Mountain Biking as a Social Isolated Family to Landstuhl Castle

The kids really wanted to try a new bike path today.  Big Sis and M&M have been wanting to bike up to the Landstuhl Castle, but Kevin and I didn't think the two littles would be able to make the ride.  The first mile of the trail is completely uphill, and Little A has a hard time just going on a straight path for 5 miles.  After talking to the kids, they all wanted to try, even Little A. Kevin and I didn't mind the change up and challenge, plus we figured if it got too hard we could just get off the bikes and walk up the hill. We decided to call it a 'BikeHike'. So we set off up the steep hill towards the castle.  I was so surprised because Little A made it up about half a mile before she completely fell apart.  What would have taken us about 20 minutes to walk, took only about 10 minutes to bike, we totally just cut our time in half.  I got off my bike too and walked beside Little A.  We talked about how much faster that was and about how very good she did.  We really only have the one uphill, the rest of the ride to the castle is small rolling hills and some flat parts.  Once we got past the big uphill, we all got on our bikes again and rode the rest of the way to the castle.  We had a choice to go through a residential area or up a big hill in the forest behind the houses. For Little A's sake we chose the residential street.  I'm glad we did because it was all flat, except the last part to the castle was a steep downhill.  All the kids had fun zooming down the hill.  We got to the castle and rode around to the side of the castle and just let the kids explore the outside of the castle for a while. We couldn't go in the castle because it is closed due to COVID-19.

  

We found a large grass area on the furthest side of the castle and made camp there.  We brought everything for a picnic, except the blanket.  One of the kids were in charge of packing the picnic blanket, and they sort of spaced it, so we sat on our jackets or the grass.  Luckily the grass wasn't wet and it was soft enough to sit on.  We got super lucky, because the weather was so perfect for a picnic. The kids all talked about their ride and how great it was.

As a family we have been reading Harry Potter, and we are now on book 4, The Goblet of Fire.  I brought the book and read to the kids for a while.  It has been so fun reading the books together as a family.  Little A especially loves hearing the story because she hasn't read it before. It has been fun to read them again, because I have only read the books once when they first came out, and there is so much detail in the books that I have forgotten.  I really do love the books a million times better then the movies.  That might be another reason Little A has loved reading the books too, I promised that after we finish a book, we can watch that movie as a family.

We spent a little over an hour just relaxing in the shade of the trees on the side of the castle.  It was a great use of family time, and we were so blessed with perfect weather and the beautiful scenery.  We loaded the backpacks back up and set off through the castle gate to make our way home.

On the ride home we decided to take the all forest trail home.  The beginning section just after leaving the castle was everyone's favorite.  We rode on a narrow trail that was downhill.  It was pure mountain biking and it was a blast.  All the kids were whooping and hollering.  We then hit about two pretty big uphills.  Little A was not happy at all with the hills and started complaining that her bike was not working right. When that excuse didn't work with me, she started blaming her legs, saying they weren't working right.  She and I ended up walking both the hills up.  We got past the hills and had some pretty flat sections for about half a mile. When we were about a mile from the house, I was a little way in front of Little A when I hear a skid and a howl.  I stop quickly and turn around to find her under her bike and on the floor crying.  We had reached a section of loose gravel, and her bike had slipped out from underneath her and she slid with the bike and fell off scraping up her poor knee.  She had a few pretty good gashes on her knee that were bleeding.  I didn't have the backpack, because Kevin and the older girls had left us in the dust a while ago.  My brave Little A, got back up on her bike bleeding and all and whimpered her way home.  Since we were on the last mile, it was all downhill the entire way home.  That helped her to keep going, knowing she really wouldn't have to pedal, and she wouldn't have any hills to walk up.  About half a mile down, there is an arm gate that keeps cars off the path, and poor Little A miscalculated the space and hit her handle bars on the gate and once again fell off her bike.  This time she scraped up her other knee.  The poor thing had huge crocodile tear and two bleeding knees by the time we got home, but she got back on her bike both times she fell, I am super proud of her.  We got her all cleaned up, and she said even though she got all banged up, she still had a really good time.  I am so proud of her, she did something really hard today, and got beat up in the process.  She proudly explained, "Mom, I can do hard things!"  That's my girl!

