Description on the bottle: Inspired by the charming lifestyle of Southern France, Red Bicyclette offers the chance to slow down and enjoy life with friends and family. Our California Pinot Noir is influenced by Old World passion and simplicity, reflecting character and balance in a refreshing, approachable style.
Enticing aromas of red cherry and spice, with notes of bright red fruit and vanilla. Pairs well with a variety of poultry and seafood dishes, from grilled chicken to seared tuna.
Sarah says:
While I loved the idea of slowing down and enjoying life - I did not enjoy this wine. As previously discussed here and here, I'm not really a fan of red wine. I'm hoping that with time and more wine drinking it will grow on me, but no luck so far. I do not like this wine. I'm seriously taking the smallest sips ever, and while it's ok just sitting in my mouth, I have to force myself to swallow. Once I do, I close one eye, get goosebumps, and my whole body does a little shudder. It's not good. Where is all that delicious fruit and vanilla taste?! All I get is yuck, yuck, and more yuck. Seriously, the size of sips I'm taking are ridiculous. It's like when I'm forcing my kids to eat something like squash, and I tell them they have to take 2 bites to be excused, and they take bites so small that I don't count them and make them try again. My sips are that small, and I'm still shuddering from the horrible taste. Almost makes me feel bad for my kids when I force them to eat something. Almost. The real unfortunate part here is, I'm so frugal and refuse to waste, that I will probably force myself to drink more of this awful drink. Maybe I'll get lucky and Jon will drink some. This is another reason why I love those little bottles so much, I don't end up with a big bottle of gross.
Overall rating: Thumbs down.
Speaking of bikes, I took Liam on a bike ride today. Actually two bike rides. Poor kid. He got a new bike last week, but I won't let him ride it unless I'm basically attached to his side (5 year old boy, new bike, lives on a main road - just sounds terrifying to me). When he was 3 (and probably the first few months of 4) he struggled to get the whole pedaling thing, so I could just walk next to him and keep up, but eventually he got it and I had to run (I really should just get a bike of my own!). So, here it is, his 5th birthday, he gets a new big kid bike, and for a whole week he's begging us to take him on a bike ride. Jon (I love the man dearly, but he's not a runner) couldn't take him out, and I was still on "no running" orders from the sprained ankle doctor. I let him ride up and down the driveway a few times, but it was too stressful for me, I needed to drink something stronger than wine to keep me from loosing my mind there! (Seriously, I so need to move off this road!)
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| 5K at the Detroit Zoo 2011 |
So, I finally got the green light to run! Thank you Lord! I started running a few years ago to loose weight and to be healthy. Turns out, I love it (which is a bit weird for me, because I grew up being the "girl that couldn't run" during gym class because of asthma). I learned that I need running to help me stay sane as a mommy. It's my me time. It's the only 40 min a day that I get totally to myself. I get to pick the music I want to listen to. I get to run at the pace that I pick, no one pushing me to go faster, no one slowing me down. I think my thoughts, no worries about when was the last time anyone went potty, no mentally preparing dinner, thinking about who I need to email, no planning doctor appoints, work meetings, church events, baby sitters. I don't have to worry about if my decision is going to impact someone else, how I will explain it to them, predicting their reaction and a alternate response. No thinking about money, or numbers, or the future. It's just me. I won't give that up time for anything, not my career, not my husband, not my kids. I'm a better person after I've cleared my stress with a run.
I feel bad, over the past month, I've been increasingly impatient with the kids. I've even blamed them, saying they are going through a phase and being more out of control than normal. The reality hit me today, after 3 runs, they are basically acting the same, and I'm so much better with them. I really do need those runs to keep me sane. I really was truly loosing it. It was one whole month that I went without any running. Doesn't sound like a lot, especially when you consider that I take off Nov-Feb because I don't like running in the cold. But forced not running and voluntary not running are different. We've had some pretty awesome weather days over the past month that I would have loved to go out running in.
