Yesterday we all took a bike ride. It just wasn't all the same bike ride! Esme, who has long since grown out of her "trailer bike," but had still been riding in it up to about two weeks ago, has been practicing hard on her two-wheeler (with training wheels). She has been learning about keeping right, trying to stay in a straightish line, and trying to go faster. So yesterday was her first ride on the trail!
She isn't ready for the road yet, so she and I piled our bikes in the car and drove to the trailhead at 84th street. At first, she was going so slow I couldn't stay on my bike behind her, but she soon learned she could gain quite a bit of speed. She mostly stayed right, and she mostly stayed in a straight line. A couple of times she accidentally got too close to the edge of the pavement and then forgot to use her brakes, so once she ran into a tree, and once she almost pitched over a "cliff" into a deep ditch, but stopped at the last second. But Esme rode all the way to 64th street and back - 4 miles! Her long (for an almost-five-year-old) legs just pumped up and down, up and down. She was pretty tired by the time we got back to 84th street, but she did a great job. We're so proud of her!
Aidan and Dad had an entirely different bike ride! They started out from home, as Aidan is quite competent riding on the road when he remembers to be. So they met us at the 84th street trailhead, and after about five seconds trying to ride behind Esme, they went on ahead! They stopped to wait for us a couple of times, and when we turned back at 64th street, they continued on. When they arrived at 28th street, they realized it was dinnertime, so they pedaled on down to Long John Silver's - Aidan had popcorn shrimp, and Jim had lobster bites. Then, of course, they were right there, so they had to stop at Marge's for a donut.
On the way back home, they stopped to rest at a bench, and there just happened to be a very large tree across from the bench that looked like the perfect place to hide a geocache. So Jim and Aidan climbed through the brush to get to the tree, just to check (there wasn't anything there). Aidan got kind of a big scratch on his elbow from the brush, but he is okay! They got back underway, when suddenly Aidan called out to his Dad, who thought he wanted to rest again already. "Dad! We forgot our helmets!!!" So they went back to the bench to helmet up, and Aidan said, in explanation for how he noticed the helmets were missing, "I said to myself, where's the sweat??"
Esme's Dora the Explorer swiss chocolate birthday cake is baked - now for the hard part. The frosting! The presents are wrapped, the guests (Grandma Margie and Nee-Nee and Papa) are invited, the pictures are planned (we're hoping Meijer Gardens isn't too busy on the holiday weekend), and Esme is age 4 and 364/365 years old!
We are ready for school on Tuesday. Thursday evening was the school open house, at which time we met Aidan's teacher Mrs. Throop and toured his classroom. She is a really nice lady with lots of personality and there are several kids in Aidan's class from last year and the year before. He has already done his first homework assignment - he had to decorate an orange paper bag and put inside it three things that tell a little about him. He decorated it with airplane and boat stickers, and inside put a Hot Wheels Lincoln Continental he earned at AWANA last year, a Continental airplane model (like the one we flew on to go on vacation), and a little Lego guy. I did all of my homework, too - filled out TWO emergency cards, the teacher's questionnaire, the first book order of the year, the forms for the student/parent handbook, no-bully policy, and district technology policy. All Aidan's important papers are tucked away in his blue plastic home folder with the Life is Good sticker on the front. He also has ready his gym shoes, his art shirt, his ruler, his pencil box with new pencils, crayons, and markers, and his trusty old scissors. His backpack and his Lightning McQueen lunchbox are also ready to begin their third year of service.
The kindergarten has its orientation on Tuesday morning, so we didn't get to meet Esme's teacher or see her classroom yet. We are totally looking forward to it. In the meantime, Esme has her gym shoes ready in her Strawberry Shortcake backpack, and she is totally ready and raring to go to elementary school. I don't know how she can stand the excitement!!!
AWANA registration is on Wednesday evening. Esme will be a beginning Sparks member, and Aidan will be a member of the Truth & Training club. They're both looking forward to spending that time with their friends.