Saturday, May 13, 2006

How to lose ...

one shoelace. A brief tale about a boy and his ability to lose just one of a pair. Inspired by blueadt and her singly shod daughter.

One morning as the Male child was putting his shoes on, I noticed that he was missing a single shoelace. Since Male child only removes his shoes at home ... we have no idea how the shoelace went missing from the shoe that was on his foot.

Then there was the glove ... One afternoon as Grandma was walking the children home from school the Male child suddenly started crying. It seems that his glove had gone missing. From his hand. The one that was holding his lunch box. The lunch box, please note, was still in his, now gloveless, hand. We are convinced that the next item of clothing lost will be his underwear -- while he is still in his pants.

To give him the credit that he is due, please read a bit further regarding our adventures this morning.

At the end of last summer we decided that Female child deserved yet another new bike if we were to attempt any sort of longish bike trip this summer. The issue was not actually the Female child's need of a better bike but the Male child's need of one. His bike was a single speed mountain-type bike that had been a birthday present to Female child a few years back. The Female child was riding a somewhat larger mountain-type bike which had a decent gearing system. So, the decision was made to upgrade Female child to the smallest road bike available and move Male child on to the now vacent, better, mountian bike.

Fast forward to this spring when Female child actually put a few miles on the new bike in a quest for really good chocolate. (No, she was not neglecting the bike, my kids cannot go out to play on their own yet. They are not quite old enough to traipse around NYC alone and the weather was not cooperating when we had the time and visa versa.) Ever since the day of chocolate she has been itching to ride a decent distance and so we come forward to today.

Despite the overcast conditions and threat of rain we all mounted up and left the apartment about 10:00 a.m. We made fairly good time to the first distance point, a playground in the mid 70's, riding along the path on the banks of the Hudson River. After a brief see-saw break (I swear they are the only see-saws left in Manhattan) both kids wanted to go further so we headed up towards the Hippo playground in the 90's. Oops, overshot it. When we realized this we were already at 104th street and Male child was feeling really good about how far he was riding. So ... sneaky mom that I am (I want them "training" for a potential bike trip this summer) I suggested that we continue on to Fairway's (major supermarket at 125th Street). Male child quickly did the math in his head and decided that not only could he do it, but that it would be really cool to go that far and back.

And here he is. (Female child and father were inside doing the shopping when this was snapped with the aid of my wonderful cellphone.) (Please note: at the time of this picture, his helmet was sitting on the back of my bike. He did wear it for the entire time he was actually mounted on the bike. We all wear helmets -- they save lives!)

We then cycled the return trip and then some, overshooting our home exit and going all the way down to Chambers street. In total, Male child and I did about 16 miles and Female child and Mike did about 18 miles, putting on an extra two just for the heck of it and hitting the southern tip of Manhattan in the process.

Tomorrow, I promise knitting content!

1 comment:

Ann said...

My legs are tired just reading that post! Very impressive---my legs seem to last longer than my behind. I need a bicycle with a HUGE seat to keep my ummm...tender spots comfortable.

Ann