New bikes

Last year before we left for England, Jasper’s new bike was stolen which was hugely disappointing and so we never replaced it as we knew we were leaving soon and you know how kids grow!  Ella had a second hand bike which she hated (never buy your kids a dodgy bike telling them if they can ride it they’ll get a good one, at least it didn’t work for Ella) and so we got rid of it.  We promised them both that when we returned they would get a new bike each, not for birthday’s but when we’d settled back in as a reward for all the disruption to their lives over the last year.

Here they are, very proud of them! They have of course been nagging to get them, so finally this weekend we found the time.At this stage, it should be pointed out that neither of them can ride a 2-wheeler as they’ve never really had the right combination of bike, terrain and time to do so, but of course it’s something all kids should learn and they never will without the bikes! They are also very keen because lots of their friends now ride.On Saturday we only had about 30 minutes after we picked them up to practice, so I made them spend it on the deck practicing getting on and off the bikes (harder than you’d think) and just getting used to them, also because they have proper brakes, practicing pushing themselves with their feet and braking.  This actually went really well, then we went on to the street for a little push.We had a huge day today (breakfast at Steph and Rods house, Isabella’s parents, a girl in Ella’s class – fantastic company and great pancakes!); then off to the Beros’ for lunch which was also really great to catch up.  We walked to their house they are building and saw how it’s coming along — it’s looking very impressive, they’ve just moved on to starting to fit out the inside.When we got back around 4pm, the kids wanted another turn on their bikes, so after making them get on and off a couple of times again, I ran Ella up the street and within about 10 minutes, she was doing this.  Both Karina and I were totally blown away by how quickly she picked it up!