Family Bike Ride + HUGE Snakes + Sun Burn = Awesome Saturday

Warning: lots of text with no pictures!!!

A few days ago we bought a child carrier bike seat to go on the back of my Mtn. Bike so I could go on day trips with Emmie these weeks while playing Mr. Mom.  Unfortunately, the weather has not been (and apparently will not be) cooperating.  We ventured out today as a family before it got too hot.  We rode down the new Antelope Valley Trial to Antelope Park where Emmie played on all of the slides.  Then, we had a picnic and made our way back to the house.  By the time we made it home at 11:15 or so, it was alreayd 83 degrees and muggy.  Ugh.  The wind was horrendous, making the trip to the park brutal (headwind) but the trip back almost effortless (tailwind).  We hope to do a bunch more of these before it gets too hot in the upcoming months.

The best part of the ride was at the end when we spotting a HUGE (14-18 inches!!!) garter snake on the trail.  I promptly jumped off my bike (Julianne held it) and tried to catch the thing.  After making a dash for the grass, it turned around and headed straight for Julianne.  Julianne absolutely freaked out and started screaming.  Emmie, who until this point was pretty excited about the snake, started crying too.  In any case, they girls calmed down, I caught it and Emmie ended up having fun looking at it (but not touching) and immitiating its flickering tongue.

Also - tonight after an evening with the Brad, Emily and Mya  at Five Guys Burgers and Ivanna Cone, we noticed that Emmie's arms were pretty pink.  Sun burn!  Worth it for such a great day though.