Anyways.... I finally got one run under me and felt pretty good about it, so I decided I was up for taking Liam on a bike ride. So we went out before church. Let's just say that was the most annoying run/ride ever. First, we had Mary with us, and our stroller isn't made for jogging, so her and I were bouncing all over the place (actually, she probably thought it was great fun, but I was annoyed). Then we discovered a dead squirrel in the road. Normally, I would pick up the pace and look the other way while running by this type of scenery, but Liam, being a 5 year old boy, wanted to stop and investigate. I try my hardest not to influence him with my reactions on things (like screaming at spiders or being afraid of the dark), I want him to make his own opinions, so as squirmy as I was, we stopped and checked out the dead squirrel for a while. No, stop freaking out, I didn't let him touch it, he just looked at it from every possible angle. Then, about a 1/2 mile out, Liam's pedal fell off, (Thanks Grandpa, you are from here on out banned from putting together new bikes), and it continued to fall off every 30 feet or so the whole way home. I couldn't convince Liam to just walk the bike, and I couldn't get the pedal tight enough to stay on without the help of a tool. My legs are strong, but my arms are weak! So, all that was pretty much horrible for me.
So, after church, Daddy fixed the pedal, and we went out again without the baby sister. Just me and Liam. Now, had it been up to me, I probably would have gone running alone. All that stuff above still holds true, and yet, somehow, this run/ride with Liam turned into one of my most favorite runs ever. And here's why.
Liam insisted that we go the same route as this morning, because he wanted to check on the dead squirrel again (I had to explain why the dead squirrel was now facing a different direction, and looked a little more dead - not a fun conversation), but other than that, it was great. When we got past our first 1/2 mile, Liam wanted to turn a different way than our normal route. I warned him that that way would take longer to get home, but he was up for it. So, we're going along, at a nice comfortable pace. Liam looks at me, and here is the conversation that follows:
Liam: "Mommy?"
Me: "Whats up?"
Liam: "Ka-Chow"
Me: "Huh?"
Liam - gone, he takes off and is going as fast as he can. He legs are spinning faster than I've ever seen them go. Just like that, he didn't even look back! He had it all mentally prepared. Little stinker. By the time I realize that he just Lightening McQueen'ed me, he's getting smaller and smaller, and I have to book it to catch up. I LOVED the unexpected variety of this run. As much as I love running alone, it's easy to fall into a rut of the same easy speed, and forget about pushing myself. I love that it was my 5 year old that pushed me out of that comfort zone. I love that I'm (hopefully) teaching him to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I loved listening to him laugh hysterically for the next 2 minutes while I caught up to him. I loved the "What?" squeak that he made when I eventually flew by him, and I loved race game that we played the next mile home, sometimes with him winning, sometimes with me winning. It was such fun, for both of us. And I'm pretty sure it's something that he's going to remember for a little while (I'm pretty much basing that on the smile that lingered the rest of the afternoon). After a month of having a moody mom, and a week of having a new bike that he wasn't allowed to ride, he deserved that ride.
I can't wait for my next "me time" run, but I can't even express how much more I'm looking forward to the next "me and Liam time" run/ride. My kids pretty much spend every moment awake together (except for the 3 hours they are in preschool). As they get older, it's obvious they each identify with one parent more than the other (Liam is a total Momma's boy, he loves me like crazy. Mary on the other hand loves her Daddy... another blog, another day), I'm beginning to think it's more and more important for them to spend time apart from each other with just one parent, or possibly both. I've pondered with this idea over the years, and even done a few things here and there, but it's never stuck. Liam clearly enjoyed our time today, it wasn't just the bike ride, to him it was me and him, JUST me and him; no little sister; no big, mean, Daddy; just Mommy (ie, the favorite) and the first kid. I'm thinking more of that wouldn't be such a bad thing.
What do you think? Is it important for kids to spend time with their favorite parent alone? Or am I just being silly because I like spending time with him because he's more affectionate towards me than Mary is? My thought is, encourage that bond so that as he gets older he's more likely to come to me with troubles.
Agh, I don't want to think about him getting older! He just went from a 12 inch bike to an 18 inch bike! I don't want him to get older than that. Time for some more of that yucky wine!
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