Saturday, September 19, 2015

A Bicycle Bonanza!

The story began about a month ago.  Two generous and thoughtful friends said they had been looking at bicycles for Matilda and Sebastian. I was astounded.  They wanted to buy them bicycles.  My response, "It's not their birthdays or Christmas yet!"  They chuckled and said, "So?"  I was overwhelmed and so was my son, John.

They wanted Matilda and Sebastian to look at bikes at a couple of locations and report back to them.
Well, walking into Coppel, Matilda and Sebastian made a beeline for two bikes.  A Max Steel (he's a new superhero) for Sebastian and one with a baby carrier on it that Matilda fell in love with.  They did not know
that this visit to Coppel was for any reason other then to see the new store.  No more was said about the bikes or anything else.

In the meantime, the bikes were purchased, picked up and eventually delivered to my son's house for him to decide how to give the bikes to the kids.  He decided to have a Treasure Hunt.  He had clues for them to read.  It was such fun!
 Here Mati, being silly, and Seb, looking serious,  before they were told about the Treasure Hunt.
 Then the fun began.  The first clue.  Matilda reading it.  Dashing around the house and out in the garden
 they found the second clue.  Three clues in alll lead them to the roof terrace of the house and .........
 There was much squealing and screaming and shock that these were their new bicycles!  They squealed so much that the workers working on the roof across the street were all staring to see if something bad was happening.  Nope, it was all good.
 Then they discovered they had helmets as well.  Oh my, what fun to watch them discovering all kinds of things.  Sebastian was awed that he had shock absorbers and explained what they are to Matilda. 
 Matilda was thrilled that she had a baby carrier and basket to carry her doll "Pink Baby" in the carrier and the bunny in the basket.  As you can see, Scout the dog, was everywhere near them in all the excitement.
The bikes were brought down off the roof terrace at the insistence of the kids so they could zooooooom
up and down the street.  Their dad had left the training wheels on the bikes just to make sure they learned how to use the brakes and how to use the bikes.  By this morning, the training wheels were gone.
                                          Matilda was riding so fast, I almost didn't get this photo~.
 Joy, exuberance, giddiness and happiness were all part of the experience.  Two ecstatic kids.  At one point Matilda said, "I must have been really good this week to get this" in a puzzled voice. 
I'm so glad I was able to be there to see all the fun of this.  This morning when talking to John, they had been up and out on the street with their bikes riding up and down.  Up and down and up and down some more. 

Luckily, they live on a PAVED street with no cobblestones.  An amazing thing, truly.  So was the generosity of my two friends who want to remain nameless but who will hopefully enjoy seeing these photos and the video that John made of the whole episode.

5 comments:

Peter Kouwenhoven said...

What a riot! The generosity of some people is amazing, your friends are fine people. The kids will sleep well tonight.

Unknown said...

My brother and I received our bikes for Christmas at ages 10 and 12. We were excited beyond belief. We rode them up and down the hallways of the apartment building. We lived in Montreal and the snow was piled high for many months before we could go outside with the bikes!
Your friends are very kind people.

Babs said...

Peter and Shelagh - Indeed, the generosity of people always amazes me. I've been blessed to have met these dear friends!


Shelagh, your memory is wonderful. I can relate as at age 10 I was living in Chicago, where one did not get out to ride bikes until about April, if lucky..........

Anonymous said...

Wow! That looks like so much fun! I remember my first bike, a Schwinn "Pixie." After spending an entire day falling off (no training wheels), the next day I was seemingly magically able to ride. And what freedom! One can cover so much more ground on a bike than on foot. This truly opens a new chapter in your grandkids' lives.

You are so lucky to have them, and to have such wonderful friends who gave the bikes.

Saludos,

Kim G
Boston, MA
Where we still enjoy bike riding.

Babs said...

Kim, good point! You can go lots farther on bikes. I so miss riding a bike here in San Miguel, but the cobblestones are hard enough to walk on and then add in the steep hillsides and it is darn near impossible.

I used to ride my bike all over the place, to the grocery store and everything when I
lived in Nassau Bay, across from NASA. It gives you a freedom that even a car doesn't give you.......

Thanks for sharing.