Teaching Monster to Ride a Bike with the Time 'Rona Has Given Us

Since we have been blessed with all this time at home, Monster wasn't on the tow bar very long.  He quickly transitioned to biking on his own. Each time he was on the tail-gator he kept asking if he could go on his own.  We actually had the time, so we couldn't use that excuse, so we told him the next time we go out bike riding, we will let him off the tail-gator.

So, as promised, the next time we went out we took Monster off the tow bar to see if he could get the hang of riding his bike on his own.  The girls all stayed together and rode around on the trail, while Kevin and I helped Monster and helped him learn to ride on his own.  Since he had a little strider bike and has been a pro at that since he was 2 years old, it only took a few times with us holding onto the back of his bike before he took off on his own.  He was so proud of himself. We first started him off on a bike that was a little too big for him.  He could ride fine, but he couldn't stop on his own.  So, we tried his smaller bike and he was able to stop all on his own, we are still working on getting him to start the bike on his own.  It's a work in progress. All he needs is a light push and he is off.

It is so fun to watch him ride his bike all on his own.  It is so adorable seeing his tiny legs just pedalling as fast as they can go to keep up with everyone.  To make it enjoyable for everyone, we usually ride to the trail with him on the tail-gator, then on a flat section, we let him loose for about 1-2 miles until he is tired.  Then we attach him back to Kevin's bike and we continue as a family for a few more miles.  It is so wonderful to get out of the house.  It is wonderful to feel the air on our faces and to get some exercise as a family.  We sure have loved our weekly bike rides.

Biking the Isolation Blues Away

During this social isolation time, we have found that taking bike rides is our happy place as a family.  For the past month, we have gone on a minimum of two bike rides a week.  We have explored and found all the amazing bike trails around our house.  There are a bunch of mountain trails that we can't go on yet, but there are three pretty flat trails that we have fallen in love with.  One bike trail is super smooth and flat, but there are a few houses on the pathway, so there is always at least two or more cars that drive on the pathway.  With Little A biking around like a drunk biker, it always makes me nervous when a car passes. The path goes directly West, so in the evening we love riding into the beautiful sunset.  

When we started riding, Monster was originally in a bike seat attached to my bike.  He fit in it just perfect, but he would get cold, especially his hands, so he would always shove his hands under my bum.  It was the most annoying thing, and when he found out how much it annoyed me, he started to do it just to get a good laugh.  The more we were riding, the most Monster started to ask if he could ride like his sisters.  We found a new trail that we call the tree path.  The entire path is more like asphalt, with a lot of potholes, but it is all covered in trees and it feels as if you are riding in the forest.  We can ride a straight 2 miles in the trees and we don't have to worry about cars on this path.

We found another path that is all forest.  The pathway is loose dirt and gravel.  This path had a lot of options for different paths that end up all meeting up.  I love this path, but it is a little too hard for Little A, since the bikes slide a bit on the loose gravel, and it takes more strength to pedal on it too.  Poor Little A is only able to ride about 5-6 miles before she completely melts into a puddle.  She complains that her legs hurt, or that the bike isn't working right, or that her legs aren't working right.  She does so well for the first few miles, but just doesn't have the endurance to go any further.

Since biking has been a way that we have found happiness as a family, and a way to get out of the house and still obey the social isolation rules and laws, we did a little research and found that we could attach Monster's bike to one of our bikes by way of a tail-gator.  The tow bar lifts his front wheel about 6 inches off the ground and we are able to pull him and he is able to pedal and feel like he is riding this own bike.  Monster loves having his freedom, and I love not having little cold hands under my bum.  All of us look forward to our bike rides.  We love finding trails that we haven't tried yet, and we love being together.  I have found that if someone, either the kids or myself, is getting crabby or stir crazy or just feeling a little blue from being stuck inside, if we just go for a short bike ride, it makes it all go away and the house is filled with smiles and laughter once again.

Namiseom Island

We took a day trip to Nami Island with Talia today.  I have wanted to go to Nami Island since we went to Petite France and Garden of the Morning Calm a year and half ago.  Nami is a half moon shaped small island that was formed as a result of the building g of the Cheongpyeong Dam.  The Island has the grave of General Nami who led a great victory in the 1400’s, which is where it got its name.

