The last hours

Dear Jonah,

In a few hours it will be a new day....your birthday.

Right now you are sleeping.  Sleeping in the forest where tall cedars will shade the morning sunlight and the hushhhhh of the creek will muffle the sounds of other campers.  Because, for your birthday, you asked to go camping.  And go fishing.  And ride your bike.  And play frisbee golf.  And go swimming.  I love that you want to do it all.  And I especially love that being outdoors is essential to your ideal day.

You are incredible.

The video is a "rough cut" of the ad that Jonah did for Cleary Bikes last autumn.  The final was too big of a file for me to upload....and since we are moments away from you turning six...I thought I better post this while you are still five!  If you click on the Cleary Bikes hyperlink and scroll down the bottom of the home page, there's also another movie under the Trail Videos heading which features Jonah riding with his buddies Rocket and Sierra (the video on the left).

We love you Jonah!

Happy Birthday

Jumps

This is Jonah, still three years old in this picture, jumping his bike at our local skate park.

As I'm sure you can tell from previous posts here and here, 

we are really proud of Jonah's love for riding.

I think one of the reasons he enjoys riding so much is because we don't push him...he enjoys figuring things out at his own pace and has fun playing with balance and momentum.

Shadow play...add a basket and we will have our own iconic ET moon rider.

Of course, bicycle advancements are not without consequence.
Most recently, Jonah dropped off an 18" rock wall (intentionally) and went over his handlebars (unintentionally) landing on his mouth.
He chipped three of his top front teeth and the one remaining intact is slowly turning gray.

I'm pondering the value of baby teeth at the moment and wondering whether a mouth guard or full face helmet might be beneficial for this little rider.

Welcome Spring!

The Grass Widows are blooming!

Our unfortunate warm winter means that spring arrives in February.  There's really no good news about this except that we've been able to take advantage of the mild weather with lots of outings.

My little helper is never far...

This particular day took us to the Syncline for a bike ride.  Jesse got 45 minutes of downhill action while we explored the waterfalls and had a picnic.

Jonah, Ezra, and I come here at least once a week.

"How much water is flowing this time?"

The outing ends with a little trail time for Jonah.  He is remarkably good on his bike.  I love hearing comments from other riders as they see a little 3 year old riding.  He receives a lot of praise and encouragement from everyone.

Have a lovely weekend!

xoxo