The kids really wanted to try a new bike path today. Big Sis and M&M have been wanting to bike up to the Landstuhl Castle, but Kevin and I didn't think the two littles would be able to make the ride. The first mile of the trail is completely uphill, and Little A has a hard time just going on a straight path for 5 miles. After talking to the kids, they all wanted to try, even Little A. Kevin and I didn't mind the change up and challenge, plus we figured if it got too hard we could just get off the bikes and walk up the hill. We decided to call it a 'BikeHike'. So we set off up the steep hill towards the castle. I was so surprised because Little A made it up about half a mile before she completely fell apart. What would have taken us about 20 minutes to walk, took only about 10 minutes to bike, we totally just cut our time in half. I got off my bike too and walked beside Little A. We talked about how much faster that was and about how very good she did. We really only have the one uphill, the rest of the ride to the castle is small rolling hills and some flat parts. Once we got past the big uphill, we all got on our bikes again and rode the rest of the way to the castle. We had a choice to go through a residential area or up a big hill in the forest behind the houses. For Little A's sake we chose the residential street. I'm glad we did because it was all flat, except the last part to the castle was a steep downhill. All the kids had fun zooming down the hill. We got to the castle and rode around to the side of the castle and just let the kids explore the outside of the castle for a while. We couldn't go in the castle because it is closed due to COVID-19.
We found a large grass area on the furthest side of the castle and made camp there. We brought everything for a picnic, except the blanket. One of the kids were in charge of packing the picnic blanket, and they sort of spaced it, so we sat on our jackets or the grass. Luckily the grass wasn't wet and it was soft enough to sit on. We got super lucky, because the weather was so perfect for a picnic. The kids all talked about their ride and how great it was.
As a family we have been reading Harry Potter, and we are now on book 4, The Goblet of Fire. I brought the book and read to the kids for a while. It has been so fun reading the books together as a family. Little A especially loves hearing the story because she hasn't read it before. It has been fun to read them again, because I have only read the books once when they first came out, and there is so much detail in the books that I have forgotten. I really do love the books a million times better then the movies. That might be another reason Little A has loved reading the books too, I promised that after we finish a book, we can watch that movie as a family.
We spent a little over an hour just relaxing in the shade of the trees on the side of the castle. It was a great use of family time, and we were so blessed with perfect weather and the beautiful scenery. We loaded the backpacks back up and set off through the castle gate to make our way home.
On the ride home we decided to take the all forest trail home. The beginning section just after leaving the castle was everyone's favorite. We rode on a narrow trail that was downhill. It was pure mountain biking and it was a blast. All the kids were whooping and hollering. We then hit about two pretty big uphills. Little A was not happy at all with the hills and started complaining that her bike was not working right. When that excuse didn't work with me, she started blaming her legs, saying they weren't working right. She and I ended up walking both the hills up. We got past the hills and had some pretty flat sections for about half a mile. When we were about a mile from the house, I was a little way in front of Little A when I hear a skid and a howl. I stop quickly and turn around to find her under her bike and on the floor crying. We had reached a section of loose gravel, and her bike had slipped out from underneath her and she slid with the bike and fell off scraping up her poor knee. She had a few pretty good gashes on her knee that were bleeding. I didn't have the backpack, because Kevin and the older girls had left us in the dust a while ago. My brave Little A, got back up on her bike bleeding and all and whimpered her way home. Since we were on the last mile, it was all downhill the entire way home. That helped her to keep going, knowing she really wouldn't have to pedal, and she wouldn't have any hills to walk up. About half a mile down, there is an arm gate that keeps cars off the path, and poor Little A miscalculated the space and hit her handle bars on the gate and once again fell off her bike. This time she scraped up her other knee. The poor thing had huge crocodile tear and two bleeding knees by the time we got home, but she got back on her bike both times she fell, I am super proud of her. We got her all cleaned up, and she said even though she got all banged up, she still had a really good time. I am so proud of her, she did something really hard today, and got beat up in the process. She proudly explained, "Mom, I can do hard things!" That's my girl!
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