Around the Block - Part 1

On Sunday I decided to attempt our first family walk around the neighborhood without Jake. And yes, he's been gone 5 1/2 months... but in my defense, he left during the winter and then by the time it warmed up, we had so many activities in the evenings. Not to mention that Sarah, now a 9-month-old labrador retriever, is so large and strong that she can pull me clear across the street. However, I recently purchased a new dog collar that stops her from pulling, and so alas... we can now take family walks again! No activities + new dog collar = family walks! 

The children asked to ride their bikes instead of walk, so they got out their various wheels and we set out. After one lap with Sarah, we put her back in the house, I grabbed my camera, and we set out for lap #2. 

Up until this point, Will has been scooting along on this little trike...

... but then we discovered that he is big enough to pedal (with help) on Jacob's bike now:

With Will on Jacob's bike... Jacob decided to pull out his big wheels...

...and Addie was on her bike as usual:

Bella, on the second lap, decided to leave her bike behind and grab her own camera. The whole crew:

My firstborn and me:

She took pictures all along the way:

Go, go, Jacob!

When we made it back to the house after lap #2, Addie asked me to take off her training wheels. She took off so well on her first attempts... I was really impressed!

No more training wheels for this big girl! 

The rest of these pictures are some of the photos that Bella took. She's getting quite good. I think she gets her artistic eye from her Nana. 

I'm very happy to have a nice neighborhood with streets to ride on or walk along. And yay for summertime!