a new bike

I hate it when I am victim of the "been there, done that" syndrome.

What I'm saying is that we have never bought Emma a bike. Sure, the other kids had them when they were four. Probably. Well, I don't exactly remember, but I bet if I looked in my scrapbooks, I'd find pictures of them on bikes way before the age of four.

But our good friends, the Partin's, have come through, again. Remember--they're the ones who took Rebekah to Disney World. After Emma's birthday party, they called to ask if they could deliver their granddaughter's bike to Emma. Kimmie, now approaching 11 years old, has outgrown her bike and wanted to give it to Emma. Brother Partin even greased it up, tightened it up, and re-attached the training wheels. And because Kimmie is mild-mannered, polite, kind, shy, and prim-and-proper, the bike is still brand-new looking. No, Kimmie wouldn't fit in our family very well. We'd corrupt her before she could influence us, I'm sure.

Anyway, Emma is thrilled to have her own bike. The helmet is a little big, but we can fix that pretty quick. Paul Ivan is also thrilled to have a biking partner again. He and Paka were partners in Puerto Rico, and I think Paul misses that.