The entire family was hugely busy this weekend. Rockstar Conner not only had matrching band, but also performed at the winchester with one of his bands. Sadly I lack photos. Boog also graced the stage this weekend with Jeremy’s band:
boog knows all the words!
He knows the lyrics to a few of the songs, so Jeremy has him join them up on stage.
On top of that, camping with the adventure group at west branch state park, the cadillac of ohio’s state parks. It is maintained by the army corps of engineers, so it is really, really nice. It’s almost not like camping. West branch is located a bit south of Ravenna. With over 5000 acres of park and 2000 acres of water, the park offers over 20 miles of bridle trails, 7 miles of MTB trails, 12 miles of hiking trails, and a whole bunch of other stuff. In addition to all this awesomesauce, the weather was incredibly cooperative and a good time was had by all.
Originally published at batty.us. You can comment here or there.
more later. i'm dead.
acted like an asshole in the woods
and not needing rocks
then we left.
it was badass.
seeing as i have an uncanny knack of unintentionally beating the shit out of my blackberry, there are no pictures.
it is awesome out there. if you get tired, you can't shut off a machine. if you want to go home, you have to still finish to get back to your car. if you feel like getting go, you fall. it is a whole new set of rules and i love it.
overall he's a good rider. and it makes me die when we pass people and i bellow "ON YOUR LEFT" and almost immediately after you hear a very small "onya left!" I DIE.
i still gotta get used to the trailabike. i'm doing infinitely better than i was the first time, but when boog gets fidgety it sends us into an infinite wobble. i'm pretty good at correcting it, however. once again, i thoght we were gonna bite it on those concrete stantions on the parkway, but my natural reflexes are pretty damn good when it comes to regaining balance. i once again got complimented on my ability to recover.
i'm being cryptic now, but i gotta say that a years worth or so of sucky karma in some aspects of my life are finally beginning to turn around, and i'm really happy - no, in BLISS because of it. of course, because i cannot have an overall life above average, my car is in need of some repairs that are gonna hit me financially for quite some time. anyone wanna come drink with me on my patio? that's all i'm gonna be able to do for a while.
i am trying to find swimming lessons for boog that don't require me to sign off my nonexistent 2nd born. the ledges pool has their open house tomorrow, and of course thanks to my car i'm not gonna be able to shell out the cash to sign him up there.
but i'm giddy, so. i'll take things as they come.
there is one particular girl who is always at the hikes, she usually is a bit slower than everyone and takes up the rear. waaaaaaay in the rear. nobody really cares, though, because she is actually getting out and making an effort and that's what matters. one or two will fall back so she's not walking alone. after the hike we stopped for coffee and donuts and she told us her story.
she was in medical school studying to be a surgeon and an avid athlete, training for a half iron man and working her way up to a full. she volunteered for some kids stuff @ the metroparks, and one day she was transporting some kids in her car when she was hit by a drunk driver. her car careened across the road and hit a telephone pole. the kids were ok, but the pole landed on her and pushed her so hard that her back snapped the dashboard in half.
she went from running every day to being in a body cast, unable to move, for 4 months. she lost her scholarship an was unable to pursue her surgical education because she cannot stand for a very long time. she racked up 1/4 mil in hospital bills, and the dude that hit her only got 60 days in jail. it was his 3rd offense, and the first woman he hit is now in a wheelchair. she has 4 ruptured discs, and they cannot operate because one is too close to her sciatic nerve. somewhere down the line they will have to put a metal casing around this and she will not be able to bend over.she has MS.
and here she is, doing the same shit the rest of us are doing, climbing the same steep cliffs and rocks that we are but having an even more difficult challenge because of what she has been through.
so i now shut up when i get a blister on my toe or if my knee gets a little sore, and i now consider her one of my personal heroes and am honored to grab her hand and help her over the rough bits.
the maiden voyage was this evening in the rocky river metroparks. we got a late start, so we only did maybe 2-3 miles, then i had to bolt because it was getting near boog's bedtime. good call on my behalf, because the rest of the group continued and a bit later it started to rain. i will be so glad when the sun is out longer.
i just gotta say how proud i am of boog. he was seriously well behaved. he said hello to everyone and shook their hands when offered, and he didn't act up at all. he didn't complain the entire time, and i helped him on his voyage into manhood by showing him how to pee in the woods.
he weighs 39 lbs., for the record.
fortunately i have both.
This was my day.
Originally uploaded by batty.
My adventure group met up today to do a nice 5 mile hike through the beautiful bedford reservation. Thanks to our overexuberance, 5 turned into 10. Today I have trudged through rivers, tackled precarious elevations, and scaled railroad tracks. All while breaking in new hiking boots.
3 hours and 10 miles. We are now gorging ourselves at a local mexican restaurant.
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via BatBerry
that was the path full of ice, if you slipped, 100 feet down into the river.
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