Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Let's Go Bananas

Laika really wanted to have her birthday party at Go Bananas this year. We had been there a few months ago with some friends and they all had a great time. Eventually 5/6 of the kids removed their shirts so they could really run wild.

When Erik asked Leif what Go Bananas was Leif described it well.
"It is a bizarre habitat for Tarzans."

Here they are waiting at the door. Laika stayed princessy the whole time, and no shirts were removed, but they still had a wonderful time with 11 of their closest friends.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Ride a Bike in 5 Easy Steps

Today was our first day of a five day session at Pedalheads. They promise an over 90% success rate for losing the training wheels in the first week. How do they get those wheels off so fast? Well, they do everything that we do, but in a camp like setting, where EVERYONE is doing it, and the instructor says so (instead of mom) and it's all a big game!

Firstly - make sure kids can ride bike with trainers on
Secondly - force them to ride on grass (it takes some effort, but is soft)
Thirdly - tell them that the training wheels are what is slowing them down and making it hard
Fourthly - tell them to eat their snacks while you remove their training wheels
Last - push them really fast and say "Keep pedalling! You're doing it!"

All morning Leif was obsessing about not wanting to go to Bike Camp. He already knew about the possibility that they would take off his trainers, and he knew about the grass riding and was not interested in either of those. But he was the first one to ride really far all by himself, and he is in for such a treat when they finally set him loose on some firm ground! Laika took a little bit longer to get the hang of it, but by the end she could also keep going after her push.

We have four more afternoons of Bike Camp and then lookout SeaWall!