homechicken

I bought a new Trek Verve 1 about a month ago and my wife decided she wanted a new bike also, so we just bought her a Fuji Crosstown 4 last weekend. We're keeping my nephew for most of this month. My SIL has 5 kids all pretty close in age, and every time one turns 9 or 10 she sends them to us for about a month during the summer. They're homeschooled and live in the stix, so its a big deal for them to be away from home without their parents, brothers and sisters, but so far we've never had any meltdowns with any of them being terribly homesick and wanting to go home. We went to visit at the end of July and brought my 9 year old nephew back home with us. He has a bike, but it was in dire need of some attention. His dad is out of town working most of the time and when he's home he's just not physically able to do much with the kids (bad knees and back and in pain most of the time), so we brought his bike home with us and I spent a few hours replacing the innertubes, unfreezing the rusted chain, adjusting the brakes, etc. Nephew had never ridden much because the bike was given to them in bad shape and never fixed up, so even though he could ride, he wasn't very confident or stable. Now after a week he's a regular speed demon and doesn't want to stop until he's worn out. I made the mistake of telling him when I was a kid there was a big hill just down the street from my house and all the kids would get a running start down the hill and see who could leave the longest skid mark at the bottom. Naturally now he has to skid to a stop every time he stops. At this rate I'm going to have to replace the rear tire before he leaves! Anyway, it was a short 4 mile ride around the park, but it was enough to wear him out on his single speed. I'm going to take him on his first fishing trip this weekend. He's got fishing gear, but again, his dad is just unable to take him.

1nterceptor

Sounds like fun for all.
Your nephew reminds me of my youth
when I used to whip/slide BMX bikes
that I borrowed

homechicken

Yeah, just an enjoyable couple of hours at the park. I did yell at him once and I thought he was going to burst into tears. I'm the fun uncle, not the disciplinarian, so it was quite a shock to him. I'd told him to slow down and look for people and cars when the trail go to where it crosses the road and he just zoomed right on across without looking or slowing down. I was just a few feet behind him, so when I realized he wasn't going to do what I told him I looked and saw that nothing was coming and then let him go across without saying anything until he go to the other side. Then I sternly called him and he ignored me so I yelled and I thought he'd wreck his bike stopping. I scolded him and then to keep him from bursting into tears like I thought he was going to, I said, "OK, now lets race to the next trail marker.", and took off, slow enough that he could catch up, and Ialmost let him win. The next time around he did what I'd told him. My wife and I never wanted kids, but its nice that we are considered the cool aunt and uncle. I hate that I get to do this stuff with them for their first time instead of their dad, but as much as he'd love to he's just not able to do some of it, time wise and health wise. I see my nephew and his brother and sisters playing and so many things they do bring back memories of my youth. Like I did when I was a kid, they play outside most of the time or play card and board games when its rainy, rarely playing video games or watching TV. I took his sister fishing last year when she was here and she raved about fishing with Uncle Randy when she went home, so he's all hyped up about that, now I've spent so much time with him and his bike that the next one that will stay with us when she turns 9 or 10 will be all excited about fishing and she'll want to bring her bike so she can go riding with us at the parks.

rebel1916

That's good stuff man

iheartbacon

Bravo Zulu.