Here's my friend Andrea, out with us for an adventure!

Andrea! You are soooo much fun! Your picture is up here on my blog so my family will know who you are when your name creeps up in future posts of our adventures. It was super handy to have a smart cookie like you hop into the truck and fix our CD playing problem while I ran to the bathroom again before our adventure. Then, as we started the trail run/bike/stroller push and I got a SECOND flat it was nice to have a buddy help hold that dumb little valve tight into the pump to try pushing some air into the tire :0

We took Andrea (whose kids are on the mainland with their grandparents for a few weeks) on one of our adventures as pit bull bait and general pit crew. We took her to a trail run we love, but one for which we really feel having another grown-up around would be wise. Literally minutes after we started on the trail, the front tire of the stroller blew out again! I had just swapped it out that morning before Andrea jumped into the truck and figured out why the boys’ favorite CD wasn’t playing. I checked the wall before putting a new tube in…nothing. I have no idea why it blew out again! Darn! Not wanting to take the time to put a new tube in only to have it blow again, I decided to push the stroller with a flat tire in the front thinking how bad could it really be? Bad. Bad bad idea. That is a workout and a half! It doesn’t bounce over roots and rocks well (you smash into them vs over them). And it is slow and heavy. Plus I had water and snacks and rain jackets down below and Big Ben in his seat. Sam did great on the trail ride – he enjoyed having a booster engine (Andrea) any time he petered out just before the top of the hill. And Andrea is so cute that she didn’t even sweat, she laughed the whole time and chatted along as if we were strolling through Waikiki. Meanwhile I’m dying but trying to talk! Finally I gave her the stroller toward the end. My shoulders were pretty beat later as I hunkered over my computer to edit the book which is nearing the final stages of production.

Ben says “Did Wondi wun? Did she wun on da twail?” What’s next, Rondi? 🙂