A couple of weeks ago I let the boys ride their bikes to school for the first time. I slowly followed them in the car. I just wanted to be sure they made it. Well they didn't. We made it a block from school and Emmitt started screaming. Parker just kept biking. I yelled at Parker to stop and check on Emmitt. I put on my hazards in the middle of 13th Street and got out of the car to check out what was wrong with the bike.
When I finally approached the bike I had looked at the welding and it had completely snapped off. When I picked up the bike to put it in the back of my vehicle the tire went bouncing down the road as if it were a cartoon. Emmitt witnessed my brief but dramatic 35-year-old tantrum (I may have dropped a swear word) and then got a ride to school. So there I left my kid in front of the bike rack crying with no bike and told him he had to walk home.
I remembered that a flyer had come home about a week prior to that about collecting pop tops for a chance to win a new bike. When we got home I asked him if he wanted to try to earn a new bike by participating in the contest. Of course he did!
Daddy and Emmitt spent hours removing pop tops off of dirty cans. Grandma Audrey when ditch digging for cans. Truly every top counted!
Emmitt ended up with 13.1 pounds. Second place was 12.9. If my math is correct he won by roughly 200 tops!
Emmitt received a phone call early this morning from Mrs. Shermoen asking if he could be to the high school to pick up his bike at 9 AM. He was so excited! We arrived at the school and met the sponsors and the school staff. We were welcomed into the lobby with a big round of applause.
Mr. and Mrs. Ohlquist were the amazing people who donated the bike. It is in honor of their son. They chose the Mr. Pete Foundation to donate the money from the pop tops. Mr. Pete used to collect pop tops from around the globe and my connection with Gina and the Peterson family makes this all come full circle.
My little hugger was more than grateful for his new prize!
Mr. Ohlquist told us there are 1,336 tops in a pound. That's 17,500 pop tops that Emmitt brought in! Crazy! We don't even drink pop!
The proud family members who helped collect and the sponsors.
He was ready to go on his new wheels.
We weren't sure if he was big enough for the bike, but he made it up on the seat and rode right out of the school!
Off he goes...
We made a stop at The Sport Shop to say thanks to Milt too.
Amazingly emotional day and what a way to end the school year!
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