I came home tonight from work and all four kids were out riding bikes. Mason and Kenzie both had their training wheels on. I noticed that Mason's were raised and he was well balanced, only hitting the training wheels on the turns. As I was heading to the gym, I told Mason, "take those training wheels off!" He said, "okay," but I didn't think anything would happen. I told Kenzie that it looked like she was ready, but she almost broke into tears. "I can't do it. I can't ride without my training wheels." I reminded her about the cartwheel lesson, where she kept telling me she couldn't but then just put her mind to it and figured it out. She didn't seem convinced.

After I left, according to Cindy, Kenzie didn't even want to ride a bike. She and Bob took the training wheels off of Mason's bike because he begged Grandpa. Cindy told him that they would only take them off if he would practice in the grass. He said, "okay." So they took the wheels off, put him on the grass, and he had trouble taking off and fell. Cindy was going to put the seat down for Mason, but, not to be outdone by her little brother, Kenzie said, "can I try?" Cindy talked to her about how to get started, putting the pedal in the right position, and told her to try it standing up because the seat wasn't in the right spot. She went from the grass to the street and just kept on going. She never wobbled, just took off. She was an instant expert.

Mason then hollered, "hey, that's my bike!" because he wanted a turn. So Kenzie came back while Cindy got her bike ready. He jumped on with it on the pavement and took off too!

So, when I came home from the gym there were four kids riding without training wheels! They look like experts, going both on grass and pavement. Mason's dismount and breaking systems leave a bit to be desired, but that's tomorrow's lessons. He falls, brushes himself off, and gets back on. Kenzie is riding her bike to school with Jasper (and his mom) tomorrow!