Wednesday, September 2, 2009

First Day of School on Bike, Part Deux

Our youngest, F, headed off to preschool this morning. While neither of the two schools our sons attend are far from our home, they happen to be in opposite directions. Normally P and I divide and conquer: I take S and C to school-- since I do happen to work there as well, it sort of makes sense :) -- while P deals with getting the little guy out. On first days, however, P and I are both interested in being a part of it so we had to make some adjustments today.

F's first day drop-off involved two schools, three bikes, and five stages:
1. Twins in the bakfiets. F on the Xtracycle Radish. We all ride to the twins' school, park bikes, and walk the fellas to their classrooms.
2. F in bakfiets, me solo on Radish. Ride back to home.
3. Exchange bakfiets, which is way too heavy to get up the killer hill that F's preschool sits on, for the Rudge Roadster which has a baby/toddler seat on the back. F decides to hang in the toddler seat and we load of the Radish with all his stuff: extra clothes, sleep items, slippers, etc. Good thing we have the extra storage space because no ordinary bike could handle the list of required gear. Yes, we are our children's roadies.
4. Head up the hill. P makes it all the way on the 1967 Rudge with F on the back. I climb off the Xtracycle and walk halfway. Park and walk F into his room.
5. After a few kisses good-bye (I could have used more), I climb back on the Xtracycle, whoosh down the hill, and ride back to the first school to begin work.


F helps load the Xtracycle with all his preschool-required gear. Packing for college just might be easier.

P and F on the Rudge Roadster. F's days in that seat are really limited.
F, with one of his teachers, happily lugs some of his stuff into school.

F gets busy making playdoh pizza with his classmates and another teacher. Doesn't worry too much about his parents heading out... or not at all.

8 comments:

Jennifer said...

I'm impressed!

MamaVee said...

that is dedication. I am very very impressed!

Andrea said...

Whew! First day of school for kiddos...extra exercise for mom! The boys look super cute and growing up super fast...also (as always) impressed with you and P's equal interest/involvement in kid events.

Hilary said...

I'm impressed P made it all the way up that hill...I would have been walking from the start of it. I swear it's completely vertical...

Hua said...

Hi Sara,

Great post and pictures. I'm glad to see that you have such dedication.

Thank you for being an active voice in the biking community. I am the Director of Blogger Relations at Wellsphere and I believe that you would be a valued resource in our HealthBlogger Network, which currently has over 2,600 of the best health writers on the web.

After reviewing your blog, I see that you meet our standards joining, so I'd like to invite you to participate as a Top Health Blogger. As a Top Health Blogger, you would republish your writing on the Wellsphere platform (now with over 6 million visits a month), and yet you retain ownership and all rights to the control of your content.

If this opportunity interests you, please visit http://www.wellsphere.com/health-blogger or email me at hua [at] wellsphere [dot] com.

Have a wonderful day,

Best,
Hua
Director of Blogger Networks

LiteralDan said...

That sounds like a day the way I would arrange it, for better or worse.

And your son took to preschool like mine did (same way with kindergarten)-- I was useless to him as soon as he saw toys and paints and kids. No muss, no fuss. Except for inside me somewhere...

Doohickie said...

I'm lovin' that Rudge.

(Oh Lord... Hua is hitting you up, too?)

Miss Sarah said...

Oh, I'm so glad I found your blog. I am a new mom (Dexter is almost 4 months) who is so frustrated that there are such limited choices of cargo bike in Edmonton. It seems in my city people are just quick to tell you that you should get off the road (if you're on a bike) and how you must not care too much about your own safety or that of your family if you choose to ride a bike.

Ridiculous.

Cycling and moms, unite! Your stories are inspiring.

S*