Jonah rides a bike! Nathaniel walks!

Jonah rode a bike for the first time today-- and he just turned 3 last month! I'm so proud :) Kudos also to his older siblings who decided to teach him and to the whole idea of balance bikes. Jonah has been tootling around for some time on a balance bike on our little bit of backyard concrete. I'm totally convinced they are a better way to teach bike riding than using training wheels.

Also of (perhaps more important) note is that, last night, Nathaniel took his first steps. Walking, biking... My littlest are growing up!

Busy biking weekend

This past weekend was full of biking. Saturday morning, Jeremy and Joshua headed (on bike + trailer bike) to Joshua's soccer game and the grocery store. The rest of the crew and I headed out to Sunnyvale's Family Fun bike ride. It was a fun event-- a pleasant 3.5 mile ride beginning and ending at a park with snacks afterward.

All decked out in yellow Walk and Roll T-shirts.

Some of the bikes. We were the only ones with a  bakfiets.

The ride! Great photo, Joey!

Later that afternoon, the girls and I headed to our church for a mother/daughter tea party. I enjoyed the time with them separate from our other children.

After the tea party. Note the pretty orange flowers (in the water bottle holder) that we got to take home,

Soon after getting home, Jeremy rode out on his own bike back to the church to take care of some weekly bulletin printing responsibilities.

Sunday morning-- in a bit of a rush-- we headed off to church. Afterwards, we rode four miles farther to stop by a friend's baby shower. (Sorry no photos for that day... too slow getting photos off my full camera card).

The weather was beautiful all weekend. I loved the things that we did, the people that we spent time with, and the large amount of quality time (a few hours-- up to 30 miles of riding) spent with family members getting where we wanted to be.

Bike to Work Day and Stopped by a Cop

Today (well, last Thursday... now that I'm finally getting around to finishing this post), was "Bike to Work Day". For the past few years, the big kids have really looked forward to this day. They leave for school/work early, and Jeremy leads them on a circuitous route with lots of stops at "energizer stations" where there are breakfast treats and bike goodies. This year, I stopped (or went out of our way, really) to stop at a couple of "energizer stations" on the way to preschool drop-off with the three littles. We had bagels and juice and Odwalla bars and chatted with others about bikes-- including how riding a recumbent is likely similar to riding a bakfiets (possibly?). I also chatted with a woman riding a black, very Dutch bike. She explained she'd imported it from Europe. It fit right in with the bakfiets.

Here's Jeremy and the school kids heading out...

And me and the three littles a little while later...

Eating snacks at Apple headquarters...

After dropping Joey off at preschool, Jonah, Nat, and I headed on our bakfiets toward the local train station. We had the morning free and Jonah wanted to watch trains. It sounded good to me. A block from preschool, a police officer stopped us (or was waiting for us, really) and informed me that "what you are doing [riding my bakfiets with helmeted kids in it?] is totally illegal". Uh? That immediately put me on the defensive and I began pumping out questions (Why is a child in a rear bike seat legal, but not up front?, What laws was I breaking, exactly?, etc.).  I left with a "warning" (about doing what, I'm still not totally sure) and an index card with a few sections of vehicle code and municipal code to look up. I left the officer with my name, email, and the web address bakfiets.nl, since after extended discussion, she conceded that she had never seen such a bike and would get back to me (about the legality of what I was doing, I assumed). We went on our way to the train station, me feeling like some (very slow-moving) rebel outlaw.

Later that afternoon, the officer did email me back with sections of the California vehicle code she thought were "applicable" to me and my bike. The relevant codes, in her opinion-- with her emphasis-- were:

21204.  (a) A person operating a bicycle upon a highway shall not ride other than upon or astride a permanent and regular seat attached thereto, unless the bicycle was designed by the manufacturer to be ridden without a seat.

(b) An operator shall not allow a person riding as a passenger, and a person shall not ride as a passenger, on a bicycle upon a highway other than upon or astride a separate seat attached thereto. If the passenger is four years of age or younger, or weighs 40 pounds or less, the seat shall have adequate provision for retaining the passenger in place and for protecting the passenger from the moving parts of the bicycle.

So, I'd say that as long as the kids are buckled on the bench or into a carseat attached to the bike, I have nothing to fear. And... all the kids-- even the baby in the carseat-- must be wearing a helmet (that's a well-known California law)-- which they were, even though I can't see how a helmet would help a child securely fastened in a carseat. But that's a whole other topic to explore...

After a few days of reflection and still riding with the kids, I guess what unsettles me the most is the sense that my efforts to bicycle my young children around appeared to be unwelcome in my city. How about being stopped with the words, "I've never seen a bike like yours before. Can we discuss whether it is legal or not?"?. I assume my encounter is an isolated incident and in my email communication with the officer, her attitude seemed changed. She actually contacted our local chapter of SafeKids and discussed with them safety issues related to biking with children, as well as did a little research on her own. Even though I may or may not agree with the safety opinions she passed on to me, I appreciate her efforts and hope to somehow turn my negative experience into something more positive. (A show-and-tell with the bakfiets at the police station, anyone?) As I'm not usually an outspoken or a loud voice in political/social/advocacy issues, I'm not quite sure how to do this. But I'll see what I can do. Or maybe I could just convince all of my friends and neighbors to buy bakfietsen too... And then everyone would know what they were.

Alright, enough for tonight.

