October 3rd...the perfect day

Trevor proclaimed 10-3-2013 as the perfect day.  Here is what was going on, and as you will see, several of the events added up to a 13 year-old boy's idea of what a perfect day is...

1 - No School

2- Selling a car

3- Kristin being out of town on a soccer trip

4 - Mountain bike ride

5 - The annual Almond Harvest

Let's address each event to see how it did or didn't contribute to the "perfect day."

1.

There was no school Thursday and Friday because of a Teacher Improvement Day and a crazy thing called October Vacation.  I have a feeling it should truly be named October Hunting Vacation, but that's just me!

I think we can safely put this in the Did Contribute column. 

2.

Thursday we sold the kid car - affectionately known as Jorge, or the Purple Honda.  Sadly, it was beginning to take away from the auto repair budget category, and as a new car is on the horizon for John, it was time to let it go.  John and Trev had a deal worked out that if Trev did the legwork, he could have whatever the car sold for over a certain amount.  Let me just say, Trev did mighty fine for himself.  I think even he was surprised what his take on this deal was!! Ka-ching!!

Kristin, who has always profusely stated her disdain for this car, became surprisingly nostalgic when the sale was close.  (This cracks me up!)  She is in driver's ed, and hadn't had a chance to drive it, so Thursday morning I drove to the fairgrounds parking lot, where she could take it for a spin or two around the parking lot.  I also let Trev "drive" it for about 3 yards.  I couldn't let it go without all of the kids driving it.  Kristin may or may not forgive me for letting Trev do this.  Time will tell!

Again, this was a winner event!

3.

Kristin had a soccer game in Post Falls.  This means she had to leave around 11:30 and didn't get back until about 9:30 pm.  They won!!

Although you might think this would be in the did contribute column, Trev gets pretty lonely with just me, and as I may have mentioned, I only have two kids at home now!!!  (Clearly I am still working through this.)  Also, with Kristin gone, he is minus a target for "younger brother annoying", which he can do pretty well!!

4.

All day long, Trev had been dying to go mountain biking.  He helped with the almonds (see 5) and we had a little free time in the afternoon so we headed out.  I was glad to have a walking opportunity for myself as well.

About 5 miles from our house, on the edge of the river, is a series of trails that are used for hiking, jogging, biking, walking and horseback riding.  There are several different loops marked on the map, with the mileage for each one.  

We choose one, and headed out.  Of course, he left me in his dust (literally and figuratively, it was a very dusty and sandy trail) and I nervously hoped he would take the right turns at the right times.  He did, and save a very sandy spot that he had to walk his bike through, had a great time.  As for myself, I realized what muscle groups I had worked when I got out of bed on Friday!:)

No doubt in my mind that this was the Perfect Day clincher!  He could have done chores all day and then this and the day still would have been out of this world.

One for the win/win column (He got to mountain bike, I got to walk!)

The view from the trail!  The river looks beautiful behind all of the trees.  And look at that blue sky!  Perfect!!

At the end of the trail, there was a hill that others had ridden down before.  Trev toiled and got his bike up there only to look on the other side and see a much easier path to the top!  That sounds like a sacrament meeting talk, doesn't it?
The ride down was scary, but fun!!

5.

Every year, the almond tree is laden with fruit, and in order to get the high stuff, we have to hit the branches with a long pole.  As Trev was the only other body available (see no. 3),  he was chosen by default to help me.  This is not a great job.  This year was especially hard because a lot of the nuts had already fallen and we had to search through the ground cover to find them.  He was ready to be done then, but there were still nuts on the tree.  We spread out sheets and beat the tree, and then collected the nuts.  Not great fun, but its done and now the nuts are spread out to dry a little.  They are still in their soft, sticky hulls, and I have found that letting them dry a day or two makes the removal of the hulls easier.  

This was definitely a "did not" make the day perfect, but again, see no. 4.

There you have it, the elements that make up a perfect day for a teenage boy.