new bike

I have a bike! Well, almost. Jeff and I went to a place called Silent Sports in Richmond Hill and I bought a beginner's mountain bike. Unfortunately we won't be able to pick it up until next week, but we already have a mini bike trip planned. Jeff wanted to do the trails at Mono Cliffs, but I told him I preferred some nice easy FLAT trails to start off with.

After we ordered my bike, we had lunch at the same Pickle Barrel that Allison, Jodi and I normally frequent on Thursday nights. Then we went to the Martin Goodman Trail; Jeff went riding while I took a blanket, a book, and my Walkman and sat on the grass by the lake in the sun. In the evening, we went to see "City of Angels", which both of us quite liked. I bawled all the way through, of course (I am such a sap; I even cry at silly commericals like the Cantel commercial where the woman unwraps a Christmas present to find a phone from her dad...).

Had dinner at my sister's last night. Sara has a new picture up on the wall. I asked her what the picture was about (I've learned from experience that if I'm not sure, it's far better to ask straight out than guess).

Sara: It's a family of trees.

Me (pointing to the biggest): Is this the daddy tree?

Sara (nodding): Yes, that's the daddy tree. And that's the mommy tree, and that's the baby tree, and that's the aunt tree.

Me (extremely pleased): The AUNT tree? Well, I like that tree very much. (pause) Where's the uncle tree?

Sara: He's at work right now.

Annie's toddling now, sort of (she needs to be hanging onto someone's hands). Only problem is, she's so SHORT that you have to bend over and shuffle along behind her in a very awkward and uncomfortable fashion as she chugs ahead. I can't do it for long before my back starts killing me, but it does her make her so happy. She's learned how to say "HI" and "BYE", though seems to favour the latter even when she means "HI". I took her for a shuffle-walk yesterday and she yelled an enthusiastic "BYE" to anything that moved, including a next-door neighbour who turned around and gave me an odd look (Annie's voice is surprisingly deep for a 1 1/2 year old; I'm sure he thought it was ME who yelled).