Wee a bike

Day 24 of 31 at TWT!

"Can we go wee-a-bike?" Rainbow Girl is big enough to say "ride bikes" now, and sometimes she does, but I love when she decides to use the cute term she created last summer instead. I love remembering how when she first started riding in the bike seat behind me, she crooned "weeeeee!" all along the path. 

It's pretty windy, but the sun is shining, and Sweetie's fancy new big-girl bike has gears. "Sweetie, your sister wants to go for a bike ride. It's pretty windy, but you could use your gears to help you."

"I can do it without my gears! I'm strong!"

I giggle. "Ok, but if you need them, they can make it easier for you!"

"It's a pretty day!" Rainbow Girl chimes back in, just in case we haven't made up our minds yet. 

In just a few minutes, we're pedaling up the big hill, buffeted by periodic gusts of wind that give way to brief periods of calm when the sunshine almost feels hot on our arms.

"I'm in gear 4!" Sweetie reports as we head into the meadow, probably to assure me that she doesn't need her gears for the wind. So am I, I think as I push against the wind, even though I'm usually in 6 or 7. She's so stubborn!

"There's spring peeper frogs! I drew them!" Rainbow Girl calls out as soon as we hear them chirping from the first patch of water near the path. "I can color them again!" 

"Yes, you drew such a nice picture of the peeper frogs the other day! I love your coloring!" She is such a nature girl! What other two year old knows spring peepers?! 

Sweetie riding by where the spring peepers have been chirping!

Sure enough, around the next bend she declares, "Turkey Vulture!" and when I look up, there one is, circling gracefully above us. A few minutes later, I see her grab her ear in the rearview mirror as she announces, "I hear a mourning dove!" Any other two year old would just say "bird"!

We approach the fountain pond, and Rainbow Girl shrieks, "We can look for the snake! I wish I can see the snake!"

"He's probably hiding!" There's no way that poor snake is going to come sun himself out here again for quite awhile. 

"I'm going to look in his habitat!" Sweetie yells, jumping off her bike and running over the the pile of reeds she chased him into.

Looking for the snake / finding the best reeds to throw in the pond!

They scamper back and forth across the grass for a few minutes, and then it's time to ride home, Sweetie chattering happily in front of me and Rainbow Girl prattling at my back. The wind whips roughly at us, but it's so warm even its strength is more pleasant than irritating. If I look out into where the tree branches crisscross the blue sky, it's almost like we're flying, and John Denver pops into my head. This isn't West Virginia, but it's close, and more importantly, it's beautiful. And it's where I belong.