i told you not to leave your bike in the driveway!

it's a good thing i took some pictures of cambel on his bike last night. because tonight we ran over it. 

we were on our way to get ice cream when we heard a strange crunching noise and realized, much to our dismay, that we had hit cambel's bike. that's right, the one he rides everyday around the cul-de-sac, his never-fail method of entertainment on these summer days, (my sanity on wheels)...that very bike has been rendered unusable as the back wheel is now bent and twisted. as we headed on towards dairy queen, the reality and the ramifications of what had happened hit cambel full force. he woefully repeated over and over again "i want to ride my little bike, but i can't because it is broken." after this heartrending speech he would burst into tears, tears that were only calmed by our reassurances that we would somehow work it out. a new tire maybe? could it be bent back into place? or how about just a new bike? these ideas eased cambel's sorrow and he began to repeat the scenario that he wanted to see played out when we returned home. "let's check the tire, see if it's broken, check the 'puter' (to see if we can find a replacement) then go to the store, okay?" 

a little ice cream and a visit to the neighbor's swing set helped distract cambel, and then we spent some time searching the "puter" for a new bike. cambel exclaimed many times at the pictures of real big boy bikes "i could like that!" and "i could ride that so fast" and a few other incoherent, but excited thoughts. how quickly the sorrow of a 3 year old is healed. 

so it looks like our plans for tomorrow have changed--we will be bike shopping.