Monday at Work, Phone Rings.........

The voice on the other end is trying to sound as cute as possible, (and she is really nailing it) "Uhmmmmmm......Daaaaadddy?"

"Yes, Katie."

"Uhmmmmm, Daaaddy, do you think that we could.......uhmmmmm, after you get off work.....could we go for a bike ride?" "Pleeeassssse?"

What was I gonna say - no?! Riiiight, not happening.

"Yes" was the only plausible answer to the question because, after all, combining a bike ride with some father daughter time is right up there with other classic combinations such as Mr. Reeces' ingenious amalgamation of peanut butter and chocolate in "cup" form. Hats off to you Mr. Reeces, for your tasty treats. Sorry to nitpick, but while they are deliciousioso, they are most certainly not cups. I don't know what they are (besides delightful) but they are exceptionally un-cup-like.....but I digress.

The only thing that would've made the ride better is if Allie would have gone too. Unfortunately, she is still reeling from her rose bush vs. bike incident over a year ago. She didn't brake in time (or at all) coming down the hill right behind our house. Simultaneously the handlebars froze in the straight-ahead position, resulting in her plunging headlong into a giant rose (thorn) bush. She and her entire bike were inside the bush. I was able to extract her carefully to prevent further damage, but she had LOTS of little thorn nicks. She freaked a little, "I'm bleedin' good Dad" she said as if I were an Army Chaplin giving her last rights on the Normandy beach. There is still an Allie-sized hole in that bush.

For this ride we just went out to Easter Lake. Katie was pretty fired up. She wore her helmet in the car on the way over. Even though we live close I drove into the park so she could ride some areas she hadn't ventured into yet. When we parked she looked at me and said "Let's do this thing." That one cracked me up. Besides just talkin' the talk she did great on the ride too (backin' it up). Evidently, she has finally figured out gears. Its a whole new world when you can shift to get up a hill. I was really proud of the way she grunted up some pretty steep hills and restarted herself when she got stuck. Judging by the number of "whoa" and "cool" comments I was getting I'd say she was enjoying herself.

We stopped down by the lake and I tried to teach her how to skip stones. We went over proper rock selection, arm angle, wrist action, and aiming out in the water away from the shore. After a couple of wicked cool Dad demonstrations. She was ready........

Spaloosh! no skip, big splash.

"Okay Katie, remember arm angle, wrist action, aim........."

Spaloosh! big splash but again no skip. Oh well, maybe next time.









Jackie thinks I'm a Sucker for a well-placed, sappy-sweet "Daaaadddy?"

I think she's right.