Hot Wheels

L's favorite Christmas gift this year arrived in a small package.

But there was more to it than initially met the eye...

Today we made good on the Christmas promissory note. L and I piled into the minivan and headed to our local bike shop to get L a much needed upgrade. Once we got inside the guy who assisted us took one look at L and groaned.

"She's right between sizes," he warned. She can fit on a 20", but not for long, but she might have trouble with a 24". We looked around a bit, not seeing much in the way of options, then he called us over to one section and showed us a more BMXy bike than I was originally looking for.

"This is a 24", but you'll notice the seat can be lowered a lot further than those cruisers and standard bikes we've been looking at." We plopped L on it. She looked swallowed up, but she would reach the pedal, and (more importantly), her fingers could reach the brakes. A few minutes and several dollars later L was sporting her own hot set of new wheels.

A new bike has to be shared, so we did a few practice runs in the parking lot across the street before venturing out to visit friends in the neighborhood. Things were a little shaky at first, but once she got the hang of using her hands instead of her feet to stop things went pretty smoothly and soon L was zipping up and down the parking lot like she'd been bossing her ride for years.  Inspired, N got out his bike too and the parking lot was ablaze with zig-zagging that occasionally zagged when they should have zigged.

Post pile-up pout.

Soon we were practiced enough for the big time, so off we went to visit some friends a few blocks away to show off our digs.

Among our ports of call, we stopped at the Acuestas.  They have a new puppy, Frankie, which is always more exciting than riding a bike.

 Frankie seemed to take well to N.

Then home again when our legs got tired.