The Sounds of Summer

1. Children squealing
2. Bike wheels ratcheting
3. The Ice Cream Man
4. Snoring

So the weather was finally what it should be in May...sunny and 75. Sunday morning we decided it was time to see if Olivia was big enough to ride on the trail-a-bike, or "tricycle" as she calls it (which is, in fact, true). Sean attached the third wheel to his bike and I put Olivia on the seat. I'm not sure she'd fully grasped what exactly this contraption was, but when Sean took off down the driveway Olivia said "whoaaaaa aaaaaaaaah". To translate, a nervous whoa that turned into a scream. Now this was an obviously happy scream, thankfully. We figured that was a good sign and loaded the bikes into the car to head to the park. Meredith has officially mastered the art of riding with two wheels. She's determined to be first in line when we ride - you can see her checking for passers out of the corner of her eye. If she sees you coming her feet start pumping and she inches farther ahead. We stopped to see some turtles in the creek, only to hear Olivia ask "why are we stopping?" and to, a few minutes later, hear Meredith say "ready? GO!" as she took off on her own. I guess they got a bit of Sean's love for motion. We found out as we rode that Olivia could officially reach the pedals, but she couldn't push them around for a full rotation. She'd push forward until she couldn't reach, then ratchet the pedals backward. Gotta give her credit for trying.

So after a morning spent riding bikes we headed home to do some much needed yard work. We're in the front yard, and Meredith says "you hear that? Sounds like a bell." Sure enough, it's the ice cream man. Now other than what they've seen on TV, neither kid knows anything about this phenomenon. And we all know how sneaky the ice cream man can be. He circles your street, making sure to ring the bell loudly enough for you to hear, but he waits until you just can't stand it any more to actually turn down your street. But, alas, he's headed our way. Meredith runs toward the curb and stares. Honestly, I'm not sure what she thought would happen next. But after some giggling and waffling we finally selected a Tweety Bird popsicle (for Meredith) and a fudge pop (for Olivia). Watching them drip and lick and drip some more as they sat on the front porch gave me such an amazing sense of summer. And summers to come.

Needless to say, the girls were exhausted by the time we finished bathing (or scouring in this case). They hit their pillows and were sound asleep just a few minutes later.

Ahhhh, summer.