it all started with a book – “henry and beezus”. in the classic beverly cleary book, which we read the book to odin over the winter, henry huggins has one misadventure after another while attempting to raise money for the bike of his dreams. after finishing the book, odin decided that he too wanted to save up money to buy the bike of his dreams.

so, he promptly went to bluedog cycles, picked out a very stylish ( and spendy ) kona and set about saving money by doing a variety of chores around the house. and every so often he’d take a jar of money to the bike shop to put towards His Dream Bicycle that was sitting in the window with a “sold” sign.

we all decided that when spring arrived odin could have a rummage and bake sale to, hopefully, earn the balance left to be paid. at last spring arrived and after much deliberation he selected some Very Special Things ( including his first bicycle that he learned to ride without training wheels ) ) that were not quite as special as His Dream Bicycle, and helped make cookies and brownies and hotdogs on The Big Day.

within 4 hours he made enough money to buy His Dream Bicycle.

so, we excitedly went to the bike shop and pete, bluedog cycle’s proprietor extraordinaire, was happy to accept odin’s final payment, delivered in a kickapoo coffee tin.

of course, after earning His Dream Bicycle, it was time to have The Very Important Talk regarding the Do’s and Dont’s of bicycle ownership, which was all the more important when the bike has derailleurs and handbrakes and whatnot. all Very Important Stuff and odin recounted for hours the New Knowledge that had been bestowed upon him.

the whole experience was a great reminder for all of us that something as simple as a buying a bicycle can be A Great Adventure.