The 'romance' of a family bike ride

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On Monday we were in Canberra visiting friends over the Easter weekend.  We went on a bike ride around Lake Burley Griffin.   It was great fun - 4 adults, 9 children.  We were quite a pack. It was a beautiful day.  Great to have kids that are old enough to ride bikes together (finally).


We all loved it - well, we almost all loved it.  One child (who shall remain nameless, but is in my family, say, about the middle) sobbed her way around half of the ride.  She didn't start off well.  Before we'd even left she'd half fallen off the bike, so her leg was sore.  But the amount of crying was not representational of the amount of suffering (I felt, anyway - my scale is a bit tough I will admit).  I tried to be compassionate, but my patience ran out when we're riding along, it's beautiful and all I hear behind me is, 'sob, sob, hiccup, sob, deeeep breath, sob, sob'.  


She did perk up after some food and the promise of an ice cream.  But it was a bit painful.  I suspect some of my frustration came from the fact that as a child, I too probably sobbed my way around any activity that was vaguely outdoorsy.  And I missed out.


We've been thinking of taking our kids on a trip to India next year for Rowan's long service leave.  All I can envisage is a lot of photos in front of major monuments with someone crying in the corner.  Ahh - the romance of adventures with children (the romance is mostly in the memory I suspect).

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