Growing up so quickly. . .

The boys were SO EXCITED 4 days ago when I told them that they could ride on the street between our house and our neighbor's, with my presence of course. Ever since that afternoon, they want to ride bikes all of the time. They inspired Gracie to get on her bike for the first time. She and Collin, who are now apparently engaged, much to Jackson's dismay, spent a lot of time slowly riding up and down the street, with Collin coaching Gracie on the fine points of riding a 10" bike. They were so cute! Whenever she got stuck, he'd hop off, give her a push and a word of encouragement, and then catch up. :-)

That night, daddy took all three boys' training wheels up as far as they would go and they worked on balancing on just 2 wheels. Jackson got the hang of it pretty quickly. So, after practicing that night and the next morning and afternoon, he was ready to go 2-wheelin'! Here he is, geared up and ready to go.

And, before he could try out 2 wheeling, on the grass first, he had to strike a pose (his idea, really!).

Here is Jackson, a bit sweaty but loving it!

When Daddy first let go of the handle!

It took Jack a while to warm up to the idea and not look back in a panic whenever he realized that Brian had let go. But, after 30 min or so, he was loving it! Look at that smile!

Ryan was ready, but daddy couldn't run behind 2 kids at the same time. So, Ry spent a lot of time totally posing and goofing off for the camera!

And, although Collin had to go to bed earlier than his brothers on the first night of 2 wheeling, he was happy the next night of adventure!

And the 2nd night, Jackson was off on his own, making turns and everything. He had a couple of crashes, but nothing too bad. He still refuses the knee pads though. Go figure!

And daddy got Ryan on Jackson's bike, and he did GREAT! He's such a little speed demon that daddy has trouble keeping up.

But, now that it's Saturday and they have all day to ride, daddy's legs are too sore to run after them today. LOL