The Bad Parenting Trail or Introductory Bike Trail?

Today was the last day to get a long bike ride in before my next tri Labor day weekend so I hit the trail near our house about 9:00. The weather has just changed to the low 90s so the trail was packed. Packed with children who's parents apparently forgot they were parents, packed with bikers who apparently have never been on a bike trail before, and packed with running groups, walking groups, and any other type of group that likes to occupy the trail in a 4 person lateral fashion. These people obviously didn't take high school physics or else they would understand that if a bike moving ~18 mph hits a run away toddler, woman on cell phone, or an unleashed dog it will not be pretty for anyone involved. Needless to say it wasn't exactly a good workout but it was definitely good training in abrupt stopping, sharp turning, and lots loud yelling.

Let's see what was the most annoying occurrence of the ride?

1. Was it the boy who comes flying out of the dog park on a motorized scooter right in front of me while I'm yelling that I'm on his right, who proceeds to go right and I have to bail into the grass? All the while his mother stood with a dog and yelled at him that was why she didn't want him to have a scooter because he can't seem to pay attention.

2. The 90 year old woman who was riding on the right who when I politely informed I was going to pass her on the left said, "no, that's where I'm going" and then she turned left from the right side of the trail, right in front of me causing me to abruptly stop to avoid hitting her only to be yelled at by her nearly dead husband who was then coming up behind me and was mad that I stopped.

3. The biker who was riding the opposite direction from me and I signal that I'm going left. He then turns right at the same time and then yells, "WATCH OUT" to which I replied, "I signaled I was going left". He then informed me he thought that meant for him to go the direction I was pointing. Uh, ok?

I think it's time I write a nasty letter to the City of Plano to ask them to post signs that say "Beware of Bikers". It is a bike trail but seeing how everyone seems utterly shocked when they see a biker or god forbid a bike moving fast I think it's time we put up a little signage to state the obvious. Or better yet, why don't they rename the trail the "Bad Parenting Trail" or the "Introductory Bike Trail" at least then it would be informative. I know "Chisom Trail" and "Bluebonnet Trail" sounds so nice and Texan but it's just really not doing the trick.

Braves, Cubs, and Friends...oh, my!

This weekend Adam and I went to Chicago to see friends and go to the Braves/Cubs games. We arrived late Thurs night but in plenty of time to have a midnight dinner in Greek town with Vinnie.

Friday we had Cubs tickets in the bleachers with several of Adam's friends. We took the subway to the game from our hotel on Michigan Ave. It was SO UNBELIEVABLY crowded. The second the doors closed after we got on the train I started having a panic attack. We were in a super crowded train, UNDERGROUND, with no sunlight in site. I wanted to die, miss the cubs/braves game die, start going bat-ass crazy want to die. The nice man by the door let me trade spots with him so that when we eventually reached an above ground part I was able to see out. I was feeling much better but still rather uneasy. We did make it to the game in one piece, staked our claim in the bleachers, all in time to watch the Braves take batting practice. I still wasn't feeling too hot after we sat down so I decided to go to the bathroom to put some water on my face. When I got up to leave a Brave hit a ball out of the park and it broke the window of the brownstone behind Wrigley. I literally sounded like some one had been shot...in the 100s of baseball games I've been to in my life that was a first for me...but apparently happens at Wrigley all the time. The game was great; the Braves won and the weather was a fab mid-80s...a cold front from the ~105 degrees in Dallas. After the game we went to the Gingerman for drinks, dinner at Tango Sur, and then post-dinner drinks a Blue Bayou. It was such a fun day!

