As you may
recall, about a month ago Alice's little bike was vandalized while we were at the park, making it unridable. Zac couldn't fix it, but tried to salvage the situation by taking off the pedals and making it a
balance bike. Alice was not happy with the situation, and cried for her pedals. Since then, I'd been checking Craigslist off and on for a good little bike for her. We wanted a gender-neutral one that Simon could inherit, but alas, bikes are really oriented towards boys or girls (probably a marketing trick to make sure families have to buy more than one bike). I found a
Thomas the Tank Engine one earlier, but when Zac e-mailed the seller, there was no response. Luckily, a couple days ago I found a red one with a
Cars theme for a mere $20. Alice has only seen a couple of short
Cars videos on YouTube, but those managed to have a great impact on her and she has been obsessed with
Mater and
Lightning McQueen ever since. After a few e-mails with the seller, she and Zac picked up the bike from a nearby neighborhood one evening after work. When they got home and I asked Alice about it, she ecstatically declared, "And it has pedals!"
We took it for a spin on Saturday. Zac had to do some tinkering to get the seat at the perfect height, and it took her a few moments to figure out how to get it going from a stop, but, as they say, it was like riding a bike and she was soon cruising happily down the greenway.
