Bike the Drive

Yesterday morning was the annual Bike the Drive here in Chicago in which Sean participated this year. They close down Lake Shore Drive for about six hours in the morning and people appear from everywhere to ride their bikes down the road along the lake for 30 miles (15 miles one way). 

It was not raining, so the weather was not completely uncooperative (it has been raining constantly for the last couple days). Apparently the morning was extremely foggy to the point that one could not see anything apart from the road, which is really too bad because there are some fabulous views of the city and the lake.

Chicago River bridge

looking into the city from the bridge

looking out at the lake from the bridge

After getting up at 4:30am and biking 30 miles, Sean came home and went to church with us, packed up some boxes in the afternoon, and even managed to grill burgers for dinner while the rest of us hung out on the deck! What a wonderful guy!!

 

Of course I had to get some pictures of Cora squeezed in here too! ;)

Springtime Days

What have we been up to lately, you ask? Oh well... a little of this and a little of that. Cora can tell you.


We get outside when we can.

We laugh and giggle.

Spending time in the Baby Bjorn is loads of fun now that facing forward is an option.

In the morning, hanging out in the Jenny-jump-up is usually pretty interesting, except that I'm not quite sure how to get it to do anything. Is there some sort of trick to this? Chewing on the sides must be what it's all about.

Story time is the best! Especially when gnawing on the pages is allowed.

And of course, this strange new thing of getting food off of a spoon. I like to squirm around so that Momma hits my nose and eyes instead of my mouth. Seems like a good trick. Then I usually start squawking to get out of the Bumbo seat. It's just too constricting for an adventurer such as myself!

Then we usually play some fun games before bed. I'm SO BIG!

And that's about it for a typical day. Here's one more of me smiling. Momma and Daddy love to see me smile. I'm a happy baby. 

American Child

I have been thinking a lot about our country. The way we live and what is in store for us in the future as individuals as well as a nation. 


Where we are headed. What it was like in the past as opposed to now. 


Even just the huge difference in the way I grew up compared to how Cora will. I remember we just used to get thrown outside to play with no other entertainment than what we could procure for ourselves. Will I even be comfortable letting Cora go out into our yard to play by herself (or with siblings) even if I could see her from the window? What if I looked away for a second and someone took her? The world is not what it used to be, and she will not even be growing up in as rural an environment as I did. 


And all this technology has made a huge rift in the generation gap. The internet is wonderful, but it sure does make bad things accessible to children that one would never have even fathomed thirty years ago. But at the same time, we can't fight it and say that Cora will just never get to use the computer. Unrealistic. Kids will probably be using iPads in school instead of Trapper Keepers when she goes.


Will my child have a cell phone when she is 11? I used to think, "no way," but now I really don't know what we will feel is right in 11 years. 


And how long will God decide to bless America? It could definitely be not as long as we think or would hope. 


But as unhappy as I might be about certain things in our government or the ridiculous political correctness of the day, I am still so thankful to be an American. 


After visiting India last summer and seeing the extreme circumstances that others on this earth accept as their reality, how could I not be so very appreciative? 


At church a couple of weeks ago, I learned a little of the sex trafficking that goes on in that country. Little girls 6 and 7 years old being forced into a life that would be horrible and traumatizing for a mature woman! 


We are blessed.


No matter how badly those in power seem to be trying to mess it up... we are so very blessed to be Americans.


I have been listening to the song below a lot in the past week. It prompted this post. For some reason it reminds me of the way I grew up and my family now and also makes me feel nostalgic, because some of the pride and hope alluded to seems like a life past that will not be able to be regained.


But the words have this promise of what could be that I know we still have in this country, because our family is in the middle of grasping that guarantee.


I feel like we are not proud to be Americans like generations before us. We don't have that sense of unity anymore, except in rare circumstances like 9/11. And it is really easy to get sucked into that ungratefulness. 


Despite everything going on and possible harder times we might be headed towards as a nation, I am still honored to be living in a free place, and I am thankful that my child will grow up with incredible possibilities available to her.