Bikes

It may not sound like a big deal when I say that my two sons went biking over the weekend. But belive me, it is -

This is a first not just for Owen, who's 4, but for 8-year-old Luke as well. He's always been afraid of bikes, probably because the one we got him first was way too big for him, and we made the training wheels wobbly, I guess so that he'd get used to that feeling. How stupid were we?

About 2 weeks ago, Owen got on his first bike and since this exciting event he wants to ride all the time. Owen's success (on a properly sized bike, with non-wobbly training wheels) spurred Luke to try again, once we'd made his bike stable on the training wheels.

It's such a good feeling to see them on bikes! Luke realizes how fast he can get places, and every day needs less and less help starting from a dead stop. He watches how Owen rocks his bike back and forth to get started, and then the two of them are off.

This particular trip had an inauspicious beginning, with some rain just as we arrived at the bike trail; however, we persevered.

I had brought my bike, but I decided once we got there that I'd better not ride it. I'm still needed for pushes and helping pick up fallen children. But not riding gave me the chance to snap a few more pictures:

I'm continually amazed at the quiet, beautiful places hidden away in our corner of the world; now that we're mobile, I hope we'll be able to see more.