A Momentous Day in Monkey Land!

Well now that spring has spung here in North Texas, (it will last a couple of weeks, then we will be into full summer till next December or so), the monkeys have discovered their bikes in the garage.

They have been pestering both Vicky and I for some bike riding lessons.

Now you have to understand, this is something I have been dreading since before Emelie was even thought of. I remember the "fun" I had learning to ride a bike, my mother or my sister Beth could tell you stories. Let's just say I suffered from a severe lack of patience, (fortunately I have outgrown that).

Since two out of the three monkeys had outgrown their helmets that required a trip to Wal-Mart for new helmets, which devolved into well they need new shoes, which led into I need a couple new work shirts for summer. $108 later we were done.

The bikes the monkeys have, consist of one that I bought used from Richardson Bike Mart, and two others that were given to us by our friends Roy and Cindy who run TIRR. I was beginning to think that kids bikes follow Cindy home like dogs follow Roy home.

The monkeys were after us non stop to go ride, but due to me working all day, then rain & thunderstorms in the evenings that made it kind of hard to fit into the schedule.

I'd originally grabbed a couple of vacation days with the thought of taking everyone tent camping up to Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas. But with the rain and storms, Vicky and I decided that sleeping in tents for four days while getting pounded on by thunderstorms and monsoons just didn't sound all that fun.

So, officially having run out of all possible excuses, Thursday came around and the monkeys cornered me and demanded bike riding lessons, (Olivia was especially demanding). With no excuses or options to get out of it, I was trapped. I had no escape. The day I had been dreading had arrived.

I explained very carefully and clearly that yes they would fall, it would hurt, we would patch them up, give them a hug, and then demand that they get right back on the bike and try again.

Rather than try to teach them to ride on the sidewalks here in suburbia, we took them over to our church's parking lot, lots of wide open space, a shallow little hill, and not a lot of gravel.

We got there, off loaded the bikes and as I was just starting to work with Emelie, Eli jumped on his bike and took off down the hill as fast as his training wheels would let him go. Not only did he crash, but he managed to ding his head up, even while wearing a helmet. I think I will get him a full face helmet when it comes time to remove his training wheels. Eli seems to be the opposite of a cat, a cat when flung out of a window will land on it's feet, Eli when he falls, always manages to land on his head, (he must get that from his Aunt Beth!)

Olivia of course did extremely well on her training wheels, she didn't crash at all.

Emelie was the one I was dreading. No training wheels and with both Vicky and I's stubbornness combined I knew I was going to have a "fun" afternoon.

Well I'll let the video tell the tale. Click on the link and it should play.