The tale of the scooter

Olivia loves her micro mini scooter that Santa brought her. She is super fast, can turn on a dime and can go more than a mile on just one leg. She often rides it half the way to pick Belle up from school and then when she gets tired, she and her scooter hop in my bike trailer to ride the rest of the way. Olivia on her scooter was a common site around the neighborhood. Until one day...

It was a Thursday. I know for sure because I was following Olivia on my bike and she was scootering towards the school in her ballet leotard. We were about halfway to the school and her little legs were going strong, maybe even too strong. Just as we began to pass Lake Paloma, Livi started speeding down a hill at a high speed. She was going a little too fast and instead of using her brake to slow herself down, she jumped off her scooter as it sped along and it kept cruising and went straight into the lake! It happened so quickly that I could see it happening but wasn't fast enough to jump off my bike and save the scooter before it sank to the bottom of the lake. (Thank goodness Olivia bailed and didn't go under water herself!) A fisherman was fishing nearby and at the same moment he busted out laughing at the scene and Olivia burst into tears. He tried to reach the bottom of the lake with his fishing pole but couldn't reach the bottom so he told me it was at least 8' deep. Just then the school bell rang in the distance and we were late to pick up Belle. I had to throw crying Livi in the trailer and say goodbye to her beloved scooter now buried in the lake and pedal fast. It was such a sad day that Livi has still not gotten over, although I am sure we could have won Americas Funniest Home Videos if we had it on tape. R.I.P. Scooter.

This picture was taken the day Olivia rode her scooter all the way to pick up Belle at school, 1.5 miles one way, without stopping.