Her first Bike!

Just when we thought spring was on it's way, it goes and snows last night. However, it did not deter my plans to go bike shopping with Tash today. :0)

Owen and I have been talking about getting her one since last year. I actually wanted to get her one last summer but Owen felt she was still too young for a bike and had put the kybosh on getting her a balance bike.

So when we started having warmer weather, I brought up the subject again. And once again I broached the subject of getting her a balance bike instead of a bike with pedals.

Owen thought it would be silly to spend that much money on a bike that she'd used for one summer and then we'd have to turn around and buy her another bike the following summer. I thought she'd like it more, being the cautious/timid girl she is.

Anyway, the decision made was that we'd take her to various stores (TRU, CTire, Walmart, Bike Bike) and get her to try out a bike with pedals and a balance bike. Whichever one she liked, that would be the one we'd get.

I headed down South this morning, as I had another errand that way, and knew there was a TRU, Walmart and CTire all beside each other off Macleod. As it turns out, that big huge TRU is now a Visions Canada and a Sportsmart. So I went to Ctire first, with plans to then check out Walmart. I was a bit doubtful, as a couple of friends had taken their kids bike shopping and were having trouble finding one that was short enough for their kids to be able to touch the ground.

We got lucky, because the first bike I had Tash try fit perfectly! I just had to have a sales associate lower the seat. The best thing of all? No Disney Princesses, no Characters what-so-ever! Just a nice solid pretty pink. :0) I did help convince her that it was the 'one' by tellig her it said "Magic Dust" on the side because the Fairies (yay Sleeping Beauty obsession) had sprinkled fairy dust on it just for her. I know, horrible mommy tactics, but she suddenly loved the bike. lol

And best of all, Owen loved it, mostly because it was $63 total, including taxes, less than half the price of the Strider Balance bike that I wanted to get her. We then picked up a helmet (they did have a Tinkerbell + her Fairy friends one, but it was not small enough, so ladybugs it was) and 2 flashing lights, one for each tire. I'm glad I ended up at the South Ctire location, because I forgot to get her a helmet and stopped at the Ctire that is 5m from our house and their selection for girls in the 12" height size bikes was really poor.

She did not quite get the pedals at first, just would rest her feet on them while I pushed her (around the house) but after several tries on it, and me pushing her feet to demonstrate, she has started to get the whole 'turning' the pedals. I'm sure she'll be a pro before long. Hopefully she's less of a clutz than I was and we do not have too many scrapes!