Bike to School Day 2016

Last week was an extra active one for my girls. On top of their regular swim and karate classes, Ava and Lola took part in the Berkeley Kid's Triathlon. But the triathlon wasn't the only active event of the week. Last Thursday was Bike to School Day (and Bike to Work Day) here in the Bay Area.

My girls would love to ride their bikes to school (and everywhere else) all the time given the chance. As we're only a 10 minute walk away from school, it's much easier to just walk or scoot every day rather than ride bikes. So walking (or scooting) is our default way of getting to school. By the time we get down to our basement garage, unlock bikes from the racks and get out of the building we could have walked over half way to school! Admittedly, Mathilde does ride her balance bike everywhere, but we keep that one in our apartment unlike Ava and Lola's bikes.

When the opportunity to ride pops up, the girls are all over it, so they were pretty excited to ride to school last week. 

Ava is a stickler for the rules, and likes to ride her bike in the bike lane on the road. Luckily we're able to ride most of the way to school on Bicycle Boulevards, streets designated as bike friendly by the city. Lola is still a little nervous about riding on the road so she stuck to the sidewalk on the way to school, although she did ride home on the road.

  

When we got to school the girls locked up their bikes outside their classrooms. To be honest, locking up the bikes is another reason the girls don't ride to school more often. They both need help with their locks but their classrooms are located on opposite sides of the school so it's a little tricky for me to help them both at the same time.

 After Mathilde and I left the big girls at school we headed off to run errands - after a brief playground stop. Mathilde rode her balance bike everywhere we went the whole day. In fact, she probably rode close to 4 miles all up which I think is a pretty big deal for a 2 year old! She's so fast on her bike her little feet always look like a blur! The only time her feet stay still is when she's balancing with her feet up, something she's doing more and more each day as she becomes more confident on her bike.

How do your kids get to school? Do they ride bikes, walk, take the bus or do you drive them? I love that we get to walk or scoot to school every day. It's such a nice way to start the day.