Bike rodeo

Amelia's elementary school held their annual bike rodeo last Friday. This is a fun day for the children where they get to participate in several bike-related activities. Children are encouraged to ride a bicycle or scooter to school and they later they ride through obstacle courses on the street. The children also watch a bike stunt show, which I hear is wildly popular. I have never stayed for the show, but am imagining bikers flipping through the air, bikers jumping their bikes over people, etc. The kids all hear many lessons about bike safety and they have a blast doing it.

Since I work so close to Amelia's school it is easy for me to pop over for 20 minutes while her class is on the obstacle course. Below Amelia is getting ready to ride.
Here she has finished the course (the balloons at the end mark the turnaround) and she is heading back to the start line once again. This year the course featured weaving through cones, going up and down a small ramp, and riding over bubble paper.

Afterwards the kids get time to run on the playground and have a snack with their classmates. Of course the moms want the kids to pose for photos too. Here is Amelia with a few classmates, where they are all excited because they have just finished the course. Fridays are spirit days and Amelia was so happy that every kid remembered to wear a school shirt that day. Each class that has 100% spirit participation gets their photo taken with the UP Panther mascot, which flashes on the television screen during the morning announcements.

Amelia got a larger bicycle for Christmas last year but was not confident using it until just recently. We practiced several times last week in preparation for the rodeo and she did a great job on Friday!