Sore, Tired and Happy

 As I sit here with aching quads and a sensitive bottom, all I can think is that today was awesome!

 My body aches because for the first time in at least 15 years, I rode a bike.  Last year my dad offered to fix up my old bike for my birthday present, but I declined in favour of something else.  However, I asked him to fix it up for this birthday, just early so I could actually start riding in the spring.  When he pulled my bike out of the shed, he discovered that it was in horrible condition.  As this bike was my dreaded nemesis and the reason I stopped biking, I shed no tears for its demise.  Instead, I skipped(figuratively) happily to Canadian Tire, Daddy in tow.  After a few minutes of browsing, I found what seemed to be the perfect bike.  It was even the right size as I'm on the smaller side.  But my dad wouldn't let me buy the first bike I looked at.  Home we went with the intent of checking out a bicycle store today.

 Today just happened to be the 46th Annual Elmira Maple Syrup Festival which is a bit of a tradition in our family.  My sister even came home from Ottawa to attend.  My parents and sisters went together while Steve and I took our own sweet time with the boys.  The weather was beautiful this year, with no rain, snow or sleet and we had a great time.  I even made some very healthy food choices.  Turning down the cotton candy, profusion of maple flavoured goods, multiple deep fried options, I instead chose a mostly healthy samosa and Indian lentil soup from a booth run by my second favourite Indian restaurant. I was very proud of myself.  Steve was shocked as I'm typically the deep-fried and sugar addict.  He couldn't believe his eyes when I didn't eat the cotton candy. :)

 While walking to the festival from where we had parked, we noticed that someone had tapped the trees in their front yard.  Opening the lids, I showed my children the sap and gave them a brief lesson in maple syrup production.  On the way back to the car, we peaked again.  My kids were fascinated.  Zane had been complaining of a sore tummy due to too much cotton candy consumption, but soon recovered after we began contemplating tapping our own trees.  We live next to a mostly maple forest, aptly named the Sugarbush Park. This discussion led to a hunt for sugaring supplies.  After a hint led us in the wrong direction, we ended up getting the buckets from the family farm. It was a treat to visit even briefly the farm I spent so much time at as a child.  After getting the buckets, we headed home to start tapping the trees.

 My dad was tired out from his time at the fair, so he was more than happy to get me the first bike.  By this time, my husband had accessed the flyers online and checked out my selection.  He approved.  So off to the store we went.  I am now the very proud owner of a bike.  After arriving back home, I took my bike out for a spin.  Did I mention that I haven't biked in at least 15 years?  My ride lasted all of about 7 minutes and was I ever sore at the end of it!  It took about 45 minutes for my lungs to stop aching. I guess I'm really out of shape.  I have a lot of work to do before the 10K I'm going to bike in October with Aris.

 Even though I'm sore, I'm very excited.  We've been boiling down sap on our stove today, I have a new bike and I've been organizing our cupboards.  It's been a very good day!  Hopefully with the help of some Tylenol, I will have a good sleep in preparation for a day of Sabbath renewal tomorrow.