Beautiful Evening

We had such a nice weekend last weekend. It started warming up again and Sunday was just absolutely beautiful. Sunday evening we took the girls out for ice cream and then came home in time for them to ride their bikes outside for the very first time before heading off to bed. We let them stay up a little later than normal because it was so nice out and they were having a great time. Grandma and Grandpa Rader stopped by to enjoy the fun. Even the dogs had a good time. For those of you who don't know our dogs, we have two of them. The white one is Herby, our Jack Russel Terrier. He is one hyper dog but we love him. We've had him for almost 7 years now. The tri-colored one is Daisy. She is our newest purchase. We've had her for about a month now. We rescued her from the humane society. She's 4 months old and is part German Shepherd, part something else. She'll be a medium sized dog. She and Herby get along very well. The first few days were iffy, but now they're the best of friends.

Anyway, back to the girls riding their bikes. Emma and Lily just got their bikes this year. Lily got her tricycle in March for her birthday. She and Emma have ridden the bike around the kitchen so many times. Since Emma liked it so well, we decided it was time for her to have one, too. So, we headed down to Ft. Wayne, IN and purchased her first Specialized mountain bike, complete with training wheels and purple tassles! According to Marc, every little girls bike has to have tassles. Of course, we had to get the Specialized. That's Marc's favorite brand of bike and he figured she needed to start out right. She loves her bike and rides that around the kitchen as well. Maggie is just big enough now to start riding the little tricycle that Grandma Rader bought from a garage sale last year. She had fun but had more fun pushing all the buttons on the tricycle. It plays music and has a horn. She loved it! That night there were a few tumbles. Emma flipped right over the handle bars. She stood up crying but came away without any scratches. So, no blood. But she informed me that since she's going to be riding her bike outside, she's going to need more Sponge Bob bandaids. So, we put in a call to Mimi Winters to tell her to send bandaids. Of course, the injuries get played up when we talk to Mimi on the phone. I guess she had to get sympathy from someone. Mommy and daddy just tell her that there will be a lot more falls and this is just the first of many. So get up, brush off your knees, and get back on the bike. I know, I know....no sympathy, but we didn't want her to be afraid of getting back on her bike just because she might fall. And wouldn't you know it, she got right back on and started pedaling away.

It was such a beautiful night and we're looking forward to many more weeks of that kind of weather. If that happens, maybe Emma will be off the training wheels by the end of the summer. Who knows!!!!