We visited the Wightman’s Farm/Apple Orchard in Morristown, NJ on Sunday, October 5th for a couple of hours of family fun. The pictures are available on family photo site (link to Wightman’s Farm pictures). Some samples from the day:
Visit to Wightman’s Farm- Morristown, NJ Apple Orchard/Farm
Visit to Baltimore & Washington, DC with Mimi and Papa
We drove down to Baltimore to meet up with my mom and Sherwin a few weeks ago. They were in our neck of the woods and had a great time catching up.
We had a great time visiting and they got to hang out with a much more active Riley. I’m starting to understand the proverbial “you’ve grown so much since I saw you last” aunt/grandma comments. It makes a lot more sense to me now!
Pictures are in two places on our photos sites - under Family (point and shoot camera) and under Travels (SLR - mostly Fort McHenry in Baltimore)
Next up - photos from the apple orchard this past weekend.
Riley’s footwork
Riley has a couple of new moves to share with the world:
- Turning around in circles
- Stomping (either in play or frustration - I have seen both)
His feet are growing as well - he now wears a size 7 shoe. No need to get any ideas about buying shoes - he’ll be out of these soon as well.
“Stage 1″ Cycling Tour around Watchung Reservation
So.. I finally felt like I was in good enough shape to meet up with Evan a buddy here in town. He’s an avid cyclist (both road and trail riding) who took me on a new circuit around Watchung Reservation in Central New Jersey. It was much harder than the circuit I’ve become accustomed to riding. The big hill in my circuit is the *start* and not the feature.
The average speed took a major hit and I only averaged 12.4 MPH and ended with an odometer reading of 14.6 miles. It would have been much lower had we not gone down the hills we climbed. Needless to say, I was huffing and puffing for a good portion of the ride. That’s a good thing - it takes me out of my comfort zone.
As noted in the title, this was “stage 1″ in his book. He has a “stage 2″ that he routinely cycles and has devised a “stage 3″ but has not ridden that yet. For now, his “stage 1″ is enough of a workout.
Continuing the cycling program
My endurance is going up. For some, it may not be a big deal to do 20 miles without stopping but that’s what I’m up to now. Today, though, I only did 15.6 miles. Since starting on this regiment about a month ago, I have logged 203 miles and have reached the goals of doing 50 miles in a week and averaging 15 MPH.
Today, however, I only averaged 14.9 MPH but figure that has something to do with the heat. According to the bike computer, it was between 95F and 97F. This is probably a bit high (confirmed on wunderground.com that it was 89.8F officially) but this may be what the actual temperature on the road is. As we know, asphalt has a tendency to heat up a bit and retain heat.
I was planning to go out tomorrow but Tropical Storm Hanna looks to sabotage the weekend. We’re expecting between 3-6″ of rain and winds 30 MPH with gusts up to 50 MPH. For my family in Texas, this sounds like a typical storm but it’s a rarity around the NYC / Central New Jersey area.
Question: Who’s afraid of their shadow?
Answer: Apparently Riley is. We confirmed it few nights ago in the kitchen by alternating which lights were on and off.
He’s definitely seeing his environment in different ways now. Interestingly, his reactions are polarized - either fear or happiness. My observations, however, may be a bit off - perhaps I’m discounting the banal - plain Jane reactions…
Yellow Crayons
In the event there was ANY doubt on Riley’s favorite color then it is as clear as a blue sky - yes, it is yellow. He has clutched two yellow crayons in his right hand and will not give them up for anything. He also is becoming more vocal when he does not get what he wants. This includes putting his yellow crayons away.
Perhaps the terrible two’s are not too far away!
Riley’s favorite color
It appears to be yellow at this point. He gravitates toward that color with crayons especially. Perhaps, it’s to write secret codes on white paper!
Back to cycling
I took a brief break from cycling over the past four days. The rest was due to the fact that I couldn’t turn my head completely. At most I had 65% use looking to the left. I guess it was some muscle in my upper back & neck that I had strained. The last time I went out before today, on the 26th of August, it was really starting to hurt.
On the night of the 27th, I did not have a restful sleep and was doped up on pain killers (over the counter of course…) on the 28th. Today, the movement in my neck was back to say.. 90-95% so I went out again.
My legs are strengthening and my speed is going up. On the 26th, I met my first goal of completing 15 miles in an hour. Today, I averaged 15.4 MPH in a hair over an hour. My progress:
- August 12th - 13.8 MPH
- August 17th - 14.2 MPH
- August 18th - 14.5 MPH
- August 23rd - 14.7 MPH
- August 26th - 15.2 MPH
- August 31st - 15.4 MPH
For consistency sake, these results are from the same circuit. As noted in this entry it includes a few hills including a fun climb at the beginning of the workout to get the heart pumping.
I’d like to get up to 17.5 miles in a hour. This looks like a stretch goal at this point - autumn on our heels. If only we lived in a place more conducive to year round outdoor sports….
Riley update
Not a huge amount of change since the last time I posted. The new behaviors:
- He “stomps” on occasion. I don’t know if this describes it well but he methodically walks with v shaped/legs apart style when exhibiting this behavior.
- He dances in place on occasion as well.
- The truck book is full of “zhu zhus”. Perhaps he is imitating the sound of trucks?
- He terrorizes the cats more than ever. He has become a bit more forceful and thinks they are for boxing. Needless to say, the cat have learned to move out of the way quickly.
- Perhaps accidentally, he is dribbling a soccer ball.
- He loves feeding himself with his spoon. Unfortunately, he turns it upside down and this means the big usually receives more of the food than he does.
- He is a picky eater at home. Apparently, this is not an issue at daycare. Go figure…
OK, so after dumping some of the observations, he has changed a bit.
Oh, and if you’re reading this sister, happy birthday!