BIKES, BOYS, AND DIRT JUMPING

Well, one of the perks of moving to this house in San Diego almost 3 years ago was the empty dirt lot next to our house that we sorta inherited. It is about 3/4 of an acre of non-buildable land per the city and as a result, is a great exploration space that I'm sure my kids will see as symbolic of their boyhood years in the future. They, along with the other neighborhood kids, have claimed it as their own personal sandlot where they've been known to dig for treasure, fight battles, and more recently- build bmx jumps. As a result, there seems to be a constant supply of shovels and bikes in the back 40 these days.

We also have a set of jumps around the corner in the dirt off to the side of the main road. A group of dads, teens, and men who are just big kids inside have turned a barren/brush filled roadside into the land of all things dirt and big air focused called the Cuyamaca Jumps. Most of the jumps are too big for my boys (like some are 7 or 8 feet high) and usually we just go ride around them and watch other kids jump.

That was until this past Saturday when the "just-watch-others-go-big" days passed us up. My older two have now earned their flying wings (and accompanying flesh wounds) and thanks to some instruction from our newest Berry Family recruit- Matt who has stayed with us for a few weeks now and took my boys to jump school with his new bike- they are now flying in the land of all things dirt jump.

Here's 3 picture collages to see the proof I speak of...