Is summer really here? Holy shnikes, I think it is...the kids are out of school, the temps are warming up, and a vacation nears. Hoorah! So, I wanted to get some happenings posted before we head out...SOON! June was busy with festive days at school...I think Eric was too fast and stayed out of Daddy's sight so we didn't get pictures of him then. Jesse had a big exciting graduation day and picnic, officially turning to full school days for next year! Jon suprisingly got a Life Saver Award as well! Report cards were excellent for both and just about the only thing Eric needed to improve on (the record) was his handwriting and he even raised that up! They are smart, quick and amusing much of the time...always keeping us on our toes. Now they have their pedal to the metal with bike riding too!
They went to VBS at our church the week after school in the evenings but had to trade off some nights with baseball games as that came to a close. It wasn't real hot which actually worked out good for that and they both had lots of fun. Jon helped with the opening and closing music some of those evenings and Eric ended up with a solo (sort of). The other boys pointed to him and he made this Elvis kind of sound...I video-ed it so you'll have to check it out sometime.
Anyway, that's our scoop for now...more to come soon!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Bike Riding Fun!
Today we went to the elementary school parking lot to practice bike riding. I even took my bike though it hasn't been used in so long I couldn't get the tires to hold air.
Jesse was off and "running" right away. He has a little bike with training wheels. I moved them up a little bit and he was still going strong. He's not ready to have them off yet (we tried that once) but is having a lot of fun and getting better.
Eric is using a bigger bike with training wheels. He is still very hesitant and leans a lot but we did figure out some positioning issues that helped him out a little bit. After spending some time with that (and Eric getting frustrated more than once) we took a break and played a rousing game of Uno in the back of the Jeep.
After that I decided to move them to the grassy knoll. There is a baseball field at the school and a sloping, grassy area right beside it. I started them out on a gentle slope first and made them do that three times before moving up to the "bunny" slope. This actually seemed to work very well. It allowed them to have some momentum and focus more on just balancing and steering. Eric had been deathly afraid to ride without his training wheels on the level ground. They are not the highest quality and started to bend from riding down the hills. He barely noticed this at first and when he did, I assured him that he had been riding that way for several times and would be fine. In fact, when he wasn't looking, I bent them up more so he wasn't using them at all! (Funny, we were just talking on the way there, about Dumbo and how he didn't really need the "magic feather" to fly and that sooner or later Eric would learn the same thing about his training wheels.)
They both had a great time and there was only one minor crash. Below are two videos showing them riding down the hill. Unfortunately there is a delay when I started to record (using a cell phone) so it comes in when they are half way down the hill, but you'll still get the idea. Jesse was still using the training wheels but was going quite fast and was doing well at balancing. Eric was not using his at all by this time. They are both proud (as am I) and we came home and celebrated by having ice cream sundaes!
Jesse was off and "running" right away. He has a little bike with training wheels. I moved them up a little bit and he was still going strong. He's not ready to have them off yet (we tried that once) but is having a lot of fun and getting better.
Eric is using a bigger bike with training wheels. He is still very hesitant and leans a lot but we did figure out some positioning issues that helped him out a little bit. After spending some time with that (and Eric getting frustrated more than once) we took a break and played a rousing game of Uno in the back of the Jeep.
After that I decided to move them to the grassy knoll. There is a baseball field at the school and a sloping, grassy area right beside it. I started them out on a gentle slope first and made them do that three times before moving up to the "bunny" slope. This actually seemed to work very well. It allowed them to have some momentum and focus more on just balancing and steering. Eric had been deathly afraid to ride without his training wheels on the level ground. They are not the highest quality and started to bend from riding down the hills. He barely noticed this at first and when he did, I assured him that he had been riding that way for several times and would be fine. In fact, when he wasn't looking, I bent them up more so he wasn't using them at all! (Funny, we were just talking on the way there, about Dumbo and how he didn't really need the "magic feather" to fly and that sooner or later Eric would learn the same thing about his training wheels.)
They both had a great time and there was only one minor crash. Below are two videos showing them riding down the hill. Unfortunately there is a delay when I started to record (using a cell phone) so it comes in when they are half way down the hill, but you'll still get the idea. Jesse was still using the training wheels but was going quite fast and was doing well at balancing. Eric was not using his at all by this time. They are both proud (as am I) and we came home and celebrated by having ice cream sundaes!
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