Bike Rides and Maids

My favorite part of the day these days are our family's evening walks after dinner.

It's a new thing we started a few weeks ago.

We got my daughter a bike a year ago, and I can honestly count on my fingers how many times she has gotten on it.

I decided that she needed to get some good use out of it before she outgrew it, and thus our new "tradition" began.

My daughter has an extremely cautious personality.

She's very dainty and careful with everything she does.

On our first walk (through our extremely hilly neighborhood), it took us a good 35 minutes to walk a mile.

She was deathly afraid of riding her bike downhill.

She was unsure of her brakes.

She constantly wanted to stop.

She even wanted to give up a few times.

As the days have progressed, she has gained a ton of confidence.

The other day when we were done with our walk, she boldly announced that she was ready to take her training wheels off.

"WHAT?!? Is this our daughter?!"

My excited husband took her training wheels off, and started practicing with her on our front lawn.

She was obviously nervous at first (if you can't tell by her facial expression).

As she gained a little confidence (after a few falls), she was peddling on her own!

We're not quite ready to take her training wheels off permanently, but she sure is enjoying the practice time on our front lawn!

On a final note...

Remember how I said that I have ZERO "nesting instinct" with this pregnancy?

Well, I still have no desire to "nest"....no desire....absolutely none.

So my absolutely wonderful hubby hired a maid to come deep clean our house today.

I'm giddy with joy!

When I was active duty, I had a maid to come to our house weekly and clean.

It made sense at the time since I worked, my husband worked...
My husband was gone most of the time...
The last thing I wanted to do on my off time was clean my house and catch up on household chores.

I provided a substantial part of our income, so it was doable.

When I got out however, it was one luxury that I gave up (since I was going to be a stay at home mom and no longer financially contributing).

It's the one of the things I miss the most about working.

Seriously.

One of the things I miss most about being a Marine is the fact that I had a maid.

I just laughed out loud reading that. 

So today...

I'm gonna enjoy paying someone to do all my dirty work while I kick back and wait on this baby to come.