Bikes

Today was another lovely day! Spring seems to have finally sprung around these parts, with the trees and bushes very suddenly looking green and full. No complaints here!

Niko and I started our day by leaving Gus and Maya at home, and heading out for a bike ride! I really wanted to see what he could do, when he didn't have anyone slowing him down. And we started off great! We zipped through the woods, pausing every now and then to admire the MANY frogs that were hopping around, or to just look at the view. We made it to the end of a section of trail (about 1.5 miles), then turned around.

Shortly after we turned around, we came upon some walkers headed toward us. Niko, in his efforts to stay to the right, went off the trail just a little bit and lost his balance. He didn't even fall all the way, but it was just enough for one of his pedals to scrape his knee a bit. He actually didn't even notice it until a few minutes later, when he announced (very dramatically) that he was BLEEDING!! (by the way, he wasn't. It was pink, but it was a superficial wound.). This made our ride back to the car a fun one, filled with dramatic sighs and quiet whimpers, frequent stops, and lots of exclamations like "We'll never make it!" and "I never would have come today if I thought I was going to get hurt!" Fortunately, we DID make it back, and a quick rinse-off and a small band-aid fixed everything immediately (note to self: bring band-aids with us next time!). But it wore me out!

After lunch, we thought it would be fun to take the kids to the playground. I also thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take Maya to the dirt track that runs around the two baseball fields next to the park, and see if she can ride her bike without training wheels! I clearly wasn't thinking. I'm accustomed to going to this park during the week. But today, there was a baseball game going on, along with team pictures, and the playground itself was jammed with much-bigger-than-usual kids who were waiting to have their photos taken. We stayed for a few minutes, but then we got out of there! I then remembered that the playground at the upper elementary school would be empty, and it was! So we played there for a while, and the kids rode their bikes. Maya had some GREAT runs where I was barely touching her! The truth is, she can ride her bike. She balances, steers, pedals, uses her brakes, and puts her feet out to catch herself. But she does NOT want me to let go, and I got some very dirty looks from her when she realized I had done exactly that (even though I was still RIGHT THERE and wouldn't let her fall!). She is SO close! I am hopeful that we'll get there this summer. I'm feeling really motivated to get everyone moving on wheels, finally!

Once Maya was good and mad at me, we went home. I needed to relax and read outside in the sunshine. Maya went in search of the chickens, and ended up hand-feeding them again. I'm pretty sure this girl has acquired her daddy's love of all creatures great and small. She was very content to sit out there and make sure everyone had their fill of mixed grains!

Eventually, Niko came out, too, and the two of them played soccer for a while (see the chickens in the background? hehe!)

And that was pretty much our day! Another busy week ahead, but that's life these days!