that.

But low and behold... by the time we were done, we had gone 7.85 miles! Granted, it did take us an hour... but I'm just suprised that we made it that far at all (considering she said her butt was hurting about 2 miles into the ride).



At our turnaround point, my mom wanted to take pictures of me on my new bike. So, like a total nerd, I rode around a parking lot and she tried to figure out my camera. I have no idea what I'm doing in this first photo, but it made me laugh:




Then I got some pictures of her... proof that she was indeed riding a bike again:



On our way back, we stupidly decided to take photos while we were riding. Taking the picture wasn't the problem... passing the camera between us was:


But hands down, the HIGHLIGHT of the ride was what my mom ran over. A woman with a stroller in front of us veered to the left and I saw that she was avoiding something on the path. It was rotting and had flies swarming around it. Apparently my mom wasn't paying attention, because she runs RIGHT over it... hitting it with BOTH wheels. And oddly enough... it was a fish. I have yet to figure out how a fish found its way onto the bike path, but I grabbed a quick picture of it on our way back (she missed it the second time):


Overall, it was a good leisurly ride. Except when I got home, I realized I should have worn more sunscreen:


Ouch.

Good day.