The smiling faces of a mama and daughter who trekked through pouring sheets of rain to return home from Mario’s football practice.

My girl is a machine. She was pretty upset at first. Mario got a ride with a football buddy of his (a sweet boy who towers over him but has taken to Mario and watches over him at practice) and they headed to DQ. Poor Ri had to bike home with me since we biked down to practice (Mario sat on my bike) and no one offered to put our bikes in their cars and take us home.

At first she pouted about being tired and then she cried a bit in fear when she heard a thunder clap but after five minutes she got that determined look on her face and she was all business. She pedaled like a champ and walked her bike half way up the hill to our house. When I took the bike from her and walked my bike and hers up the hill, she ran beside me to keep up.

On the final block stretch, we were both laughing and soaked to the bone. We parked our bikes in the garage and took the picture above. The picture doesn’t do our soaked selves justice! Ri was clearly proud of herself and I continued to reinforce to her how awesome she was to bike through that storm.

The joys of having a strong, determined daughter.