Friday, September 26, 2008

How to go on a bike ride/walk with three kids

Step one: Have all potty-trained children use the bathroom. This is a must unless you a) are willing to return to a restroom at a moment's notice or b) have boys who are willing to go to the bathroom just about anywhere.

Oops. Almost forgot step 1.5: Pack water bottles and snacks as they are necessary for every child over the age of 1 if you'll be away from the kitchen for more than thirty minutes.

Step two: Load up bikes and/or strollers into the vehicle.

What did I do before the minivan???

Step three: Drive to a location without too many hills (unlike our neighborhood) because one or more of your children may be fearful of riding up and/or down hills.

Step four: Unload bikes,

ensure that helmets are in place,
and allow older children to begin down the trail.

Load adorable baby into stroller which you will push,
attempting to keep up with the bike riders.

Did you wear your running shoes?
I didn't.

Step five: Proceed down trail as if interval training: sprint at times(like when the stroller is getting away from you because you stopped to help B get his helmet-protected head out from under his bike) and at a snail's pace other times (when W encounters the slightest downward slope because she's afraid of careening out of control).

Notice there is no blur in this photo.
She is inching along.

Step six: After 10-15 minutes of enjoying the

beautiful scenery and perfect weather on the trail,

stop for a snack because B insists that he will starve
TO DEATH if he doesn't get nourishment ASAP.
(Did you only bring pretzels, Mom???)

Step seven: Turn around and head back the way you came because you don't want to hit that point of exhaustion where you end up pushing both bikes AND the stroller back to the van. That would be bad.

Step eight: Return bikes, helmets, and strollers to the vehicle.

Step nine: Drive home and arrive just before it's time to nurse C again.

Phew. Let's do this again soon! Or maybe not so soon.

12 comments:

Sandy said...

Had to laugh at this one! My kids are seriously bike-challenged at the moment since 90% of the roads here are dirt/gravel/full of holes. Makes it a little hard to learn on...I never even thought about driving somewhere to ride:)

Angelica's Family Adventures said...

I love mini vans! Oh I miss those beautiful trees!

curly girl said...

You make me smile. The great thing is, your kids will remember "the fun bike rides" we had, and not the fact that they were 20 minutes long! Love it!

Paul-N-Daneen said...

You are a brave mom. Supermom actually. I could never do it. I would just wait until Paul came home.
You never cease to amaze me.

The Normal Mormon Husband said...

Amen, Daneen. Andrea pretty much rocks the Kazbah. I consider it a major victory to just get the kids to bed all by myself on Enrichment night, let alone taking them for a bike ride.

Unknown said...

Awesome! And funny. We did this just last week. I decided to try out the old rollerblades while I pushed the stroller. You'd have thought I was an Olympian for all the cheers and "atta girl's" I got. Not kidding- everyone at the park was proud of me. My favorite was an 11 year-ish old boy. I saw him watching from his bike a few times. Then he came up to me and said, "You are really good at that!" All serious-like. We had to leave early though because I missed step 1.5!

Anonymous said...

You ROCK! The hike looks beautiful and I loved your attention to detail by bringing food and water for all when it would have been easy just to wrestle with all of the equipment and forget anything else! Dad and I did our annual "changing of the fall leaves" ride today - it was glorious and I'm sunburned. If I had a blog I would post some of the pictures we took :)
Love you!
Mom Sweat

The Oregonians said...

Andrea, you give a whole new meaning to "Barefoot in the Park."

Destiny said...

Great play-by-play. Ain't it true though.

carrie said...

great post, for what sounds like quite the adventure. Ü

{kim} said...

Hey Andi!! I found your blog as I was bloghopping! How are you? I can't believe how big your kids are getting. And, great job on taking the kids for a bike ride. You are a brave mom!

Natalie said...

This was very funny! I love the pic of Whit inching along!