14 miles

We are so proud of Megan.  Brian had been telling her that as soon as she could start and stop on the bike by herself, we could ride down the Cape Cod Canal.  Friday afternoon he took Megan and Conor over to a church parking lot to practice.  She successfully started and stopped about 10 times and gave all of us the green light to head to the Cape.  Saturday morning we spontaneously drove down, visited with Joan (Brian's Godmother) and headed out.  It was a perfect day for a bike ride.  There were lots of boats to watch, the sun was shining and there was a cool breeze.  

Last year Megan rode her bicycle with training wheels along the Cape Cod Canal.  We thought our total distance was 10 miles, but yesterday we discovered that it was actually 14 miles!!!!!  Megan officially rode 14 miles WITHOUT training wheels.  Conor was a speed demon and gave us a good workout.  We worked up quite the appetite, and after reaching the end, ate footlong hotdogs and burgers and then got ice cream.

Megan and I stopped on about the 10th mile and I asked her if she'd like to sit down for a minute.  She asked, "Where are daddy and Conor?"  I told her that they went ahead and would meet us at the end.  She quickly replied, "Well, what are we waiting for?  Let's go."

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A bit of commentary...

• After walking over with Megan to get ice cream, we crossed a busy street.  I was carrying my wallet, a styrofoam cup and a spoon (in case Megan's ice cream was unmanageable), as well as my cone of blackberry with oreo cookie ice cream.  It was muggy and the ice cream began to melt as soon as we walked out of the shop.  I was worried about Megan as we crossed the street and wasn't watching my own cone.  Suddenly, plop!  My ice cream slid off the cone, down my chest, and onto the crosswalk.  I instinctively bent down and quickly scooped the ice cream off of the street, plopped it back onto my cone and kept walking.  I'm sure the people in the car(s) who stopped for us were cracking up laughing.  Then, yes, I ate the entire thing.  Germs and all.  It was delicious. 

• I have been trying to ride my bike with "no hands" for a very long time --- with little success.  I could do it for a few seconds, but when the bike began to sway I just couldn't maintain my balance.  Yesterday I decided to practice.  By the end of the ride, I was so proud.  I rode without hands for 47 seconds!!!  It was so exciting and Conor cheered me on.  He was so impressed and thought I was awesome.  Then Brian began riding with him. When Conor bragged about how mom could ride without hands for 47 seconds, Brian upstaged me and rode for 3 minutes.  (He could have done it all day, but hey, I was still proud of my newly acquired skill!)

WHAT A DAY!  The sunset was gorgeous at the beach and we found a bunch of hermit crabs and colorful rocks.  Conor found a dead sea star and I found the tiniest sand dollar I've ever seen.