This week we enjoyed a visit from Mark, Chris’ close friend from his graduate-school days in Utah. Mark came to town for Airventure, which is the annual Experimental Aircraft Association show that is going on in Oshkosh this week.

Chris and Mark used to bike together, and Chris is very familiar with Mark’s abilities on the bike and in other endurance sports. For example: Mark has run the Wasatch 100. Three times. This is simply beyond comprehension for most of us mortals. Based on this knowledge Chris didn’t have any reservations about giving Mark the heaviest bike in our fleet while he was in town. So on Tuesday afternoon we ran some errands and went to pickup Everett from preschool. Chris rode the Pugsley and Mark rode the Bakfiets. The Bakfiets is about 8 feet long and the steering takes some getting used to, but by the time we arrived at Everett’s school Mark had mastered it, so he (sort of) volunteered (but not really) to pedal Everett home. Total vehicle+cargo weight including the kid and all the stuff that comes with a kid was about 150 or 160 pounds. Good training! Chris asked Everett if we should go home via the hill route or the extra bridges route. Mercifully for Mark he chose the extra bridges.

We got home a little before 6 and made fish tacos, one of our absolute favorite dishes. It was a beautiful evening so we ate outside and then went to Gilles for custard.

We switched it up a bit and Mark rode the Pugsley.

From Gilles we went home through the village and decided to stop at Cafe Hollander for a nightcap. We got home around 9pm and Mark read Dog in Charge to Everett for a bedtime story.

Over the last few days Everett has become concerned about wolves, specifically that one has gotten into the house and might sneak into his room while he is sleeping. Perhaps this is because he has started paying closer attention to the details of the Three Little Pigs story. On the way to school on Friday we talked about what we would do if a wolf got in our house, and Chris proposed we handle it the same way as the 3rd little pig: the wolf goes in the pot. Based on this Everett asked us to make signs for some of the doors in the house.

It was a really enjoyable afternoon and evening. Here is a video of our excursions.