life back home

Adjusting to life, once all the stuff is put away and the laundry is finished, is a mix of fun and sad. I hate leaving Northern Michigan, coming home to the thick, dark air of Philly (which is even more obvious when you fly into it).
Yesterday, as I was driving the kids home from the suburbs, I realized how "hard" you have to be when you live in the city. I am always on guard here: looking out for crazy drivers, driving defensively so that I don't get cut off, locking my car doors, locking my bike on top of my car, looking both ways before driving into intersections, and just constantly surrounded by harsh living situations and potential crime. It is exhausting.
I long for days in the country, where I can leave all my stuff in our yard and not worry about it, where locking the doors of the house is optional, where we own some green space and a garden, where my girls can spend time outside just exploring without having to get in a car.
It was really nice to come home to OUR home. It's not our dream home, but it's home. I know I will miss a lot about the city.

In completely different news, I went for a bike ride in the suburbs yesterday, and it was SO HARD. The hills are pretty intense near Tray's work, and I pretty much stayed within a 3-4 mile radius. After 12 minutes, I was exhausted. Because of Tray's work schedule, I will only get one swim workout in this week, which is not great since my next race is in like 2.5 weeks.
Here's a picture of Sage and I from the other day.