Inside each of these boxes there was a smaller box of the same design; inside that box there was a small gift bag; inside that gift bag was a note to each of them saying that the actual gift was a shopping trip with Grandpa and me to buy a new bicycle. Their bikes had all been stolen, along with others on their street, one night a couple of months ago.
Little did we know when we came up with the shopping trip idea, that this would turn out to be one of the greatest gifts WE could ever get.
Monday morning we picked up Shelby for the first of the three shopping trips. There were three really cute/cool girls' bikes at the first WalMart we went to...what luck as it turned out. She tried out all three and deliberated for a very short time because one was perfect in her opinion. With such quick shopping, we even had time to take her to lunch. She was so excited to show everyone that she came up with a plan to ride the bike home from the park after Grandpa went on home and got everyone outside to see her...too cute!
Monday afternoon and into evening it was Dylan's turn. We already knew there was nothing at that first WalMart for him, we took off in the opposite direction to one in a town we had never been to. There was a bike there that he really liked but it was a BMX bike with hand brakes and trick pegs, so he wanted to check out some more which was more than fine with us. We went to two other stores, almost settling for a bike at the next one but we weren't sure he was actually thrilled with it. After seeing bikes at the third store, he knew that the one he really wanted was the one he saw at the first store. We raced back to that store, stopping only for snacks and drinks at a convenience store, hoping that "his" bike had not been sold...whew...it was still there and he was thrilled to see it again. Even though it was dark by then, he rode it home from down the block for all his family to see.
Tuesday we picked up Jackson, who was ready for his turn because he really liked Dylan's bike and was excited about finding his own. We went straight to the store where Dylan found his because there was one there the evening before that all three of us thought he might like...it was gone. At the second store they had one that he liked pretty well but he still wanted to look at some more. We decided to buy that one, just in case, but to keep on looking. We took care of a couple of errands on the way to the next store and decided along the way to stop for lunch. Jackson commented that he only wished that the bike we already bought had more blue on it than the two small strips it did have. I said that so far we hadn't seen any that were that great shade of blue. Following the Garmin to a dead end in search of a pizza place we wanted to try, as Rich turned around in a parking lot, I saw a WalMart across the street that we had not even seen on the Garmin and commented how weird it would be if they had the perfect bike. They Did! The right size BMX bike with the same new features as Dylan's BMX but trimmed in the electric blue that he loves.
We were all ecstatic because not only did all three kids find the bike of their dreams but we had a story about each one. The grands and I love our "stories" and retell them often!
Last evening I spent quite a lot of time making the collage below. It has the notes that each of the kids got in their "treasure boxes" along with photos of each at the store when they selected their bikes and a few shots of the three of them with their beautiful new bikes.
The greatest part of this story is that we got to spend that precious time with each of them alone. Usually we have such limited time together that we spend it on activities for all us. Now that we have the luxury of these months with them, we could enjoy the company of each one alone for a few hours...what an amazing gift for us! I highly recommend it!
Lovin' Life ~~ And the Luxury of Time!
You are such awesome grandparents! What great memories!!
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