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Sunday, August 31, 2008

3 down 1 to go

Whoo Hoo, We've finally got our 4 year old AJ off of the training wheels. She's been riding with the training wheels really well for a few months now, and I knew she was ready even if she didn't.







I got her out in the front yard riding but due to the resistance of the tall grass, she wasn't making too much progress.....what to do what to do.....

I got the bright idea to take her over to the local baseball stadium and let her ride the parking lot there which is paved with a fairly slick asphault which I was fairly sure wouldn't chew up her legs too much in the event of an accident.......At least I was fairly sure that it wouldn't hurt me anyway. As an aside, this is where I took Christian to perfect his riding skills.

We started out on the dirt driveways and she did amazing!


She did however run out of steam and crash a few times which gave me cause to take her over to the paved areas.



I told her the rules, had her get a firm grip....gave a shove....and she was off! She must have ridden for 5 whole minutes before wiping out. Of course it was get up, brush it off and keep going. I think she probably put in 45 minutes out there and racked up at least 2-3 miles in that time. I was standing there with the camera grinning like an idiot. I'm so proud of her I just can't stand it.




Now that we've got Christian (6), Danielle (30ish) and now AJ (4) riding we just have to figure out how to get the baby riding and we'll be a complete bike riding family. We have gotten Nati one of those bike trailers but she totally hates it. I'm not sure why, I'd love to be sitting back staring at her mothers rear while she does all the work........Guess Nati doesn't feel quite the same about it. Anyway she's bound to get used to it sooner or later.






Saturday, August 23, 2008

AAArghhh!!!!

So I just got this cool new background template...you like?
Bad thing is that when I uploaded it, all of my sidebar stuff dissapeared. Now I have to go back and try to remember what was there and put it back together.
I guess nothing is as simple as is seems.
But who cares! I got a new background! Whoo Hoo!

Friday, August 1, 2008

A FAMILY UNITED IN PLAY

My dreams have finally come true...at least some of them anyway (winning the lottery is still waiting in the wings).
Last night after dinner the entire family went for a bike ride! I can't even begin to accurately describe the flood of emotions that overtook me as I was riding along and looked around and saw Christian and Aj riding their bikes in circles around me, Danielle riding her new bike (with a loose seat post, new ones in the mail) and Nati riding in the trailer behind me.
We were just cruising along with the wind blowing through our hair and the post afternoon thundershower smells wafting through through the breeze. It was like this unending sense of freedom, of joy, of.......I dunno, something.

This has been a long time coming, at our old house there was way too much traffic to get the kids out bike riding and most of the time I just loaded them up and took them to a school parking lot. Danielle was never really interested in biking and didn't even have a bike, and Nati....well, she wasn't quite old enough for the bike trailer.
We now live in a nice quiet neighborhood with very little traffic, it is safe enough to let the kids ride around, I was able to build a nice bike for Danielle and of course we now have the trailer for Nati. All is now right in my world.

I can only hope and pray that this new found freedom and joy will be able to be taken advantage of on a regular basis and that we will one day be able to expand this new found freedom as the children get older and become a biking family. For the last 2 years I have watched entire families on the bike trails and have dreamed of the day that mine could join me in the sport that I love and has given so much back to me. This is the begining of that dream and I hope that it never ends.