Big Dummy tennis chauffeur

Road train: four wheels and four paws chugging along.

Last evening we loaded up the Dummy with the objective of playing a little tennis in the perfectly calm air. For the ride to the court, I was accompanied by all my girls, both human and canine. Once there, Mommy and the big girl hit the ball to each other while I hung out with the little girl and Scout.

Lil Sis is really starting to interact and show a lot of expression. Gotta love the shirt with monkeys on a bike.

Scout was a bit curious as to why two humans would play with a ball without either chewing on it.

Prime court-side seating.

Following tennis, we rode home, where I inevitably tinkered with the Pugsley for a while. I dressed it up in some bikepacking gear, to see how it all fit. So far I have a Revelate/Surly frame bag, a pair of Salsa Anything cages, and an old Jandd seat pack that I got in the late '80s. I packed a test load into the frame bag, including my Eno camping hammock and some other random items. Riding it around the back yard, I was pleased with how the loaded frame bag didn't intrude into my pedaling space.

I'll have to do some more testing and figure out a few more equipment carrying solutions, but there is definitely some bikepacking in the Pugsley's future. I have no specifics or destinations yet planned, and I probably don't have time to put together an epic trip, but I'll figure out a way to make use of my two-wheeled RV.

The Pugsley in partial bikepacking livery. Next up will be figuring out more carrying capacity.

Salsa Anything cages on the front of the Pugsley. Anything cages are an interesting concept to carry light, somewhat bulky items, though I'm not yet certain what I'll carry in them.

An important discovery is that the length of baby feet is shorter than the width of a fatbike tire.

First bike ride for our little one

Scout inspects the Burley hitched to the Titan.

Today, the weather was so beautiful that I was inspired to dig the old Burley trailer out of the garage. It hasn't had a lot of use since I got the Big Dummy, but it is well suited for certain purposes. In this case, the goal was to take Lil Sis on her first ride. After a bit of work, the trailer was clean enough and the tires were aired up. We were ready to go.

Contemplating her surroundings.

The car seat was a tight squeeze in the single-seat Burley, but I made it work. Soon, the whole family was under way on our trip to the park. I pulled the trailer with my old Titan, while Scout trotted along with me on my left and big sister rode on my right. Mommy followed closely behind to provide reports of the baby's ride experience. It seems as though she liked it, and was soon gently jostled to sleep.

Our big girl just lost one of her upper front teeth yesterday.

We were soon at out favorite local park. We rode the trails and made a couple of loops around the big grassy field. After a while, the shade of a big tree lured us in to rest on the grass for an hour or so while the baby slept.

The girls hanging with the old man.

A couple of youngsters achieving high-speed, low-altitude orbit in the field.

Scout has turned out to be quite a biker dog. She'll happily trot beside me for miles.

Mommy resting. It was her first bike ride in quite some time.

The beauty of the day continued into the evening. Of course, this necessitated a meal in the back yard. It turned out to be the first traditional summer barbeque of the year. I know that the weather system is all screwed up and that late April shouldn't be as nice as this, but it sure is hard to complain. There may be plenty of time for complaints if July and August turn out to be crispier than usual.

Using her remaining choppers to take divots out of a cob of corn.

We've had successive nests of House Finches on our back porch for the past six years. These little guys were enjoying tag team feedings from their parents. I know all too well how the parents feel.

6 weeks today

Smiling, for now.

My girls

Big sister holding little sister.

It's a girl!

Mommy and baby are doing fine.

Almost as much hair as her big sister had at birth, but blonder.

Eager big sister a couple of days ago.

She was born at 9:48am, and was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long. She has not yet gotten a moniker, but that will soon change. Everybody is feeling great.

Happy leap day, everyone!