Our day at Sugarbottom

We've lived here for almost 5 years now. I've ridden what I consider to be a top notch trail system called Sugarbottom probably in the neighborhood of 50 times in those 5 years, but Stacey and the kids have never joined me. It's not that I expect them to ride because I certainly don't, but it's cool to make something you love a family affair. So it took the Topps', whom we know through my parents and Clear Lake, to get Stacey to get the kids and herself to come and check it out. Jack sent me a text message Friday morning suggesting we meet at Sugarbottom on Saturday afternoon and that's what we did. The Topps and I arrived there earlier and Stacey and the kids joined us later. We had a great ride on the trails. It was absolutely beautiful outside and the sun was shining through the pine trees that make up the South side of Sugarbottom. Everybody made it through the trail system unscathed.

As is often the case, a great part of mountain biking is what ensues aspres ride. The kids and Stacey were at the trailhead in the parking lot along with our coolers full of beverages and food. When we rolled up Mara was doing the pee-pee dance and the bathrooms had been locked up for the season. Luckily, she was able to get past her natural Schwartz/Ritter born vanity and was able to drop trou and pee in the grass. She wasn't quite as proud of that as I was, but she sure felt better and went straight back to perfecting her sand volcano. Ellen on the other hand is quite content at this point peeing in the grass. In fact, I'm pretty sure she gets a kick out of it. Mara and Ellen played in the sand and on the swings at the trailhead quite literally until dark. They had a great time and had sand well embedded in their hair as well any other conceivable place. While Stacey took them home, the Topps and I kept working on emptying our coolers.

Anyways, a day at the trails is as good as it gets for me. And I was happy to share it with my family and some good friends.