Pocket rocket

I'll be the first to admit it I am not always so great about some of the "boy stuff." Thank goodness Deke has got that all covered and in my defense I think I have learned a lot since first having Hunter. Back in November we were out on a Saturday morning checking out a neighboring community garage sale and stopped by a house. Deke noticed this little red pocket rocket street bike in the piles tagged for $5. Instantly he was over there surveying the thing asking the lady questions, telling me that these ran in the $100-200 range brand new. It looked too small to me but it is supposed to be that way. On the bike it says ages 8-12 years old. That's a great deal babe lets get it Deke suggested. The lady proceeded to tell us that her son just never rode it and that they didn't have a charger for it anymore. Ah ha! I thought to myself that is the catch, sell the bike for nothing but then we either 1)will never be able to find a charger for it because they don't make them anymore or something or 2)the charger will cost us sixty bucks plus shipping because we can only find it online, then it will just become something that sits in the garage in the name of "I'm gonna find a way to get it working..." I was not so sure about the idea. After reminding me that it was only five bucks and that worse case we find out it is too expensive and just bag it I agreed. Deke and Hunter were very happy and brought it home and washed the thing up. Then the holidays hit and the bike took a backburner for a little while. Then last week Deke started looking online for a battery for it and found a place in tempe that sells batteries for scooters and small dirt bikes. On Saturday we went down there and sure enough for only $24 they had a charger and within four hours of charging the bike was humming. We decided Monday night for family night would be its first official ride. Now comes the part where I am still working on the boy stuff. Sunday afternoon I started worrying, worrying about him crashing and hurting himself, running into something, losing control etc. etc. etc. I told Deke I wondered if he would do okay on it and that I was worried he was going to get hurt. Deke assured me he would be fine and that he was a boy and needed some of these experiences. I can't figure out why I was so worried, as a kid we wakeboarded, jetskiied, rode every crazy rollercoaster, rode on the back of motorcycles with our dad and all other number of "possibly dangerous" activities. I loved doing those things and never worried about any of that. Being the mom is different, that kid is one of the five most precious things that have ever been part of my exsistence and my responsiblity to protect them is second nature, instinctual I guess you could say. He is just so special to me and the thought of anything happening to any of the kids after what we have already been through with Ethan and Dylan I guess makes me sometimes overprotective. Deke was right though he would be fine and he did need to get the chance to do this. So we went and pumped up the tires, had him put on pants and a helmet, he of course felt he needed the shades : ) :) We picked up some water bottles and snacks and headed to this dirt field not too far from our house. Deke opened the back of the van and we all sat and watched. The first few times were very squirrelly and he took a couple of good spills. This picture was his favorite.... Not because it is of him crashing but because he thought it looked "so cool the way he kicked up all the dirt" then he added "next time we ride I am going to stay on the bike and kick up dirt like that but leaning way close to the ground. That'll be awesome." He also scared me half to death when he was felt like he wanted to get more speed and gunned it and then panicked and ran head first into thank goodness a pile of leaves. Thank you for not being a wall or giant pile of rocks. Soon he started to get in a groove and learning to work the throttle and lean to balance out the turns. Within about ten minutes he was riding it confidently and cracking us up with his "yeah I'm tough" look when he would ride by. He would come around and the girls would start jumping up and down and waving at him, he would without breaking a smile give a little chin raise/head nod thing. He thinks he is pretty cool right now I thought to myself waiting to hear him say something about what Allison would say about this. Emma and Avery acted like he was a celebrity that had just completed a death defying feat, it was cute. Twenty minutes later the novelty had worn off and the girls settled for finding "pretty rocks with diamonds in them" in a giant dirt/rock pile. Hunter rode for about an hour and had an absolute blast. It was really fun for all of us and I am so glad that Deke made it all come together for him, he is seriously such a great dad. Before we packed the bike up the little ladies of the household wanted to have their "feel the power" biker babe moment so they each got to sit on it. Emma sat right on it and grabbed the handlebars then looked at Deke like, "alright start it up."Avery practically jumped onto it, couldn't stop grinning and said, "I want to ride it, I can do it." Yeah, no. Knowing her she would probably attempt a wheelie or head for a dirt mound in search of a great jump within the first five minutes. Soon enough kiddo.Hunter however has already been begging to go out and ride again so I think I know where he and Deke will be going out to play.