Poor & Pedaling

If you need me, I'll be living in my car.

We had planned for months to take our soon-to-be five year old daughter, Kate to the Trek store to buy a bike for her upcoming birthday.

We wanted it to be special.  A real "big girl" bike complete with a basket and streamers, like the one I had growing up.  Pink, purple, silver, glitter, ribbons, the more decked out, the better.

But most importantly, we wanted it to be made well because everything of Kate's gets passed down to Claire, our 18-month old daughter.

So, we expected to drop some change.

We brought the whole family including our seven year old son, Sam who was also in need of a bigger frame, but we thought we could hold off on his.  However, the cool thing about Trek bikes is that much like Honda's, they maintain their resale value and our local retailer offers a pretty sweet trade in price when you bring back your old one.

And of course, there was a perfect used one screaming his name.

Once we committed to the two 20 inch frames, we knew we needed a bike rack.  Our small SUV could no longer carry them in the back and of course, we have a rear spare tire which makes fitting a bike rack without a hitch really challenging and costly.

An hour later we walked out with two happy children and a promise to eat macaroni and cheese for weeks to come.  I suppose its the price you pay for the fun of childhood or its not.  We didn't have to buy the bikes or the rack...but I definitely see hours, days, weeks of fun in all of our futures.  Because on hot summer days, if you can't be by the pool, riding your bike is the next best way to zap your energy and land you in bed for lots of afternoon nap time. Right?

Until then, we'll sell the house to pay for the bikes and be happy living in the car having fun with our new cycles.