Riding Bikes

The kids were ecstatic to get bikes for their birthdays last year, just in time for the hottest, driest drought in recorded Texas history. They loved the few opportunities they got to practice riding them, but good parenting in the presence of such heat limited us to early morning or early evening events.

The Bradford Pear trees, my most hated of plants, are currently in full bloom. For years, they have been my fail safe indicator that the last freeze was imminent. Evidently Mother Nature limited winter to part of December and January this year, because today it was a beautiful, sunny, 72 degrees with no forecasted cold weather anywhere on the horizon. We fear these warm temperatures may be a harbinger of an upcoming summer even worse than the infamous summer of 2011. Climatologists suggest there could be 9 more years of this mess to follow.
Counting our blessings for the moment, we took advantage of this beautiful weather and took the family to the park.

Justin's rapid growth necessitated a new bike helmet, so today was his trial run with his dinosaur helmet. He showed great progress on his little Toy Story bike, sometimes riding very fast, but he still has trouble keeping his feet on the pedals. He is also very easily distracted by his surroundings, which frequently led him unexpectedly off the trail.

Norah's biking showed tremendous improvements. She pedaled around the lake pretty easily often reaching surprising speeds, except for the uphill portions. We tried to teach her the bike trail rules and how to look out for other users. She was all too glad to oblige by ringing the bell on her bike to warn oncoming pedestrians and smiling broadly as she pushed the buttons to activate the chimes on her Tinkerbell bike. She is beginning to look so grown up.

We were surprised to find a father and his children feeding bread to ducks and 4 full grown nutria in the lake. Occasionally, 4 tiny baby nutria swam cautiously out of their den to grab a bite. The family shared their bread with Norah and Justin and let them feed the "rodents of unusual size" (aka ROUS's in the movie "The Princess Bride"). While Justin remains a bit reserved with strangers, Norah was very comfortable sitting next to the boy as they chatted for several minutes. Mom thought it was cute, while Dad tried to smile while considering what the teen years will bring.