Ainslies in Montana - Part 3

I wanted to make this a separate post because months before we went to Billings we informed Owen that Ryan is a bike fanatic and has 6 or 7 bikes in his house (not all are his, but 4 of them are). O was psyched to see that and even more psyched when he realized we were bringing his bike along so he could hang with the big guys. We didn't know at the time (but should have) that Nate would bring his bike too (being a bit of a biker himself).

I walked along with the gang as they hit a nearby park. Aside from the fact that Owen had the most spectacular high-speed-down-a-steep-hill-"daddy help I'm going too fast!"-wreck (I honestly thought he likely broke something) early on in the outing, he did great. In fact, he actually did great with the wreck too. He was so concerned that Nate and Ryan would think less of him for crying, he manned up, squealched the waterworks in about 10 seconds, talked tough, and was on his bike again about a minute later. This was after going over the top of it, landing limbs akimbo, and having the bike roll on over him. After I squeezed all his limbs and moved all his joints, gave some supportive encouragement, applied a dose of macho tough talk with just a touch of humor, I let him continue on down the hill. I was and am proud of how he handled himself. He's a tough kid. He had a blast riding with the big guys on their pedal bikes and just kept going and going and going. If they could do it, he could do it. My favorite line from him came when he desperately wanted me to help him scale a much too large incline that Ryan and Nate even had to get speed to summit. I asked him why and he said, "Because it's there, Dad!" All adventuresome spirits have to smile at logic like that. I helped him up, of course.

Here's a quick collage of that day, a bike ride/walk from a few days later, and a pic of Logi in a borrowed stroller to balance things out.