The Perils of Learning to Ride a Bike

We got Eli a great 16" bike for his birthday a few months ago, but after a major crash (with training wheels on), he was totally traumatized and didn't want to ride the bike again. We kept trying with that bike, but eventually decided to get a cheap 12" bike on craigslist to help Eli get comfortable with steering and not have as large of a distance to fall. I don't feel like it's a total waste since Charlie can use the 12" bike soon. We have our friends' old balance bike too, but neither child has gotten the hang of it yet.

Last week we took the boys over to the nearby elementary school to have a bigger space to practice with their bikes. It went well for a little while before Eli twisted the handlebars and fell once again. It's a sad reminder that he may still need physical therapy for the gross motor functions... but for now we will just keep practicing.

We brought Charlie's trike along and he rode for a little bit, but was more excited about climbing on the school playground.

After Eli biffed it on the pavement, he opted for climbing on the playground too. I was secretly glad the boys kept their helmets on because everything was higher than they are used to.

Eventually they got tired of the helmets and let loose :)

You Do What You Have to Do...

Sometimes the kids' constant fighting over one darn baseball bat makes you so crazy that you go out, buy two of the same exact cheap bat from Target and do this:

Ben took turns pitching to each kid every other time. Happy kids, happy parents.

I don't think we'll win any parenting awards for this one. Buying two of everything isn't possible in every scenario, but when it comes to a $4 bat, sometimes it's worth saving our sanity. :)

4th of July Parade

Are you ready to be bombarded by parade pictures and commentary? I think they're fun and I hope you do too :)

First - Eli and Katelyn introduced us to this crazy turkey -

Eli loved the drums in the marching band.

No clue who these girls were, I think it was a spoof on Lady Ga Ga? (their sign says Lady Gone Gone)

I loved the library group - (with the Jessie White tumbler practicing in front of us/them)

Did I mention that the Jessie White Tumblers were parked RIGHT in front of where we were sitting?? The view was pretty limited, so I asked the iGo car people parked behind the tumblers if they wouldn't mind moving about 10 feet back and then got the Tumblers' van to move back too. Much better. The hilarious thing was the iGo car people had the hardest time moving their tiny Prius backward without going over the curb 10 times. I swear the lady driving was shooting daggers at me the entire time.

A guy from a hair salon sporting huge scissors :) All of the stylists from that salon were dressed in superhero costumes.

How on earth does this guy do that??

More tumblers - their van moved over but they were still practicing in front of us, which was fun.

I had to laugh at the Lake Michigan High E.Coli sign on this float - we've had a few no swim days so far at some beaches due to high e.coli counts in the water. Mmmmm doesn't it make you want to swim there the next day? (We try not to think about that too much, I love Lake Michigan.)

Ricky Recycle had a whole chant/cheer thing going. We were happy to participate with him :) "I like to recycle! I like to recycle!"

Can't ignore the fabulous Cubs trolley! Go Cubs.

There's nothing like a fun parade with some cute 2-4-year-olds watching from one step. Eli had a huge tootsie roll pop in his mouth almost the entire time.

And Charlie was a mini beach ball hoarder :) My boys were so excited about every silly thing being passed out from the parade floats.

I'm sorry for waking you up from your nap early Charlie so we could go to the parade. You're a good sport.

Charlie in awe of the crazy floats -

Love these boys.

This one is my favorite -

But this one really made me smile - perfect depiction of their relationship (Eli making Charlie giggle):

Okay - these girls had craaaazy eye shadow going on with sparkly red, white and blue layers. It was a good look with their very shiny silver outfits.

After the parade, getting final wiggles out by jumping on Grant and Evy's trampoline.

What could be more fun than jumping off of an unstable kids' table onto the trampoline? My kids thought it was very exciting.

Finally, sliding the mini frisbee from the parade back and forth to each other.

It was such a perfect weather day! We lucked out this year. We opted not to do fireworks again... one night was plenty.