Biker Luke and other summer fun

(A spontaneous, share-the-chair popsicle moment.)

Our biggest news around here is that our Luke can bike without training wheels! We are so proud of him and his determination. He just decided one day that he wanted to do it, so Julio took the training wheels off and after Luke saw how tippy it was, he immediately wanted them back on. But...Julio wanted him to at least try it, and Julio ran, holding on to the back of Luke's bike, all the way to the park and back. The next day, Luke pretty much got the hang of it, (as shown in the video below), with a bit of help with the starts, and then the next time we biked, we did a family 3km bike to my sister's place, and after lowering Luke's seat he could do the starts no problem. I couldn't believe he biked that far, but he was very determined and did great.

Okay, that's probably enough bragging. On to other events. We went to "Morning Sound Farm", just outside the city, for a little farm experience the other Saturday with some of our favorite people, Steve and Sheri-Lee Krymusa and their boys, or the "Musas" as Sammy refers to them. We had a blast.Sammy was completely into everything and loved being thrown into any pen with any animal. He was a little scary with the baby chicks, holding one by the leg and refusing to let go, but other than that I think the animals and him were unharmed. It was so great to see him so excited and in awe of everything.Cowboy Sam. He was a pro.

Not-so-cowboy Luke. He had a death grip on me for the first part of the pony ride and didn't even want to do it, but I kind of forced him to. He eased his grip slightly and talked pretty tough about riding the pony afterwards, saying he was glad he went. Our boys are SO different!

Sheep shearing demo. Just before that was the goat milking demo, which Sam got to try with Julio's help. Luke wasn't so into that. This picture pretty much sums up Luke's farm experience. Cautiously checking things out. He spent a good amount of time making sure Sammy wasn't getting too close to any of the animals and avoiding them himself. But he did say he really liked the farm after the fact, and I do appreciate his caring, protective nature towards Sam. I just wish he could relax a bit more sometimes...This pretty much sums up Sam's farm experience. Pure giddiness and bliss. We now think we should get some land outside the city to have a few chickens and a goat. And some kittens and dogs. And a big garden. And lots of energy for all of it. Julio was practically sleepless the night after the farm, dreaming of our country life! I have absolutely no concept of how much work it would all be (we wouldn't have a massive farm or anything, just a few animals, that can't be that much work, right??) but it sure looked dreamy after our visit to the farm. Just don't look at our backyard currently and see all my crazy weeds and fairly pathetic garden. You will think I have no farming future whatsoever! Alas...it's good to dream.

And now, life has consisted of trips to the wading pool, the park, washing swimming clothes, drying swimming clothes, repairing sandals, finding sand in every imaginable place, eating far too much ice cream...ahhh, sweet summer! I love this time of year.