Riding Bikes

Last summer Carathy really wanted to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels so we took them off and let her try. She got scared very quickly and gave up. When we went to Gem during the summer, Dad had offered Carathy $20 if she could learn to ride her bike well without training wheels before we left their house. She was excited about that but fell once and didn't want to try again so she had to leave the $20 there. This summer when we went for Debbie's wedding, Carathy decided she wanted to try again and this time she made it! She tried (with much coaxing) and managed to ride well enough to earn the "20 bill" from Grandpa. As an added incentive, Steven and I had added a new Webkinz to the prize if she rode her bike well so she was very excited to go inside and call home to Steven to bring her a new pink poodle Webkinz when he arrived for the wedding. After she got the prizes, she lost her excitement to ride and spent much time in the backyard just pushing her bike around. I asked her one day why she didn't just ride it around and she said that she was giving her friends a turn on the bike but secretly I think that she was scared. It got to be quite a fight to get her to want to ride her bike so Steven and I told her that we would be holding Curly (her poodle prize) until she decided to try riding again. We would have taken the $20 back but didn't really have the authority to do that because my Dad had given that one to her. Yesterday she told us she wanted to try riding again. We took her up on it, went to a park, and these are the pictures from that event. Needless to say, she rode, rode well, and even managed to start and stop all on her own! It was quite a good feeling to be able to tell her that she could have Curly back.

Caleb had never really had the chance to ride his bike, either so I got some pictures of that, too. His bike seat is a bit high for him but we had no tools at the park and forgot to adjust it before we left. He still managed to do well. He fell twice but both times he got back up and on the bike without any fuss. I wonder what it will be like getting him to ride without training wheels.....

My little girl

Off she goes!

This picture makes me wonder what she is thinking....

Getting so good at sitting on her own.




This is a picture that says a lot.....she looks quite proud of herself but yet......does she own a comb?!?

Steven helped boost her confidence by running along beside her.

Caleb getting braver by the second.



My little army guy. His helmet looks so big on him but that was the smallest helmet in the size that fits his head. I think it is a size 5-8.

My big bike rider!

Hmmm.