Happy INDEPENDENCE Day!

We bought our 4 1/2 year old son Sterling his first bike. I was thinking we'd buy him a great tricycle to try out on, but Chris and I miscommunicated, and next thing I know, I've got a beaming son, showing me the bike that daddy picked out. And a helmet to match. Joy knows no end.

We're staying in a hotel in Oregon, and, sadly, that hotel room is shy on bike building tools. Daddy and Sterling went outside to build the bike and ride it around the parking lot, but alas, the attempt was a bust. "Mommy, I can't even wait for tomorrow" was the mantra for the next 24 hours.

By the time we landed at our cousins house (replete with tools), he had almost forgotten, and got lost in a squirt gun war. But the bike got built, Daddy was a hero, and Sterling discovered independence. Up and down the country road he went, helmet on, face earnest and legs working hard. He loved it so much that most of the 12 hour drive back to Bowen was spent worrying over when and where he'd get to ride it again. When he'd get to show his best friend. Telling the waiter at the restaurant that he had a new bike.


Finally, we ended up on the ferry, and since it was half empty, there was an entire lane, dedicated, it would seem, to bike riding. What bliss.