The original plan was for Kevin and a Talia to zipline onto the island and for me and the kids to take the 5 minute ferry to Nami. However, when Kevin went to buy the tickets for the zipline, he found out that there was a 3 hour wait, so we dropped that idea (and saved about $140) and we all took the ferry together.

The ferry was packed with people and took only a short 5 minute ride across the river to the small half moon shaped island.  The ferry had a bunch of flags from all over the world.  Nami is considered its own country and even has its own currency for purchase, if you so choose.  

After exiting the ferry, we leisurely walked through the island in search of the bike rental shop.  On our walk we passed cute sculptures and outdoor exhibits. One of the exhibits was to promote reading and huge book covers were lining the walkway.

We passed by a beautiful lotus garden sans the lotus since it was not the flowering season.  The pond was filed with huge lily pads with a bridge to cross right over the pond.  I can only imagine how crazy beautiful it would be if there were thousands of lotuses coming up throughout the pond.

The coolest part about the island is that there aren’t any telephone poles or anything to distract from the beautiful trees and natural feeling of the island.  They built all electrical underground to help maintain the peaceful beauty of the island.  There are so many rows of different variety of trees all around the island to include chestnut trees, cherry trees, white pine and more.

As we were walking around, Kevin saw a group of people all with the same breed of white dogs, and he was laughing and laughing about it.  He keeps saying that it must be the White Dog Support Group.  But seriously, there were so many of the same dog that it was beyond coincidence and was  just crazy, so naturally we told the kids to flash their blond hair and dimples and ask if we can get a picture.  This was only about 1/8 of the dogs that we saw in the group.

There were art exhibits all over the island, one was a sign that was welcoming us to Nami, and had countries from all over the world.  I was wearing my ‘I love Canada’ shirt and the sign on the welcome sign also said I love Canada, so we all jumped in and got a picture.

We found a large picnic bench and decided that since we only get bikes for rent for an hour, we should eat first so we don’t have to use some of the paid bike rental time to stop and eat.  There were grass fields and picnic benches all throughout Nami, so we found one of the bigger ones in the shade by the playground to enjoy our lunch.  We brought lunches with us for this very purpose, so we were excited to find a perfect spot.  The kids played in the playground and on a tree swing which was right by our picnic bench.  We chose the perfect day to come since the sky was a crazy beautiful blue, air quality was green and perfect and the weather was a perfect temperature of not too cold and not too hot.

We finished eating and playing then went and rented our bikes.  Kevin, Monster and I rented a family bike, while the other four had their own bikes.  It was perfect! The paths were all dirt paths and there weren’t too many crazy hills, with most of it being pretty flat.  We enjoyed spending the next hour going all the way to the very north of the island then making our way around the perimeter.

The quad bike that Kevin, Monster and I had was quite a work out.  The bike was heavy and of course, only Kevin and I were peddling while Monster enjoyed the ride.  There were definitely a few times that we were huffing and puffing while Monster. was just laughing and loving the ride.

As we rode all around the island we really enjoyed all the trees.  There were so many groves all over the island of as many trees out could think of.  It was so nice that we had bikes to take us all around, because there is absolutely no way the little feet of Monster and Little A would have made it very far around the island.  But since we had bikes we got to see all the tree groves.

There was a man made waterfall in the middle of the island that we got to see and enjoy. We also saw the river from the north side of the island.  We were able to park our bikes and take a little hike along a bridge to look out over the river.

We only had about 15 minutes left on our bike rentals, so we decided to take a ride all the way to the south side of the island.  The kids were still smiling and loving their bikes.  We were so proud of Little A because this was the longest and most rugged path she had ever ridden on up to this point.   She did such an amazing job on her bike and never complained. I bet having her amazing cousin with her helped a lot.

We reached the south side and were greeted by three huge piles of rocks and a picnic platform.  We rested on the platform and took some pictures with one of the piles of rocks. Everyone was pretty tired by this point and we had promised ice cream cones, and the kids wanted to cash in on our promise.  We rode back to the bike rental and returned our bikes.  The ice cream was next to the bike returns, so we enjoyed some shade and ice cream as we rested our legs.  We made our way back to the ferry.  It was such a nice day on Nami Island, I'm really glad we came.