Busy day today doing some maintenance, catch up and preparations for tomorrow, but we also got a quick bike ride in.
It was a normal Saturday morning. I was up around 6:30 and just worked on catching up on posts, bills and a little bit of work. Girls woke up and were on their electronics for a bit, and everyone was up and going by 9. The plan was to do whatever was pending from other days, and depending on what time we were done, we’d go somewhere.
I went outside right around 9, and started working on cleaning out the stuff in the back of the truck. I removed everything, washed the bed, and organized and cleaned what was in there. I got the bed washed and Carol took the truck to go shopping with Bella. I also had to recheck nuts and screws around the trailer, review seals and make sure everything around was properly tight and stuff like that. I should have also gone up on the roof, but didn’t do it today.
I had Bia go through the buckets of rocks and sea shells they’ve been collecting, and separate into a keep pile and a throw away pile. The shells were stinking, so we had to throw some of those. While Bia worked on that, I started working on Carol’s bike tire. We have both tubes now punctured, and Carol is stopping at a bike shop to get a new tube, and a patch kit, so I’ll be ready for when she’s back.
Carol planned what she needed for tomorrow, and got ready to go, she also had to pick up some orders she had made on Amazon that were shipped to some lockers at a nearby Safeway. Great option for us! She was also going to take the truck through a car wash, it needs it bad. Bella decided to go along, and Bella also decided she wanted to make her own cake for her birthday, so plans changed a bit as when they come back they’ll work on the cake. While Carol and Bella were out, Bia helped me a little bit, and also organized a few things inside, while watching TV.
When Carol got back, I had Bella go through the rocks and shells, and then threw away the garbage. The girls and Carol then started working on the cake stuff.
Carol bought fondant so Bella could shape up animals for her farm cake. She wanted a carrot cake, with brigadeiro (chocolate fudge) topping.
Now with the truck all cleaned up, I started moving things back to the bed of the truck. We also organized some of the girls school papers, and moved a few extra things into the box we keep in the truck. I wanted to move some heavier stuff we don’t use often, and we keep in the trailer into the truck, so Carol got a few things in the box.
After I moved everything back to the truck, I continued the bike tire project with the tubes (Carol got 2) and patch kit. I got a bucket with water and the tools and got the tubes patched pretty quickly. It took about 20 minutes each tube, including a 10 minute wait time for the “glue” to dry. I put a patched tube in the bike, and a new tube in the bag under the seat, that way I have a spare of each yet in my box.
Bike fixed and tested! Yey!
I then left with Bia to get something to eat. Bella and Carol had what they wanted, so we went to get something for us. We ended up at Subway, got our sandwiches there, then stopped at a liquor store on the way back to get some different beers.
On our way back, we saw two paragliders coming down, and as they got closer Bia saw that one was dressed up as Santa Claus. ahahah.. pretty cool. That one flew around the beach front near us for probably 90 minutes.
Heather called right after we were done eating, so we chatted for some time. It’s nice to talk to our close friends and catch up. Santa guy was flying around still so we put him on FaceTime too hahahah.
Bella’s cake was coming along super nice, she was very happy to be making her own cake. They were done with the cake around 3:30, and it was too late to go anywhere, so we just put away enough so we could leave, and went on a quick bike ride towards the beach, where I went with just the girls the other day.
We had a nice ride down to the beach, it was a bit cold, but we dressed properly. We didn’t have too much time before it got too dark, so we just went all the way to the end, went on to the beach, hung out a bit, then rode back.
And as we got close to the campground, it was dark already. When we were stopped by the beach, Bia complained that her hands hurt from riding on that last stretch of path, which is packed dirt, but very bumpy. She said she wanted a bike with shocks, like mine, and also gears. I told her she could try mine, so we lowered the seat on mine and I gave her the instructions on coming on and off, and she went.
Getting started was easy for her, but stopping was not so easy, she’s not used to stopping without having her butt on the seat, so it was a little uncomfortable and she didn’t feel safe, so she went back on her bike. But, she got a taste of it and knows she’s almost there. I know what her next bike can look like now 🙂
After we got back, we started cleaning up, putting things away, girls showered, we ate… Bella showered first, had her PJs on, ate, and even brushed her teeth and said she was going to bed, it was 6pm! Hahahah. She was so anxious about her birthday the next day that she wanted to go to bed early to make time go faster. So, she did go to sleep around 7.
With Bella sleeping, we moved on to decorating for her birthday tomorrow. I was trying my new beers while helping Carol.
I think I blew at least 50 balloons, each with 4 “lungs”. hahahah…. I was fueled by some good beers, some potent ones… and I had a few too many.
Carol had bought a farm themed decoration package from Amazon, and it was really nice. Bia loved helping too.
It actually took quite a bit of time to finish the decoration, but she had also bought some more stuff for Xmas decoration, there was St. Nick’s stuff…
and the girls’ Elf (Rosie) was also coming… lots going on “overnight”. Bia went to sleep when we were done with Bella’s decoration. We stayed up a bit more for the other stuff. I just went to bed at some point and Carol wrapped up the last details. We had fun decorating.
We had a fun and busy day.