Birthdays, bikes & sunny spring days

Today I took the boys out on our bikes.- Whilst the weather is so fantastic, we are sure going to make the most of it! 

Cameron was invited to a birthday party in Dahlemdorf,  a small farm in the old American quarter of Berlin. So Alexander, Cameron and I set off this morning and rode down there, through the forests and along the bike paths. I slightly underestimated how far it actually was, and Cameron got to his party a little late! 

I locked Cameron's bike up at the farm, and Alexander and I rode back to Alan and Sonia's. Alexander played some Playstation (without having to compete with Cameron for a turn!) whilst Alan and I sat on his terrace in the sunshine and had a chat and a few cups of coffee. Alexander and I then headed down the road to MacDonalds for his lunch, then we rode back to collect Cameron. 

From there we rode back through the forests towards home. Berliners love the forests, the sunshine and their dogs. However, they take their dogs into the forests to enjoy the sunshine but don't control their dogs! Today Alexander had 2 crashes because people did not have their dogs under control. In the biggest crash, a lady stirred up her two dogs so they were wrestling, and then decided that she didn't want them wrestling right on top of her - so she pushed them out onto the path that we were riding on - right in front of Alexander on his bike! He had no chance of avoiding them, and crashed into the very big dogs and fell off.  

The owner 'sensed' my displeasure (probably would not need to be a psychic) and grabbed her dogs and raced off. She didn't even check if Alexander was OK! We had many 'close shaves' as well. Few dogs were on leashes. There were literally hundreds of dogs racing about, sniff each other's butts and crapping everywhere.  It was going to be difficult, even on the wide forest roads made for bikes and walking! Alexander was OK, just a few scrapes. He picked himself up and we continued our journey home. 

The boys are great on their bikes, and covering 15-20 kms is really no problem for them now. Whilst the weather is so nice, we will take every opportunity that we can!