Bike Ride!

After a cool rainy morning and a loooooonnnng day of school we needed to get out and let off some steam. We decided to meet up with friends for a bike ride at the park.

A few years ago, even with my tiny orange car, it was no big deal to "load up the bikes" and head out for a bike ride. 

But with four kids, limited trunk space, and three bikes- one of which is almost the size of an adult bike, I had to break out... the bike rack.

It has been sitting in the corner of our garage for at least a year. To be honest, it seemed intimidating. 

Sometimes the most intimidating things are the easiest and fortunately this was one of them. Slid the rack on the trailer hitch, easily attached two bikes, threw the helmets in the car and was ready to go. Until I remembered I needed the stroller for Mr. T. 

This particular model of rack was intended to tilt down to allow access to the trunk. It was rusted in position and I couldn't even get the pin out! But I was determined not to take off and put on the whole rack again, (and we had to leave in less than five minutes!) so I shoved the stroller in the front seat and jammed helmets and tiny bikes in around the kids and we were off. 

A bike ride was just what we needed today. Beautiful weather, happy kids, and moms that had a chance to chat.

The loop we ride at the park is great. For the first section of the ride, the road is wide and blocked off to traffic. We let the kids ride up and back as we strolled as much as they wanted. The next section is narrower and windier, but still separated from the road by a grassy area, so we sent the kids on ahead and told them to stop at the pumpkins. 

It was a bit farther than we remembered, but the little guys were with us and the big girls were all together, so we meandered along, joking that someone was probably going to call the cops on us because there were a bunch of unsupervised small children hanging out alone at the entrance to the park.

We decided to ride back the way we came so the kids could ride more freely. Just as we turned back onto the road, a police car pulls up beside us. 

All the moms took a deep breath as he rolled down the window. 

"Excuse me?"

"Uh, hi," we were starting to feel a bit nervous.

"I'm here about the kids,"

Oh boy... here we go.. .

"I have tickets for free ice cream for them for bike safety- they are all wearing their helmets."

Giant sigh of relief. 

It definitely made the kids' day to have a police officer give them a ticket. What a fun idea! Next play date: ice cream!