Happy 4th of July

Bryant and I were sitting around this evening trying to remember if we've ever been home on the 4th of July.  Usually we are out doing something taking advantage of the long weekend, but then he said, "I wonder if we've ever had a 4th of July on a Wednesday since we've been together."   Although we've been together for 10 years, there was that possibility given leap year and all.  Thanks to the Internet, I figured out the last 4th of July on a Wednesday was in 2007 and I was flying back to Michigan to visit family and greet my high school classmates who I hadn't seen in 20 years. 

Me:  Grilling steak and veggies sporting the red, white, and blue.

This was our first 4th of July on a Wednesday together under the same roof so we had to figure out what to do.  Seeing as we didn't have any big trips planned, Bryant spent the first half the day just taking care of things around the house and I decided to wake up early and participate in Willow, AK - Freedom 4 Mile Fun Run.  I hadn't raced since October and felt like I needed a dipstick of how I was doing in the real world of running. I had to run in my my red, white, and blue tye dye, which didn't make me run faster, but helped contribute to the 4th of July spirit of the event. It was extremely refreshing to attend a race that only allowed day of race registration, had none of the fancy timing chips, and was priced reasonable.  Given that there were about 50 participants instead of 500 made the experience even more enjoyable.   I managed to squeak into 4th place for the women with a time of 31:03 and I wasn't feeling too bad about that as I had hoped to finish before 32 minutes and wouldn't have cared too much had it been before 35 minutes given the route was a combination of pavement, dirt road and trail.  Later in the afternoon, we went on a bike ride up the mountain near our house.  

Gus decided to participate in a parade with one of his friends whose family owns a landscaping and excavating equipment business and Wyatt practically lives down the road at his friends house, so I'm not really sure how he spent his day. Earlier in the week, I did catch them both using their computers back to back in the house and it was reminiscent of a time a year or so back when I caught them doing the same thing on a regular basis.  See blog:   http://jillcaho.blogspot.com/2011/02/christmas-new-years-and-january.html .  I realized they've grown up a bit since then.   

Last weekend, Bryant and I took to the bike again.  We decided to bike to the cabin in Big Lake and then return the next morning, about 100 miles round trip.  In May, we had stashed some food and water anticipating this trip. The weather held out for us, meaning it didn't rain.  On Saturday, there was some sunshine later in the ride, but on Sunday the temperature hovered around 55 degrees with low grey clouds. Even though our route back was little longer it was much better than the route over, as we were able to avoid a lot of the rock thrown bike paths, due to 4-wheelers and dirt bikes in and around the Wasilla area. A lot of people like to call Big Lake and Butte the redneck central of Alaska, but the bike paths in both these areas were wonderful compared to what we experienced around Wasilla.

Bryant at the cabin

I ended up with a flat tire just past Wasilla on the way over to the cabin and that led to a multitude of delays, but eventually we pulled into the driveway with our bikes, ate dinner, and had a campfire until all hours of the morning.  Only to wake up and return back home the next morning/early afternoon. 

That pretty much rounds up what we've been up to that is half way interesting the last week.