Getting Outside

Greetings friends and family,

Oh the weather outside is frightful...  I mean, perfect.  The days are begging to be enjoyed outside and so we do.  These past few days provided lots of opportunity for one-on-one time with Easton and Layla.  I mentioned in the last post about hiking with Layla, but hadn't uploaded all my pictures from the cameras yet.  This one captures the moment much better.

We had a "bike day" where I took Layla and Easton on separate rides with the trail-a-bike where they were connected to my bike seat.  I offered to take Layla on the trails, but she asked instead to just ride around town.  We did and she did great!  First stop was AJ's fine foods.  They have lemonade and pastries!

We sat down at two empty chairs right in front of the water fountain.  She wore Kendra's sunglasses to avoid getting dust in her eyes.  She looks cool too!

As we sat talking about random topics I asked, "Do you remember coming here two years ago and posting in front of the fountain?"  She said, "no" so I asked her to pose for me in front of the fountain.  She did this:

and then I showed her this picture on my phone.

Pretty amazing, huh?  It's crazy to see how much difference three years makes.  She saw this picture and then the memories came back to her.

Then we went for a ride through the shopping areas.  We stopped by the Goodwill store and she found a scarf for $2.  Of course I'm going to get it for her!  It was pink and purple and winter is on its way sometime.  She claimed several times how this was the best day ever although I know she's said that before like when we were in Disneyland.

Then it was Easton's turn to go for a ride.  He agreed to go on a night ride in the desert mountains.  We showed up at the trailhead with a flat tire on the trail-a-bike.  It went flat during Layla's ride because of some thorns stuck in the tire.  We drove to the nearby bike shop to get it fixed.  I took this at a stoplight so don't worry that I'm taking pictures while driving.  :)

At the bike shop we fixed the trail-a-bike tire and then noticed my bike had two flat tires as well!  Three flat tires later we were on our way to the trailhead to start riding.

Easton had a blast.  One light on the front of my bike and one on top of his head so he could see everything around him.  I was relieved for him to be brave and enjoy doing this because we'll have lots of opportunities to go in the future too.  The view of the city lights was outstanding, but I could tell Easton didn't care much for the scenery.  He used the StarLight app on my phone to locate the planets in our solar system in the night sky.  His sights are set way beyond the horizon to distant planets.  And I'm doing everything I can to help him find his own passions in life.

One of my favorite past times is shopping with Layla.  I hold up clothing items and she quickly says yes or no.  Her scrunched up nose and head shaking is cute when I show her something that isn't her style.  But when I find something she likes, her vocabulary of adjectives is on full display.

The 4 Webbs went for a neighborhood walk to look at the newly hung Christmas lights.  Layla jumped into the sled display that is meant for taking pictures.  The interesting aspect of this family walk was how great it felt to just go do something free and spontaneous with our time.

I mentioned the snake cave in the last post, but didn't have this picture yet of the snake face Layla painted on Easton.  Kendra gave the twins the idea of painting Easton's face like a snake.  They both excitedly agreed.  Easton trusted Layla to paint his face and Layla had enough confidence that she could see the vision and make it happen.  The creativity never stops even on our days when we are just enjoying time together.

See you soon!