At the beginning of summer I complained about having to earn back my “summer legs”. I was out of practice carrying kids and their bikes and beach gear and a day’s worth of food. School started today so now I’m back to carrying just kids and little lunch boxes…but my slow strong legs now have to get used to the morning sprint between schools again!

I didn’t get a nice picture of us all on the bike, happily riding to school–because I didn’t have a moment to spare–but here’s my least favorite intersection at a red light with a women parked in the bike box.

The first leg is a two-mile rush to preschool for a 9am dropoff. We made it on time! Which meant we didn’t have to rush the handoff. I think we were out the door at 9:05 which left sufficient time to rush two miles back for 9:25 elementary school dropoff. Thank goodness our school start times stayed the same as last year because even five fewer minutes wouldn’t leave me enough time. Next year when they’re both at the big school life will be so much easier!

Here’s the bike rack after school started:

Looks like I need to get on my Bike to School Mom game. But I also saw lots of parents with trailer bikes and walking their bikes alongside kids.

Now that my bike was free of passengers, I loaded it up with preschool garage sale donations. You know you’re having a good cargo day when a friend says you look like a bag lady.

At 1pm I swapped the garage sale goods for my four-year old and hit the grocery store:

We dumped the groceries and bike at home and for 3:30 elementary school pickup (first grade!) I rode my son’s 20-inch Danish Mosquito while the four-year old rode his 12-inch bike. I love that one of them is on a bike big enough for me to [sort of] fit on! It’s only two and a half blocks, by the way. And that’s my new J Bailey Brand hat from Hub and Bespoke.

At school I saw my friend’s Zigo Leader stroller bike for the first time. It looks pretty neat! I’m eager to hear how her uphill ride home went. There’s a similar product called Taga I have yet to see in person.

And finally the last leg: kids on bikes (on the sidewalk), me on foot.

Have a good school year, everyone!