Bikes

We planned many months ago what we wanted to get the boys for Christmas. A swing set for the garden.
We even went so far as to purchase it on lay-by and start paying it off week by week.

However Alex decided that he would manage to ride his bike with just 2 wheels back in October / November and it quickly became apparent that they would need new bikes as well.

You guessed it, this was not on our planned Christmas List but knew how much kids love riding bikes and how good it is for them then we relented.
I got them on lay-by as well, so we had secured them and they got to stay in the shop until we collected them on paying off the last payment. Makes storage so much easier.

We had discussed many times about how we were going to give the boys the bikes, seeing as they had a large present on its way already we really didn't want to over spoil them with giving them bikes for Christmas as well. Way too much in my eyes.

We even discussed getting them to the caravan, where we were going on Boxing Day, so they were there when we got there and that took the whole receiving huge amounts of gifts on Christmas Day pressure off.

However, the plan got made simpler at the beginning of December when Grandad came home for a visit from China for my cousins wedding.
He annouced that he wanted to give the boys some money as he didn't know what to get them for Christmas. I mentioned the bikes and said he was happy to contribute to them if so desired. he thought this was an excellent thing, as then the boys were not getting more toys that were not going to get played with and take up lots of unwanted space.
This then lead to my next thought, that we could actually collect the bikes immediately and that way Grandad would get to see the boys enjoy the bikes whilst he was with us. In fact this very thing had happened 3 years earlier when Grandma was visiting for Dubai and they brought the bikes the boys were currently riding.

A quick check from daddy and Gradad

Another quick check from daddy

So the boys gained brand new bikes for Christmas this year but they didn't get overloaded with presents on Christmas Day because they had an early Christmas at the beginning of December and that took the whole load off of Christmas Day.
In fact on Christmas Day they had even forgotten that they had received bikes for Christmas until they mentioned the bikes and we reminded them that they had received them for Christmas.

Bikes

Ben has been slowly learning to ride his bike without training wheels.
When we were here several weeks ago we took 1 of the wheels off.
He wasn't entirely happy about riding it that way, but he managed and all was going well, that was until the remaining wheel broke.
So this week our mission, if we choose to accept it, was to get Ben riding his bike with no training wheels.

I think we may have managed. he can ride his bike with out training wheel once he gets going, but he is having a little trouble getting started.
He just has to learn how to push him self off and keep peddling at the same time.
Practise, practise, practise....

We have the rest of the week here at the caravan, so we are not going anywhere. Plenty of time and space to practice.
Oh and incentive too....as lots of the other kids are riding without training wheels and he doesn't want to be left out! What more incentive could any child need?

New Bikes

We had already realised about a week ago that Ben was going to require a new bike this Christmas. Not that we were bothered by it, just another thing for us to get done for Christmas.
We have had Grandma staying with us this week and on one of the days she was here we let Ben ride his bike to Kindy, whilst doing this it became apparent that Ben really needed that bike now.
So wonderful Grandma stepped in and said they would buy him one for Christmas, only thing was what to get Alex, but the more we looked at Ben's old bike the more we realised it wasn't suitable for Alex, so the solution was both have new bikes.
So today Grandma took them both shopping for new bikes for Birthday/Christmas and because she will not be here after Christmas as she will be back in Dubai, she decided they could have them straight away because then she got to enjoy them with them. Plus they are still small enough to not know too much about Christmas yet. (my how that will all change sooner than we think!)
Alex on his new bike, which is a little big at present but give him a month or two and there will be no problem. This bike even has a push pole at the back that allows you to push the bike with him on it, wonderful thing about it is that the pole also controls the handle bars, so you can steer when pushing him!

Ben on his smart 2nd bike, his leg muscles will be strong in no time. He is having a ball on this bike.