Sunday, August 17, 2008

Bikes, again

When Ed and I were first married we bought some bikes, and did a fair amount of biking those first couple of years we lived in western PA. After we moved here, and before Ellie, we used the bikes occasionally (there was that infamous trip when we rode home from center city- a post in itself). Anyway, after we had E we didn't do much riding until she was about 3. We got our bikes tuned up, purchased a baby seat and ...went on exactly one bike ride and then put them away. I don't know exactly what happened-- I think it was a combination of lots of hills in our old neighborhood, it was hot, I became pregnant the next summer, had a new baby the year after that, then we had no place to put 2 kids if we rode, etc., etc. Now that E and N can both ride their bikes, we decided to go for our first family bike ride. Ed's and my bikes had to be hauled out of the basement, dusted off, and tires pumped up. We washed off the baby seat, strapped K in, and we were set to go! OK, we didn't exactly go far on this first little trip-- just around the block a few times. But all the kids had a lot of fun, even K after she resigned herself to the helmet. It will be some time before we tackle any major trails, but it is a first step.
(Notice K still trying to get that helmet off. Also, I was just struck by how much E and N look alike! I don't usually notice it, but it must be something about their faces under the helmets)

3 comments:

Tamara said...

i got a new bike two summers ago and we rode a few times (dave's more into mountain biking) but we did ride around town last spring/early summer a few times before i got too preggo.... and for davey's birthday this summer we bought him a bike trailer so i could ride my bike around town and pull him..... and then i went and got preggo again. sheesh! so i can relate to the need to dust off the bikes and put air in the tires! i'm hoping to get around a bit more next summer (though our baby girl may be too young still for the bike trailer).

Tamara said...

hey daisy! just got your comment on my blog.... so fun to see faces from high school again! i can't believe it'll be our 15 year reunion soon. seriously? sheesh! we were just back in PA in june and i'm no longer allowed to fly (i'm due with our baby girl in mid-november but she may want to arrive early like davey did), so i guess i'll have to miss this reunion, too. if you want to add my e-mail address to your address book/contact info, here it is: tlpeace@mac.com. so beth is moving to germany? wow! what else are people up to?

EEEEMommy said...

Fun times! Riding bikes together is one thing we really enjoy! My sister got us a trail-a-bike one year for the kids' birthdays. It's been awesome! Biking is one of the very few forms of exercise I enjoy! Our only trouble is the lack of a shoulder on any of the roads around here. It can be scary to ride with 5 bikes and cars flying.