We arrived at the REI meeting location around 9:50am, followed by the E's family and MD and PM. Took us some time to unload all the bikes and gear, and put sunscreen on the kids. The night before, I had swapped the rear wheel's skewer on Hubby's bike to use the Bob trailer's skewer so that he could tow the trailer while I tow Jaspen's bike. We had not tried to use his bike to tow the Bob trailer before, but unfortunately we were in a rush to eat dinner at his mom's, so didn't have time to test out the trailer. Well, at REI when we tried to hook up the trailer, I realized he didn't have enough clearance between the skewer and the bottom of the rear rack. It would have required a lot of spacers on the skewer which we didn't have. Luckily, even though we hadn't tried towing the Bob trailer with my new U-haul bike (Specialized Diverge), my bike had enough clearance. So, we took time to swap out the skewers so that I could tow the Bob trailer and he could tow Jaspen's bike. In the meantime, Oldest E also got a new bike just like Oldest J's, a Specialized Allez Junior. However, E's Daddy didn't get any spare tubes, so off MD went to REI to get a spare tube. Then we realized that Little J's sunglasses were nowhere in sight. Apparently when we were loading bikes onto the car at our house in the morning, Little J wore his helmet and gloves and put his sunglasses in the garage. Oldest J also neglected to bring his sunglasses despite 3 reminders to the boys to check that they had everything. SIGH. So Hubby ended up making the trek to REI to purchase sunglasses. Most everyone made restroom trips. All of the E's bikes' tires had to be pumped up. By the time we were finally ready to start riding, it was almost 11am, hah.
The morning started out a little misty and cool, but the mist soon burned off, and it turned into a beautiful sunny day - not too hot with a nice breeze. Hubby towed Little J until we got to the trail, then we let Little J bike on his own. The older kids led the pack, with Little E and E's Daddy bringing up the rear. It was Little E's second time biking without training wheels, and first time on a 20-inch bike. The older kids and most of the adults were outfitted with walkie-talkies, so we could hear the chitter chatter while we were biking up and down the hills on the trail:
MD: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â "Oh my god!! How many hills are there??"Â Â
Oldest J: Â Â Â Â Â Â "I think 3 or 4 hills."
MD: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â "Is it 3, or is it 4??"
Oldest J: Â Â Â Â Â Â "4. Maybe more."
Little J biked all the way to the wharf with Daddy's help pushing, and Little E made it all on her own as well.
Turns out that the restaurant we normally eat at, The Wharf Marketplace, had closed down. The tractor was no longer out in front, and all the windows and doors were shut. We ended up eating at Palucca Trattoria on the pier, where we could park our bikes on the pier right next to the restaurant's outdoor seating area. It was 1:00pm by the time we finally sat down at the table to order food, haha. Boy were we hungry!Â
After lunch, I realized that I had somehow forgotten to pack Little J's diapers. Again. Sigh. Luckily I had packed extra clothes for all the boys, so there was one underwear for Little J to wear. After reapplying sunscreen, we all biked back on the trail and headed to Monterey State Beach. We had all the boys change out of their cycling clothes and into normal clothes for playing on the beach. The wind had picked up a bit, so it took a while to set up the beach tent, where Hubby and Little J hung out. Little J contentedly played with his construction trucks in the sand for a good long while. The rest of the kids went down by the water to dig mega holes big enough for Oldest E to sit in, with a pool of water inside. The adults lounged on the sand. After a while, I tried flying a new double-string Prism kite. Wooo, it launched high up into the air on the first try, and stayed up there for quite some time before the wind died down and brought the kite crashing down. After that I couldn't get it to stay up anymore :P
Around 3:30pm we started packing up, helped the kids change out of their wet sandy clothes, brought out fruit and nuts and drinks, and then started biking back. Little J and Little E both still wanted to bike. Little E evidently biked only about a mile, complaining most of the way, and finally lay on the ground, flat out refusing to move, haha. E's Daddy towed her the rest of the way. Little J didn't tire until only 1.5 miles before we got back to the car, at which time I plopped him into the baby seat on my bike. Â
Back at the parking lot, we loaded up all the gear and bikes. MD and PM headed home, while we and the E's family drove across the street to eat at Smash Burger. Yum, their truffle mushroom swiss burger is a favorite :PÂ
Around 7:00pm we started driving back home. All 3 boys collapsed in the car in no time. It was Memorial Day holiday weekend, so took almost 1.5 hours to get back. All in all, it was fantastic day for biking at the beach :)
