Monday, May 17, 2010

Rise and Shine --- Getting out

Good Morning and welcome to the calm before the storm!

If there could be better weather for a Sunday afternoon, I want to see it.
The temperature was perfect. The humidity was gone. The sun was shining.
So, that could only mean one thing: get out the bikes.
When I mentioned it over breakfast, a big smile grew on the face of a 5-year old girl I know.
Last summer, she was just starting to really enjoy bike riding. Every time it's been sunny since, she's asked to ride her bike.
So, we pulled it out, put some air in the tires and she jumped right on. Within seconds, she was laughing and yelling. "Look, daddy, I can do it all by myself."
So, I told the boys to get their bikes out and get ready to ride. Much to their chagrin, I thought it was better to just go around the block.
"I don't want your sister crossing streets," I must have said about 4,000 times.
The retort every time was: "That's not fair. We want to ride somewhere else."
So, after a few times around the block and a quick lunch, I thought it was a good idea to keep the peace.
"OK," I said, "we're going to ride up to the cemetery."
Now, that might seem odd, but when riding with children aged 5, 8 and 10, it's good to go somewhere without cars bearing down. So, we took off for the cemetery (about a mile ride) and made it there easily. There was laughing. There was racing. There was fun.
Then, it was time to ride home. You would think I was asking them to run a marathon.
"I'm too tired." "My legs hurt." "It's too far." Were just some of the complaints.
So, we battled home with some pushing, some walking and some riding. They pulled the bikes into the driveway and immediately fell to the ground.
Five minutes later came the next request: "Can we go again?"

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