I was a little tired from yesterday so we puttered around the house and yard all day, which naturally meant lots of screaming and fighting. I don’t only bike because it’s fun–it’s also very necessary for our sanity to get out of the house :) Mr. Family Ride finished work and had the excellent idea to ride bikes to dinner. Someday I’ll take a regular bike for trips like this, but I was worried I might have to carry a kid or two, so I brought the Big Dummy. We took the Neighborhood Greenway, grownups in the street, kids on the sidewalk.
My daily miles reflect a trip to the copy shop later in the night to make Bike to School Month handouts–it’s always fun to transition from 30 Days of Biking to Bike Month. Dinner was only 0.6 miles each way, but we could probably get the kids to go farther, especially since it’s all downhill to get home.
The downhills are a little tricky with a cautious six-year old riding his coaster brake the whole way (he often walks these hills, but opted to ride today!) while the fearless three-year old careens down and reaches the corner before the rest of us have barely gotten started. At least he waits patiently for us and cheerily waves cars by.
Today’s miles: 2.4
April miles: 363.4
Family Ride 
I am reading your wonderful blog at my work in the University Plaza Condo and saw our building in the upper left side of your last image. Were you on N 44th approximately?
Dru
Yes! 44th in Wallingford is a Neighborhood Greenway. And we go right by your building on the way to Trader Joe’s all the time–I’ll wave next time. The boys will be too busy oohing and aahing at the construction across the street.
How do you manage street crossings with the kids on the sidewalk? Do you slowly bike across the intersection while they walk/ride their bikes? I bet it’s a lot of fun to all be on your own bikes. :)
Yep, that’s exactly how we do it. For busy streets, I have them walk across, but for little streets they ride or walk off the curb (not a lot of curb cuts here) and then ride across, dismount, lug the bikes up onto the curb and pedal (or push) on. It is so fun! It’s like a glimpse of the future when we’ll all *really* be riding in the street and going everywhere separately.
*That* is living the dream.