training wheels

The last couple of days j has been bugging snowboarder to take the training wheels off his big boy bike. Snowboarder told j he'd do it this weekend but snowboarder came home early today and j asked him again. So, finally, snowboarder gave in and did it today. The wheels came off. The funny thing though was that while snowboarder was taking the training wheels off of j's bike, little nael kept telling j that it would be hard to ride his bike without the training wheels and that he would need dad's help. It was like she was trying to discourage j. In any case, J got on his bike and with a little help from snowboarder, j took off down the street with snowboarder right next to him on foot. When little nael noticed that j could do it, she then asked snowboarder if he could take her training wheels off too. She started off unsteady for the first few minutes but soon enough she was up and down the street with her brother! Our kid neighbors, Elli (9yrs) and Shad (5 yrs) were around to witness this milestone and they were cheering both kids on as they biked up and down the street feeling like BIG kids on their big kid bikes. Of course, all the kids wanted to do for the rest of the day was simply ride their bikes. But what's a bike ride without a bump, scratch, or a bruise? J got all three before the day was over.

Little nael had to take a break from riding her bike because she had ballet class but on the way home from class, she asked if she could ride her bike again before dinner. Who am I to say no? So she did and rode around with Shad (who learned how to ride a bike sans wheels at the age of three) up and down the street until the sun no longer shined.

Snowboarder and I can't be any prouder...

piano

Little nael had her first piano lesson today at the local school of music in downtown. After class, I asked her if she wanted to continue taking lessons and she nodded yes. So I guess for the next 4 weeks at least, in addition to taking ballet and religious education classes, little nael will be learning how to play the piano as well.

big time

After school today, little nael along with j had a playdate with Ethan (from school) and his sister Emma at a place called Big Time. We noticed this place last week when we had a playdate at a jumping/bouncy play area in the same shopping plaza and decided to check it out today. Big Time has trampolines for both the little ones and the grown ups and a huge, cool inflatable boot camp obstacle course. It was so huge it practically occupied the back area lengthwise. Little nael and Ethan climbed in so I had to join in and we had a blast in that thing! J had a fun time as well in the 7 and under kids play space with a foam pit, hoops, a playhouse and a trampoline area. There was also a maze which the older 3 kids tried and at some point, they got stuck and started yelling for help. Their mother and I heard them but we thought the kids were just goofing around. Little nael came out of the maze first followed by the two and according to little nael, Ethan and Emma got scared inside the maze and started screaming for help. Little nael said she was calm the whole time and eventually found her way out with the other 2 kids following behind her. Atta girl!

By the time our hour was up, all the kids were exhausted from all that bouncing and running around. We capped off our playdate with dinner at IHOP where the kids had a fun time eating their funny face pancakes!