We've Got Three Bike Riders

Yesterday, Saturday, was just one of those glorious days for the five of us:  most of the day spent in our awesome new house, some exercise and a nice dinner out.

 Jack had had a friend spend the night on Friday and the boy was picked up early by his father as he had a baseball game.  And I was on 4th call and had to hang out around the house until I went off call at 3pm,  in case I was needed at the hospital.  Turns out I wasn't needed at all. 

Before the addition was finished, a day like yesterday would not have been a fun day.  Being in the kitchen would have required being away from the rest of the family.  Additionally, there was no decent yard in which the children could play.  No garden.  Disorganization galore.  Just not a pretty scene all around.

But now a day at home is just plain old fun.  We lingered over coffee and breakfast.  The girls read some Bob books to us.  And they are just reading like champs.  Then they played Barbies together nicely.  Jack got a work station set up in the garage for his modeling and read a bunch of his current Harry Potter book.  Then we streamed a movie for the kidlets from Netflix through our Wii (LOVE this feature).  My Girl 2, I think it was.  While they watched, Andrew and I went upstairs and enjoyed an hour long eucalyptus steam bath.  Luxurious.

Once three o'clock rolled around, and we were no longer obligated to hang out at home, we took a 7 mile bike ride.  We rode from our house down to the Roanoke Greenway.  Meandered along the greenway for several miles, let the children play at a park for a while, then rode home.

On the way home, we rode on a path through the River's Edge playing fields and Clara, who was riding in a cart that Andrew was trailering, piped up that she'd like to try to ride Alice's bike.

Now, all previous attempts at teaching Clara to ride a bike have been disastrous.  They've resulted in shrieking and crying and falling.  And other parents looking at us like we were evil child abusers.  As a result, we actually hadn't even tried with her since last autumn because we were trying to forestall yet another scene. 

So we all stopped riding, slightly shocked and gun-shy.  Clara climbed on Alice bike and took off.  Rode for about five minutes like she'd been doing it her whole life.  She was strong and steady, negotiated curves like a pro, sped up and slowed down well.  The only problem was that she hasn't figured out how to pedal backwards to break.  So when she wanted to stop she would just throw herself off of the bike and log roll to a stop.  That was truly hilarious.

Thrilled for Clara, we all rode home, showered and enjoyed a nice celebratory dinner out.

So we can all now ride bikes.  Great job, Clara, our lone bicycling holdout!  We're glad you're in the saddle.

(The idea that Clara could ride all along but hid that fact due to being inherently lazy and preferring to ride in the cart is, definitely, a possibility.  If so, her cleverness and scheming are hear by acknowledged.)