Honey Bunch is on leave for a few days, so today we decided to go on a family bike ride.  

Now, we’ve only gone on a family ride once before with a rented tandem and none since we’ve made our purchase.  Our last ride of about 10 miles was several months ago and baby girl had to be bribed with promises of “as much ice cream as she could eat” to make it the last few miles.  Since that time, she has received a larger bike for her birthday with gears to shift, and she was so excited to start our ride. 

At least for the first two miles.

We hadn’t gotten very far into the ride when the complaining started. 

My feet hurt.

I’m thirsty.

Can we turn around now?

Well, it’s not as bad as it sounds.  She really is a little powerhouse on the bike.  When she had just turned four, she asked for her training wheels to be taken off.  I said, “go ask your dad,” thinking that he would say “no.”  Well, she has been on the go ever since.  But I will admit that riding on the trail is not quite as exciting as tooling around the neighborhood. 

When we reached the 5 and a half mile mark, we decided to turn around.  I mentioned to Honey that “maybe we should let Bubba try to ride on the back of the tandem and I’ll ride his bike and go slower with Baby Girl.”  Of course, there’s a little bit of a learning curve on being the stoker (rider in the bike), but we found that this ended up being the best for everyone.  Bubba, unlike older brother Bud, had complete confidence in his dad’s ability to keep the bike upright. 

The boys were able to ride on ahead of us (but not too far) and Baby Girl felt that she could go at her own pace.  She didn’t go any slower than before, nor did she go much faster, but having me ride beside her helped her gain confidence that she could do it. 

On the spur of the moment, Bubba asked if we could take a picnic lunch.  Well, we had finished the last of the bread this morning making french toast, but we did have crackers.  There was plenty of salami, ham and cheese, plums, pretzels and I even had some hostess cupcakes for dessert!  I’m ever the planner, so this impromptu lunch was not what I would have normally put together, but it ended up being so much better and easier, and of course, less stressful.  What a great idea, and one I wish I had thought of myself.  Thanks Bubba for the great idea!  We stopped at a state park for our picnic, had a few moments to rest, then checked out a local site on our way back to the car. 

We didn’t try to rush our trip, but just took it slow and steady.  And now Baby Girl can add 11 more miles to her accomplishments. 

Way to go!