Aren't we cool?

I know. Look at us. We rock. Fortunately for us, none of the friends we invited to go to the Wild Animal Park on Saturday consented to tag along. Otherwise, we would have had to decline an incredibly appealing invitation from our neighbor Wayne, not to be confused with my dog Duane-actually, they are frequently confused with one another as I am all too often yelling at my dog, Duane, for running into Wayne's, the neighbor, garage to chase his cat named Ninja. So Wayne always thinks that his crazy lady neighbor is yelling at him for no apparent reason. I can't believe he still invited us to go dirt biking.

Actually, I can because we are always out admiring his new toys, telling him that he is Mr. Fox racing himself and making him feel all cool and what not. One of the greatest parts of the invitation is that after choosing all of the equipment we would need and chatting it up with him in his garage for ten minutes prior to our departure, he asked our names. We have lived here for 9 months, talked to him weekly, declined several times to go biking because he always invites us the morning of to go like four hours away, and hello, we have a kid. But we are the type of neighbors that talk all the time so it's just too late to ask names because we are already great acquaintances. But he just did it. I love people who don't feel dumb doing things that might make them look dumb.

My dad has indoctrinated me for years about the inferiority of four wheelers when compared to motorcycles. And while I still may have felt more comfortable on a two wheeler, zipping up and down this gorgeous mountain, I had such a blast! I really just went thinking we would get some much needed time outside, not expecting to rid myself of my little hip-hugger or get any real riding time. But Wayne's girlfriend, Karen, totally stripped me of parental responsibilities and let me ride all day on my new found love, this sporty little ATV, with the boys. My dad would be so proud...well sort of proud because I was, after all, on a quad. But when we got to the top of some pretty steep hills, Wayne said, "Wow, you really know what you are doing. People totally screw those hills up because they don't know what gear they are in when they start." Oh yeah. I can totally hang with the boys on a motorized vehicle. Thank you Dad, for teaching me how to make it on the open road.

And here is a picture of Cade and Eli playing that same night WITHOUT uncle Cam who refuses to come visit us every time he comes to California. Look what you missed out on Cam: pushing Tonka trucks around the house and eating strawberry-peach homemade ice cream. Pity, it is.