Along Coolong

MacGyver passed his driving test yesterday so when the kids wanted to go to the park, he proudly announced that he could drive us there.

We went to the nearby Coolong Reserve. The place has netball courts, a very large grassed area, some picnic tables, a place for barbecues, concrete pathways, children's play areas which include swings, slides, monkey bars and a big climbing web.

This is one of my favorite views of the WEB at the park.

Can you see the diamond patterns?

We usually climb the web when we go to the park.

Here is MyGirl within the diamond patterns ...

... and RD within the hexagons.

That was yesterday.

We went back to the park today and I was able to get a picture of MyGirl within the square patterns.

Our main purpose for today's park visit was to log some biking minutes for RD. Prior to today, RD had a total of zero minutes on the bike here in Australia and possibly less than an hour of biking over all. And I desperately wanted him to learn how to ride a bike.

We were fortunate enough to get a good bike from his first cousin's first cousin and borrow a helmet from one of his cousins. The hitch to biking in Coolong is that we would have to walk to the park because the bike doesn't fit in the trunk.

So walk to the park we did.

When we got there, MacGyver patiently coached RD on how to ride a bike, how to press on the hand brakes, how to break his fall, etc. They went along the concrete walkways taking advantage of the available downhill paths. MyGirl rolled around on her scooter for a while before deciding to climb the spider web. While we were on the web, we watched RD from afar as he balanced himself and manoeuvred his bike.

I was amazed at his progress. He was actually riding a bike.

No major falls, no minor scratches, no tears. (No aching back for MacGyver.)

(RD and MacGyver are the tiny images in the background of this picture, right above the horizontal bar. This was RD's second run on the bike along the path.)

I was so happy for him.

As you can see, he was happy too.

Time to head back home.

I would say this will be one of the more memorable trips to Coolong, especially for RD.