The Birthday Bike

Samuel loved riding his cousin Jordyn's big bike so much when we were camping earlier this year that we bought him a "big boy" bike for his birthday. My parent's neighbors were getting rid of a perfect size bike for a good price so we snatched it up! We headed up to Young State Park on September 2nd (Friday) and decided to give it to him that night as an early birthday present so that he could ride his bike for the whole weekend. I thought that when we showed it to him he would go crazy with excitement, jump up and down, laugh, clap his hands, etc. I was wrong. Instead, he was pretty unsure. He was also tired so that may have been a factor. His excitement grew, however, and he did hop on his bike and take it for a spin to try it out. The first four pictures in the series below are from his first bike ride. The bike has been fondly named (by Samuel), "The Birthday Bike".

Daddy adjusting the seat so that Samuel could hop on and ride. You can tell by his face that he is still trying to figure the whole thing out and is pretty unsure about the whole "big boy bike" thing.

Big smile for the camera!

How can he grow up so quickly?

We had a little hill near our campsite. Samuel wasn't ready to go down the hill all by himself on his first try but by the end of the weekend he was! He figured out the brakes and was very cautious, but he loved going down the hill. He even mastered the bigger hill over by the boat ramp. One of his favorite things to do on his Birthday Bike is to coast. He'll do it and say, "Look, Mommy! I'm coasting! I can't do this on my tricycles!"

The next morning (Saturday) was rainy, but that didn't stop Samuel from riding his bike first thing in the morning.

Yup, I'd say we have a happy 3 year old!

The picture above and the 3 pictures below were taken on Sunday, his actual birthday. I love this series of pictures and his facial expressions. Such a happy boy on his bike.

Coming down the hill. He loved going for bike rides with Daddy and/or Mommy. Daryl rode around with him on Saturday afternoon for almost an hour. Then he went for another bike ride later on Saturday with both Daryl and myself. On Sunday he went for more bike rides. It's almost too hard to walk with him while he rides because he goes so fast! He has a shirt that says "Fastest Kid in Town". When we were riding bikes with him he would go super fast, pass us on our bikes, and say "I'm the fastest kid in town!!!!" He went all over the campground. He loved to go and do his "trick" by the camp store - going in a circle up onto the porch and then back down to the sidewalk and around again. He also like riding his bike in the parking lot between the RV lines . . . up and down, back and forth. And of course, as I already mentioned, the hill by our campsite was fun as soon as he got the hang of his brakes and was brave enough to try it out.

He was nervous on hills at first and would want Daryl to get off of his own bike and hold his handlebars to keep him from going too fast. When we were on our way back to our campsite from a bike ride and we were going down the path, we got to a little hill. Samuel told us, "Mommy and Daddy, I won't cry, I'll laugh, like this!" (Insert fake laughing as he goes down the hill.) And from then on, he was good with hills! He's definitely my favorite 3 year old on the planet!