Schiermonnikoog Island–April 1, 2013

 

Just north of the Netherlands there is this really cute island called Schiermonnikoog.  After a few days of rest, we decided to drive up there and take a ferry across to discover what it had to offer.  We were not disappointed…

First Family Bike Ride

With some of our tax return money, and Ethan's allowance money, we bought Ethan and myself a bike so we could go on family bike rides. Last Saturday was our first attempt. Here we are pumping up James and Ethan's tires. Little did we know we would be replaying this a few times.

Here is our first attempt going down the street. We only got about a block away when James noticed his tire was having issues. It developed this huge bubble/growth of air on it. We had to turn around and readjust it and pump it up again.

It took a couple of times of pumping attempts before the tire decided to cooperate. Once we finally got on the road, a couple of blocks down, Ethan tells me he's tired and hungry. Of course he is. We pressed on though, but it was a very short trip.


We decided to bike up this steep hill so we could get a view of the bay on the other side. Ethan was quite a trooper. He actually rode his bike about 2/3 of the way up. James had to walk it up the rest of the way.

Once we made it to the top, James thought it would be a good idea to do a little brake training before we went back down the steep hill. It's a good thing he did because Ethan seemed to have forgotten how to use the brakes.

All in all it was a very educational trip, even though we were gone for about an hour and a half with only about 30 minutes of actual bike riding time. We now know how to effectively pump James's tires, know to bring snacks, and know we need to leave earlier. Needless to say we have not attempted it again, but plan to at some point. Tomorrow if weather permits we are going to try hiking at Jack's Peak. Hopefully that will be a little less eventful.