August

Summer is stink.
Sweat trickle, grass tickle.
Brown, naked dirt
caked on crispy, crunchy lettuce and
the crescents of my fingertips.
We pick berries and stain our clothes.
Hats and glasses, shade seeking sunbathers.
Ice clinking as we sip.

1 year!

Hazel Eyre and Ezra Oakes are a year old (plus a month now...)  We had a great party with all the friends we've met in Massachusetts.  The beauty is, we met all of them here in our complex.  So it was only fitting that we hold the party in the community room and pool.  We love where we live, and the people here.

My brother was also visiting while we held the party.  Thank you Evan, for taking the time out of your busy summer (the last before starting college!) to come from Utah to visit us and play with my kiddos.  I am so happy you were a part of this memory!

We sang:

We ate cake:  

Ezra devoured his entirely:

Hazel had no clue what to do with hers:

Lincoln was willing to help her out, of course:

And to sing at the top of his lungs for the camera:

After opening the many wonderful gifts, we packed up and headed down to the pool.  The twins had so much fun!  Thank you to all our friends who came to celebrate with us.

Background story on why I wanted a cargo bike

When my family lived in Oregon, we biked during the summer.  I toted my little brother around on something like this:

We called it the co-pilot.  On a hill, and there were many, I would bark out the command, "Pedal, Evan!  Pedal!  Go! Go!"  The bigger he got, the more I needed his help.  We biked to the beach, to get donuts, to meet his friends at playgroup.  

Fast forward 7 years, and I'm a stay-at-home mom with one outdoors-loving kiddo.  Lincoln was the type of baby who never got cold.  If he was crying, a step out on the balcony would remedy the tears.  We played in the snow and in the rain.  Going inside was a necessity because I wimped out, not him.  We got a jogging stroller when he was 6 months, and I used it to push him all around downtown Salt Lake City.  We watched the construction progressing on the new City Creek Center, strolled alongside men in suits and ties, elderly couples walking hand in hand, and college students picking up pizza on their bikes.  It was a beautiful time.  Many days, Lincoln and I would leave before lunch, and still be out on the town by the time Tyler came home from work.  He would drive his truck to our apartment, switch vehicles, and pick us up in his civic, wherever we happened to be.  There is no better way to discover a city, learn its nooks and crannies, and appreciate the local retail scene, than on foot.  

Part of me bemoaned the news that we were having twins, merely for mobility's sake.  How would I usher around three munchkins in the same low-stress, eyes-wide-open sort of way that Lincoln and I had become accustomed to?  How would I go anywhere stress-free, for that matter?

The first year has been tough in that respect.  Tending two babies at once, especially if you breastfeed them both, requires being in a relatively safe and private space every few hours.  This past week I have officially weened the last of my kids.  Hazel is drinking rice and almond milk full time, and I haven't had to unbutton or pull up my shirt once!  It's always sad to say goodbye to a phase that we'll never enjoy together again, but I'm looking on the bright side and taking advantage of our newly found freedom.

In the form of... a very big, very heavy, very awesome cargo bike.  

Say what?  Looks crazy, sounds crazy, I know.  About a month ago, Liz sent me an article about a woman named Emily Finch in Portland, Oregon who is redefining "possible."  She bikes with six kids in the city.  

I laughed and got teary-eyed when I read it.  Something in me clicked, and I started researching cargo bikes.  I found out they are common in Europe, especially the Netherlands, and are appearing in Portland (of course, it's our bike capital!)  They come in two wheel and three wheel versions, front loading and rear loading.  They all looked outlandish and out of my reach, like the stuff dreams are made of.  Like what I'd do in my "ideal" life, living in the perfect city with lots of money.  

Then I came across this video, and was excited to see the bikes in action.  

Some unexpected events transpired, quite quickly, and I am already the owner of a Babboe City.  I will tell the story of how we found it and how it works for us (and what we plan to do in the winter!) in another post, but for now let me demonstrate: