bike ride

This is the first year the boys have been interested in riding bikes. They're starting to get the hang of pedaling and steering at the same time, so I decided that the beautiful May weather we're receiving now was a good excuse to try taking a ride up our road. They'd been practicing around the nice flat, paved sidewalks at one of the playgrounds we frequent, so the uneven road was a little more challenging for them, and the threat of traffic (though not a very huge threat, as you'd probably figure out just by looking at the photos of what our road looks like!) made it a little more stressful for me. But we set forth anyway!
The rule was to stay on the same side as traffic, and to pull off to the side and stop if a car came. I think all of 1 car, plus the UPS truck and the mail truck came by during our 1/2 mile bike ride, but the kids practiced the safety rule frequently just in case. Actually, Zoo Boy was pretty gleeful at the possibility of getting run off the road by a car, and with every gust of wind he excitedly yelled "Danger! I hear danger! Car! Danger!!" while giggling wildly.

I'm still trying to convince Zoo Boy that pedaling with the balls of his feet is far superior to pedaling with his heels, but he's stubbornly insisting on doing it HIS way. Which of course means he needs a lot of help from me on the hills.

But J's pretty much got the whole bike-riding thing down. Thank goodness for training wheels, though -- the child seems to have absolutely no sense of balance. I've never known a kid to fall so much with training wheels on. Probably has something to do with his desire to go really fast. But at least we're putting those elbow and knee pads to good use!

Making the final turn to home, the boys both got stuck in the driveway. Not only is the sand/dirt at the mouth of the driveway extremely uneven, but we just put new stone down on the drive last fall, so it would be difficult for even me to bike there. Still, they didn't complain about having to get off their bikes and push them all the way back to the house. Well, not much anyway.

I'm looking forward to more biking adventures with the boys this spring!