It’s funny… life and kids… Shortly after his birthday this year, Nikolas was very interested in getting some Heelys. We shopped around and found that they ran about $60+ per pair. Nikolas decided that while he wanted them, he wasn’t sure he wanted to spend his ENTIRE birthday haul on one thing like that. So, the urge subsided, he spent his money on other things, and the interest itself waned over time. Alex admitted that Heelys were kind of cool, but wasn’t really interested in getting any at that time.
A few months pass, and Christmas shopping season rolls around, when I notice that Costco has Heelys for a decent price. I figure what the heck, and I snag a pair for each of them. This was the catalyst for me, and I immediately started more research into Heelys and the Internet communities around them. I discovered that they did make Heelys in adult sizes. The trick was actually finding them. I knew I had to find them in a brick and mortar store, because I had to try them on to make sure they fit right. After coming up empty a few times, I found that Finish Line had adult sizes, so I headed right there to try some on.
I left the store with some Heelys Escapes, which are a plain style in black. I could get away with wearing these like regular shoes, and pop the wheels in and out as needed. I decided to practice ahead of time as I described in a previous post.
The funny thing is that after getting ones for the boys for Christmas presents, and getting mine early to practice with, I tended to bring up the topic of Heelys more often. For example, we’d be walking along a nice smooth patch of pavement, or a wide empty aisle in a store, and I’d say something like “It’d be cool to have Heelys here, ‘cus we could just push off and ssssshhhhhhhhh” (sound for heeling ;-). I expected Nikolas to respond favorably, but he didn’t. He would say something like, “Eh, I don’t really care about shoes/Heelys.” When I did the same thing with Alex, he would agree and smile. As it happens, one of his close friends recently got Heelys, and so there was some envy involved.
By the time Christmas rolled around, they were both in the mood to have some Heelys of their own, though, so their brand new Heelys were well received. They were excited, but not enough to make them put them on right away. They had other toys and games to play with first. After they got those other ones out of the way, and dad put on his Heelys, too, they began practicing with Dad’s help. Alex kept at it until he got it, though Nikolas was discouraged at first. I knew that it was only a matter of time before they both had the basic rolling down. I took video of as much progress as I could get, and put it all into a video for you. Enjoy!