Yesterday Noah came into the kitchen and asked what we were going to have for lunch. "Um, it's only 10:30, I have no idea since none of you can eat anything, ask me later." He then asked if we could go for a bike ride. He can't actually ride a bike with petals, but he has his little trainer bike that he LOVES to ride. That is when I got a great idea, combine lunch and the bike ride wish. We could grill hot dogs at the Badger picnic place near our house! (Thankfully, even Miss Vegetarian Sarah will eat hot dogs.)
Chris very graciously agreed to stay home with Alexandra, since I don't have a carrier for her yet. He also went downstairs to pump air into my tires for me. Last time we looked at the bike, they were a little flat. I am busy packing up everything we will need for our picnic when the downstairs bell rings. It has an intercom where you can talk to whoever is standing outside before you let them in. I answered, and Chris asks me where my bike is.
"What do you mean, "where is my bike?" It's right in the garage where we last left it. In the cage in the corner."
"No, your bike's not here. There used to be a lot more bikes, and now there are just the kids left."
"Someone stole my bike?!?"
Before I got super panicky I decided to go ask our Hauswartin (like a superintendent) if she knew anything about it a break in occurring, or what had happened to the bikes. She asked me what my bike looked like, and I told her. She got this funny look on her face. Turns out she told everyone in the building last fall to write their name somewhere on their bike. (I honestly don't remember seeing a letter or her even saying anything to us. To be fair, she very well may have, but seeing as how I had a newborn then and was getting pretty much no sleep, someone could have told me I won a billion dollars and I would have forgotten it.) She even waited "extra long" to finally get rid of all bikes that weren't marked. I just stood there, blinking like a deer in the headlights trying to let this information sink in. She just chucked my perfectly good bike because I didn't have my name written on it? What the heck? I had it parked in the spot we are supposed to put our bikes in and they still got rid of it?
Yeah, she kept saying, I know I told everyone. And I kept saying, But I don't remember that at all. And you didn't throw away the kids bikes, so why mine? Well, the kids bikes are obvious who they belong to, we see them riding them. So first of all, there goes the family bike ride. And second, I don't really want to have to buy a brand new bike when I had an absolutely fine bike already!
I asked where the bike was taken, thinking maybe I could go get it out of the dump. She said that she gave it to her friend who cleans old bikes up, repairs them and then sells them. Um, first of all, it wasn't an old bike, nor did it need to be repaired, should have been a clue not to get rid of it. It was perhaps, a little dusty from disuse, but that was all. Anyway, she told me she will call him and try to get it back. If not, then I have decided to ask for the money he got selling my bike, since it was essentially stolen property and not his to sell in the first place.
After this rather large setback, we decided to go ahead with the bike ride since all the kids were excited. I would just walk along with Noah, who can go fast when he wants, but not that fast, and the others could just ride ahead. We had just gotten to the end of the driveway and around the first corner of sidewalk when the first raindrops started to fall. I decided to preserve, though, since the sun was also shining, and perhaps it would just be a short shower. It often rains here for just 15-20 minutes and then stops again, nothing to cancel a trip over. I am so glad, since those first raindrops were the only ones we felt the entire time. The kids ended up removing all jackets and complaining about the heat!
They have only ever ridden their bikes around the little courtyard in front of our house before. Riding on the sidewalk was a bit of a challenge. A long straight line with poky hedges on either side. There were a few grumblings, a lot of starting and stopping, but they eventually got the hang of it and waiting anxiously for me at the crosswalk. We set up spots for them to wait for me at; the chicken house, the signpost where we turn off the main path, the big tree, and so forth. Sarah fell once, as did Nicholas, but there wasn't any real blood, and no one was hurt enough to want to go back. The hills proved a challenge, not only going up, but down as well. They haven't had any real speed before, and kept pedaling going down the hill, then complaining that they were going too fast!
We got to the firepit and saw that someone was already there, grilling their sausages on a lovely looking fire. He was almost done, and graciously allowed me to take over not only his fire, but his barbecue tongs as well. We called Chris when the sausages were almost done, or at least I thought they were, and he drove over with Baby. I walked back with her in the stroller, and the kids went ahead on their bikes. They all ended up walking their bikes up the "hill", Noah going the slowest of all. I had to carry his bike for him for a bit. But we made it back alive, and they were in good enough spirits that we will try a longer bike ride next weekend.
Eventually, I want us to take whole vacations on our bikes. You know, around Lake Constance, alone the Rheine river, through the tulip fields in Holland, that kind of thing. So this was a promising beginning, and I was very pleased to see how much they liked it. Now I just have to get my bike back….