New bikes!!

Wyatt and Yannick have been ready to move up to their next bikes. Yannick especially is so excited to have Wyatt's blue balance bike as his own. He says "Bubba bike MY bike?". We have been putting it off because Zachary did not have a bike to move up to yet. He has way outgrown his red Radio Flyer bike, but nothing to move up to. Art's parents brought up to IL Art's old bike from when he was a kid, and Art would like to fix it up for our boys. However, this had not happened yet. I have been keeping an eye out for bikes whenever I go to Goodwill, just in case something good is there for a decent price. Once a cool Spiderman bike was there, but it was $40...nah. Today however we totally scored at Goodwill!! There was an Orange bike with flames on it, just the right size. I was afraid to look at the price, because I saw that it was a Giant (a good brand for bikes. Art's $500 commuter bike is a Giant). SCORE, only $16! I did not know if it would fit in the car, but I was definitely going to take the chance. So exciting. ESPECIALLY because the bike is orange, which means Wyatt's next bike, in a few years, will be his favorite color! Hmmm, this just occurred to me that we have 3 kids bikes, each one the color of one of our boys favorite colors. Granted, Yannick says that Blue is his favorite color, but honestly, blue is the only color he knows. Time will tell.

So here is Zach's new bike with the flames. Incidentally, Art was fine with this purchase. He still wants to fix his old bike up for we have 3 boys, so any of them could use it. He is happy we got something for Zachary now.

Check out the flames!  And the cool mud flap in the back in case he does any bmx racing. :)

Once we got home, and I put away the groceries, the boys were eager for me to fix their bikes so they could get started. So despite being so so so sore from yesterday's Bosu bootcamp class, I gingerly got down on the stool and adjusted their bikes for seat and handlebar height. Then they were ready to go!

This is Wyatt's first time on a pedal bike. Zachary was able to go from the balance bike straight to a pedal bike with no training wheels in about 5 minutes. We were hoping for the same success for Wyatt. YES! After about two minutes, he was riding by himself. He was struggling with the steering and took a spill of the curb. The red Radio Flyer bike is an oldie. It is a really heavy bike, not like newer lighter bikes. But he got that under control quickly, and was able to ride up and down the sidewalk by himself. He is still struggling with braking. He is so used to using his feet as breaks, as he did with the balance bike, but he's going to get hurt trying to brake with his feet on this big bike. He can do it if he has enough time to think about it, but panic moments are definitely feet-as-brakes.

Yannick did so wonderfully his first time on the balance bike! He is getting the balance bike a full year before both Z and W did. It is a product of his being 3 years behind W instead of 2 like W was behind Z. Wyatt is 5 and ready for the pedal bike, and Y just gets the bike now. He can easily handle it! He occasionally forgets to sit down and tries to walk standing up, but adjusts quickly when reminded. So so cute.

I feel so badly that I did not wait for Art to do this. He was there to teach Z how to ride, and I am sad that he was not there for Wyatt. Art says he does not mind and he'll have plenty of time to watch them, but I still regret not waiting for him. They boys were just so excited, and i knew that tonight there would be no time because of soccer practice and tomorrow night is bible study, so no time there either. Poor Art will have to wait until Friday to see his kids on their bikes. :(

The second time Wyatt wrecked was a good time to stop and go get lunch. Yannick spent the rest of the afternoon talking about his bike.