View of the bleachers:

Saturday we had lunch with Monica at the Purple Pig on Michigan Ave and then took a cab to the game...no subway to Wrigley after yesterday! Adam's father's day present was the trip to Chicago and dugout tickets to Saturday's game. When Wrigley was remodeled they lowered the seats and added rows A, B, C at field level. We had seats on row B...these seats were so amazing that had there not been a net there to protect you from miss batted balls you could literally reach out and touch the players. The Braves didn't win this one but with seats this close that happened to be in the shade...who could complain? After the game, we had a drink at Gingerman (it's a tradition when you are with the Durbins!), dessert at Sensational Bites, dinner at Due, Uno's sister restaurant, and then drinks on the roof top of Rock Bottom Brewery. Another wonderful day with so many wonderful friends.

Brave, Derek Lee, who was a Cub 3 days ago:

Lou returning to the dugout after a chat with an ump:

Sunday we had an early flight back to Dallas since we were anxious to get back to Maison. See you next time, Chicago, we missed you!

Sippin Sake, Happy 10 months!

Today was Maison's 10 month b-day and my parents took her to Sushi Sake to celebrate. Adam and I were still in Chicago so she was hangin with G'Daddy, Nooey, and Aunt Shari. We always take Maison's picture on her monthly b-days so we can see how much she changes each month. I asked my parents to take her picture since we were not here....

Here's Maison sippin "baby sake" on her 10 month b-day:

I wonder where she learned to drink like that ;o) Happy b-day, bug!

Jack Johnson, with no sauce

Last night Adam and I went to see Jack Johnson and G.Love at Superpages in Fair Park. We had pit tickets so we wanted to be early to get a good spot. We got to the fair grounds at 6:30 and were pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to the parking attendant that he handed us a green recycling bag instead of asking us to pay $20 to park 300 yards away from the gates. The surprises just kept coming...

We walked in to a group of people under the shade pavilion. They were listening to a 'band' perform. Uh, yeah...it was Jack Johnson, G'Love, the lead singer of ALO, and some Hawaiian chick that is touring with Jack. Ummm, have you ever been to a concert where the headliner and the opening acts are doing a 50 person gig in the common area? It was AWESOME! Apparently, Jack Johnson donates all the ticket sales from his concerts to local charities. I guess if he is performing for free why would he care if he performed before the performance?

The concert started promptly at 7:00 and lasted until after 11:00. ALO opened (never heard of them...don't have any comments) followed by G.Love. G.Love is a white guy from Philly who plays the harmonica, sings the blues, and raps. His most popular songs are entitled, "I like Cold Beverages", "Booty Call", and "My baby's got Sauce". He is FAB! What is there not to love? We have seen him several times at Gypsy Tea Room, House of Blues, etc. Every other time we have seen him with his band, "Special Sauce" but last night he was solo. It was good but I like him better with the sauce, then again...isn't everything better with 'sauce'?

Jack Johnson played all our favs, did some numbers with G.Love, the Hawaiian chick, and the ALO guy. The whole night was just entirely great with or without sauce!

Jack Johnson with G.Love:

Feeling the energy with my besties

So this last past weekend, I went to Enchantment Resort in Sedona for a spa weekend with my besties: Shari, Kelly, Jan, Kari, and Adrienne. We were on a girlfriends package so our weekend was pretty much planned before we arrived on Friday morning. Friday afternoon we had a private yoga class. So we all decked out in our athletic gear thinking a Sedona yoga instructor would really bring the power yoga...ha..ha, ha, uh not so much. This was pretty much an hour of breathing and a little organ massaging. Yes, that's right, our instructor actually came around the room and 'massaged our organs'. I almost burst out laughing and in all honesty could not believe that Jan was able to control herself since she has the wonderful trait of finding the humor in anything! Friday evening we had free so we went into downtown Sedona to shop at Tlaquepaque Village and had dinner at Elote Cafe.

View from our resort:

Returning from our night in downtown Sedona:

Saturday it rained all day so we all spent the day at the spa. We had dinner at Yavapai restaurant at the resort. Sunday morning we were able to get in a red rock hike before we had to head back to Phoenix to fly home.

Managing our 'energy balls':

Scenery along the red rock hike:

End of the trail, the canyon:

Can you feel the energy?