A childhood rite of passage.

NO TRAINING WHEELS!

When I arrived home last night, I saw K-'s neighbor friend, E-, riding her bike.  She was riding it at dusk, which only told me one thing-- no training wheels. 

Now, this has been a dream of both girls all summer long.  They've been scadoodling on their scooters, but we hadn't gotten to tackling the big one yet.  With E- having mastered it so easily, K- decided that it would be her goal today.

She got on.

She peddled down the backyard.

She didn't fall once.

She decided after two trips down the backyard, she would attempt the sidewalk.  She did very well.  At first, she was just a little wobbly, but not flailingly so like last year.  Clearly, she wasn't ready right then.  This time, she went down and stopped at the lift in the sidewalk.  She pushed her bike back up.  Rinse and repeat.  Finally, she got up enough nerve to go over the lift.  Then, she got up enough gumption in her 7 year old legs to make it back up the hill. 

It's not perfection, but she's doing a fantastic job.  So proud of her!

Smiles in my day:
-  K- being able to tackle that summertime goal.  E- being right there with her, literally cheering her on all the way.  What great friends those two are.
-  A weird smile, but considering that we had three packages of the recalled ground turkey in our freezer (Honeysuckle 93/7 plant P963) in our freezer, I took it back to our local grocer a few blocks up and they gave me my money back, but not before apologizing profusely first.  I told them that it wasn't their fault, I know that we ate some of the recalled turkey and lived to tell the tale, but was thrilled that they took it back even though their local chain wasn't mentioned as one of the recipients of the recalled turkey on the news.  I've very, very finicky when I cook poultry, changing the utensils upwards to three times by the time the meat is done.  In this case, my weird habit proved to be a good one.
-  K- excited for the arts camp production tomorrow.  She's excited because there is a Mary Poppins number involved and both of us have a dear love for Mary Poppins.  (And we got to see it at the New Amsterdam Theatre in NYC this past fall!) 

Have a great weekend!