Fun with Trikes

Last Thursday I was caught by surprise as we headed over to school to play at gym time, only to remember when we were en route that the school was in Anchorage on their field trip to see The Lion King. If you're a mom, you know that I had to exercise my best quick thinking to prevent major meltdowns when telling the girls we couldn't go to school after all. Enter the tricycles!

Scott brought the trikes up with him and until now they'd been sitting in the storage cage in the basement. I'd been hesitant to get them out since all of Whittier is on a hill sloping up from the harbor, with the school being at the top of the hill and the BTI next to the top. The hill isn't huge by any means, but I judged it to be just enough to make pedaling a trike challenging for a tyke! Nonetheless I was desperate, so I suggested we grab our trikes and head outside. Crisis averted!

Since then, we've been riding every day! The hill is challenging for Kelsey (and quite frustrating if she's very tired!) and a bit too much for Stacy. My mom shared the solution she used for me back in my tricycle days--a bit of a 'leash' of sorts to lend a little aid. We fashioned something similar and I'm now able to give Stacy the gentle tug she needs to keep going while still able to push Kelsey with one foot if she stalls or gets distracted and stops pedaling.

We've had a bit of a wet spell last week and until yesterday had done most of our riding in the rain. Thank goodness for the Alaska Railroad Pedestrian Tunnel! We're able to ride down the hill in the rain, ride laps in the dry tunnel, then ride home in the rain. On nicer days our destination is the basketball court. We even ventured down to Scott's office toting our lunch last Friday!

Overall, the trikes have been a hit and are getting well used again!