We are no longer the worst parents ever.

Whenever we were at somebody's house, and they offered to let our kids ride bikes with their kids, Bryan and I would look at each other, our faces full of guilt (and humor). Why? Our kids, although old enough to ride bikes, didn't have bikes. And had no idea how to even ride one! Yikes! What kind of parents are we? Our almost 6 year old and 4 year old have never learned to ride a bike (I think Cole's still too young so at least we haven't totally screwed up his childhood!).

But no need to fear or judge or whatever. We bought the boys bikes.

Hooray!! We are no longer dead beat parents!

We took the boys on a sunny afternoon (which have been few and far between here in Washington lately) to Fort Steilacoom park to ride around the lake and feed the ducks. The bikes have training wheels and so we thought this would be a piece of cake!

We underestimated Bryce's inability to figure out the art of pedaling.

We got to the park, where Crazy Uncle Dave and Lindsay were waiting for us with Rusty. We got out the bikes and Rix took off. And then fell. Poor guy! I thought for sure he was going to give up right there. I didn't even think about bringing Band-Aids with us! But he was brave and got back on, and I was sure to walk by him so he didn't fall again. Even though he had training wheels on, the pavement around the lake is uneven, so he could tip if he wasn't careful.

Bryce, on the other hand, could not, for the life of him, figure out the pedaling. He kept pedaling backwards. And then he gave up after two tries. Instead of pedaling, he wanted us to just push him on his bike. And then he got bored of that. I think Cole rode the bike more than Bryce did. But we'll keep trying! We don't have a place around here that I can just send them out to ride, so they can only go out when Bryan and I are both available to take them (one parent for each child!). And we don't have helmets yet.

I didn't even get a picture of Bryce on the bikes. That was how little he was on it :)

We spent the rest of the time feeding the ducks and the geese. The geese were so bold, they would come right up to us and eat out of our hands! They also learned they could harass the boys by trying to take the bread out of their hands and chasing them, so Rix and Bryce started ignoring the geese, and throwing the bread only to the ducks. It pays to be nice!

My mom has told me stories of going to feed the ducks at this same lake when we were younger, and the geese were so mean they would chase us girls and try to bite us! She said she used to have to kick the geese away from us so we wouldn't get hurt! Thankfully, that didn't happen to my boys. Although I would have totally kicked those geese. For old times sake.

Eating out of Bryce's hand. Bryce was pretty brave. He didn't mind them eating out of his hand. Rix didn't like it. The first time he tried, the goose bit him!

Dave and Lindsay sat further away so Rusty wouldn't scare the ducks. He wouldn't hurt them though. Maybe just lick them to death :)

I found Rix eating his bagel instead of sharing with the ducks!

The geese following Bryce where ever he went.

Later, when we ran out of bread, the boys resorted to throwing pebbles in the water. It just confused the poor ducks!