I want to ride my bicycle

Z barely took her helmet off this weekend. She rode back and forth to her school, where she "helped" transform the schoolyard into a fully functional playground with raised gardens. (It was a huge community undertaking, with about 25 volunteers hammering, shoveling, hauling and raking for hours.)

Here are my girls, digging for earthworms as Dad works the wheelbarrow and Mom visits the donut table

When digging for worms and climbing the mulch pile got old, we went to Rehm Park. There Z commandeered her friend Meredith's bike and circled the playground.

Although the two BFFs did pause for a quick photo

When we came home I removed the training wheels and lowered the seat on her new, bigger bike. It's a purple Schwinn Stardust with 16 inch wheels that we bought off of Craigslist for $45 and Z is in love. She rode around the block with her friend Aria and then by herself, again and again and again, refusing to stop even for a glass of water.

On Sunday she rode through the neighborhood to a new tot lot and implored me to drive her bike to Field Park, which she wheeled around before we met Megan and Bruce for a fabulous brunch at Longman & Eagle (Bruce is a partner).

Z took a brief break to swing, but didn't bother removing her helmet

If you look closely, you can see Z's new bike parked below A

The only places Z didn't bike to this weekend? She didn't get to bike to ceramics class or to the Irving School Yard Sale (where I scored a toddler bike seat and a bunch of kid clothes and early chapter books). She didn't get to bike to Deb's house for our Chavurah Spanish potluck or to Kohls to buy a gift for her teacher on behalf of the school (this is her last year).

But that's about it. The rest of the weekend? All she wanted to do was ride, ride, ride.

I finally got the photos off my Blackberry. Here's one of Z on her bike.

And here's one of the kids on the top of the mulch pile.