Back in the saddle again...

(Michael blogging...) Well - I finally convinced myself to do it: take the bike to work again. I've been meaning to do this - even though it's still technically winter and the kids are still in school - I had the opportunity to give it a shot as all the kids were with their other parents and the weather was...well...AWESOME!! At least in the afternoon...

...because in the morning it was 29 butt-chilling degrees cold. Yikes. But, I bundled up and headed out and was surprised at how well it went. Aside from the face that I realized I forgot a helmet about 5 minutes into the ride and had to turn around - all went well. The crossing of the Hawthorne Bridge was as beautiful as it ever was and you could see both Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens in their dusky-red, morning shade. I was so moved that as soon as I got to work and saw a colleague of mine, I waxed poetic and said, "That was one [bleep]ing cold ride in!"

I think I'll do it again in June.

Fruit Night

(Michael blogging...)

It's been one of my continuing goals to really push and encourage all four of my kids to eat more fruit. Laura's kids do just fine with this - but mine never got into the habit and it's been a bit of a battle of the past few years.

I tried gentle prodding...no dice. I tried bribery....no good. I tried screaming....fun - but still not effective.

So - a few nights ago I thought I try a new tact: chicanery.

I went to Fred Meyer and bought 10–15 different types of fruit. Mango, raspberries, pineapple, kiwi, etc. I cut each one up into tiny bits, placed them in small bowls, and set the bowls on the table.

Next, I created a scorecard for each fruit that had columns for "Love It", "It's Okay", "Hate it!" and "Not Sure." The scorecards also had a row for each kid's name. All six kids were required to eat a bite of each type of fruit and could then "vote" their opinion on the cards. Justin referred to the event as a "taste test." How very true!

Even though it still took a bit of prodding to get Emma to finish all the samples - she still did it all and actually had a full serving of fruit in the process. However, she only voted "love it" for grapes and cantaloupe. Everything else got a "Hate It." Ah well...

If all goes well - I'd like to repeat Fruit Night once a month and try introducing new fruits that even Laura and I haven't tried (what the hell is "star fruit" anyhow?) and hope for some really cool results. Like Emma having a normal bowel movement.