My bike is now sporting an awesome one less minivan bumper sticker. Order one, or a mamabikeorama one (or both!) from Sarah Gilbert, an awesome biking mama in Portland.

I took my newly stickered bike to the U-Village shopping center today and prominently parked it by the play structure while we played outdoors and in (Kids Club has a train table) and did a bit of shopping. Then we headed to and parked by the world’s busiest Starbucks (OK, maybe it’s just the world’s second busiest Starbucks). A few families noticed the kid seats and then the sticker as we rode by and I only overheard favorable comments.

In the afternoon we headed to a playdate at the preschool-to-be of the four-year old. School run is another excellent “one less minivan” kind of trip. Another mom with two kids biked over a third will bike in the future, but bused today. I’ll have to give them OLM bumper stickers, too (I ordered a bunch to share the love).

I was happy to finally be rid of the trailer after lugging around balance bikes to Bike Mania on Friday and party supplies to the park on Sunday, but I weighed myself down just fine without it when I stopped at the Fremont PCC to buy a ten-pound box of laundry detergent. It seemed convenient to stop so close to school, but I hadn’t considered the fact that I was at the bottom of the mile-long hill back home. But thoughts of soon ferrying just one kid around for four hours a day three days a week helped buoy me up the hill.