The Princesses' New Rides

We entered a new era in our house last weekend. The era of the bicycle. This was quite an undertaking, and had been in the works for quite a while. The bikes were actually purchased as Christmas gifts way back in early August. We managed to keep them hidden for a while, but needed them for leverage when I wanted to sell the tricycles in our local Mothers of Multiples Club consignment sale.

With the new bikes came a need for new helmets, and those couldn't be a surprise as we needed the riders' heads to make sure we got a good fit. This became quite an event as we had meltdowns in the store because the helmets the Misses liked didn't fit them, and the ones that fit just wouldn't do. We actually had to leave a store thanks to bad behavior. Luckily the second trip went much more smoothly. We now have a pretty pink helmet covered with hearts and a pretty white helmet covered in flowers.

The next challenge was putting the bikes together while 2 very excited girls looked on, and played with the various parts. "Where does this go, Daddy?" He is so much more patient than I am. Finally the first bike was together and we were off!

Here is Miss M getting some advice from her Dad.

And here she is "coasting" down the driveway.

Here is Miss S on her first ride. Poor kid's toes barely touch the ground, but she is making the best of it.
We decided that learning on the sidewalk was a good idea as we have grass on two sides. Much softer than concrete when one falls. There is a gentle slope and lots of room to coast. It is working very well so far.

Oops! There she goes! Luckily Dad was handy to catch her before she fell.

The Misses have been very good sports, and have been very patient with the fact that they are not going to jump on the bike the first time and ride off into the sunset. They are working hard to learn. And they have had some good suggestions. They asked us to take the pedals off so that their legs don't get scratched up. Seems to be working very well, especially for girls who can't balance and pedal yet.

I cannot wait until they figure out how to get the whole thing together. There'll be no stopping them!