No more training wheels!

We took the training wheels off Walter's bike a few weeks ago. We took his pedals off too. Have you heard of this? You learn to balance first, then add the pedaling in later. One skill at a time. We practiced a few times but Walter just wasn't into it. So we took him to a local "Learn 2 Bike" program. Same concept, but with a teacher (that wasn't us) and lots of other kids learning the same thing.

Holy cow.

He was riding in about 10 minutes. 

I was amazed. He scooted around without pedals for a few minutes and the teacher said he was ready. The pedals went on and he was off and riding. "This is as easy as eating peas!" he said. Easy peasy, indeed.

After the class we went to a park to practice some more. (And to show off for Gramma and Grampa.) He's got it!

Bike rider from Stephanie Billmeyer on Vimeo.

Yay, summer!

I'm loving this summer. We are having so much fun at a pace that's not too overwhelming. A good balance of activity and relaxation. Walter is becoming more and more independent, which helps with the relaxation part. And we are steadily checking things off the summer list. I've been relying on my phone for photos lately – it's always on hand and is easier to carry when we're biking around town. Here are some snapshots from the past week. (If we are Facebook friends or you follow me on instagram, you've probably seen many of these already.) 
An afternoon spent at the beach.

Walter gets new shoes and learns to tie them!

French toast flipper.Walter also cooked us up some chicken nuggets, from scratch, this week. I may have helped a little. :)

We finally started using our fire pit and cooked up some s'mores.

Walter got the itch to sew again. This time a two-tailed giraffe.

A few from this morning's bike ride and kite-flying adventure. We accidentally all wore orange shirts. We're dorks. :)



And here's a little video from the park. Not too exciting, but I think it's cute.
Dizzy from Stephanie Billmeyer on Vimeo.
I hope you are enjoying your summer too!