Earth Day Festival

Last Saturday, we went on one of our little bike adventures. I love the time biking around together as a family. A triple, two kids' bikes, and a bakfiets elicit all kinds of happy waves and lots of conversation. I felt especially clowny-looking last Saturday. Since the whether was unseasonably warm, I attached a red wagon canopy to the bakfiets in an attempt as a sunshade.

Photo from another day, but you can see the sunshade...

Our first stop was Joshua's soccer game. Here is Joshua as we're getting ready to leave:

Our second stop was a new farmers' market. The market wins kudos for the water table set up for kids:

After this, we went to an Earth Day festival near the Cupertino library. We collected all kinds of goodies and snippets of information-- including red blinkie lights, water bottles, and T-shirts. There was also a booth with electric bicycles to try out. I've never ridden one before and it was kind of fun. On these, you just turned the throttle on the handlebars and sped off-- no pedaling needed. I don't see us buying or wanting one anytime soon, but it was fun to check them out anyway.

Tommy Bahama bike from ELV Motors

We ended up spending several hours at the festival and by the end of the day, we were pretty tired. The heat (I've always hated hot weather) plus lugging baby around seemed to have affected me the worst. I managed to make it home, but then promptly went to bed fighting a headache and extreme fatigue. It was a reminder to me that I need to be careful and stay hydrated and cool, especially while pedaling my monster bike around in warm weather.

Bike Conversation

Chatting with Daniella this evening, I had the following little exchange:

   Daniella: When I grow up, I am going to buy a bakfiets.

   Me: Why?

   Daniella: So I can put my [future] pet dog and all my camping gear in it and zoom off...

That sounds so wonderfully fun. I hope she gets to do it someday :)

Stolen bike

What's left of the bike...

Not my bike, but looked just about like this...

My Breezer bicycle was stolen two nights ago. Jeremy rode it to a local high school where he was taking a Chinese class through our school district's Adult Ed program. (He often borrows it in the evening because he likes the generator lights.) After class, he found the cheap cable lock cut and the bike gone. It hasn't shown up on Craigslist (yet?), but we filed a police report and who knows.... it could show up. The bike did need some costly repairs/replacements and so we were considering just buying a new bike anyway, but it's still unsettling. It's made us think about how/ what we use to lock our bikes. Jeremy's pulled out his stash of U-locks that we've used in the past on college campuses and other high-theft areas. We never thought we'd need them in our immediate neighborhood. SIGH.

A Road Trip and a Bike Trip

It's been a busy past few weeks. The week before last the children didn't have school and we decided on a whim to head toward Tahoe and play in the snow. There were some vehement complaints about not biking, but a few hundred miles, several thousand feet of elevation change, winter weather, lack of experience in long-distance touring, and just a few days to go a few hundred miles just didn't sound like a good combination. So we drove, spending time at Jeremy's parents' home near Sacramento on the way there and the way back. There really wasn't much snow, but the weather was quite warm (40s or so) and the kids (and adults!) had a blast sledding and playing:

Because this is a bike blog... In front of the South Lake Tahoe visitors' center.

First sledding hill we went to-- recommendation from the visitors' center. This one was a little scary--  big people coming down fast and no clear paths up or down.

We stayed at these cabins in Zephyr cove. It's mostly a summer resort right on Lake Tahoe, but they're great in the winter too-- such a beautiful setting. We did have to take what was available though-- a studio with a double bed and fold-out sofa.  The clerk said he didn't care if we slept 8 of us in there, so we went for it. Too squishy. If we return, we'll make reservations for something bigger. 

Lake Tahoe near the cabin. The snow ran right into the sand  which ran into the water. The lake doesn't freeze because  the currents are too strong.

Second sledding hill-- Adventure Mountain at Echo Summit. For a small per car entrance fee, you get nicely groomed paths and restrooms. 

We also did a lot of fun things with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma took the girls to some local horse stables where they got to help groom the horses and chat with owner. The boys went to the Woodland Truck and Tractor Museum. One afternoon, all kids except for the baby went to Sacramento's Discovery Museum.

Truck and Tractor Museum. Kids can pedal little tractors through the museum-- so cool. Jeremy (who took the three "big" boys) decided they were done visiting, when they began intentionally crashing the tractors into each other.

Dinosaur Josh at the Discovery Museum

On the way to Sacramento we got off the highway several times and scouted out Google's suggested bike route. We especially wanted to look at freeway crossings, since (if they're not on a pedestrian/ bike only bridge) they can be quite unpleasant. Things looked pretty good and we're considering riding the 100 miles to my inlaws at some point.

After the road trip, everyone was itching for a bike ride, so the day after we returned we headed south about 10 miles to the downtown San Jose Psycho Donuts and to explore a pedestrian/bike trail in San Jose's Guadalupe River Park. I was less than enthused about the park-- so many ups and downs under roads, tight turns and dead-ends on the trail. I went looking for the carousel with some of the children and somehow missed it. Long story short, I like riding my bike, but am not especially fond of downtown San Jose. It's always struck me as an eerily empty wannabe city and our little trip there didn't change that.

Giant Monopoly Board

Eating Psycho Donuts (in front of Target-- where we ended up after the too many ups and downs/dead ends).

An urban farm-- donuts for snack, fresh salad for dinner. 

And that's just a bit of what we've been up to... I'd be blogging all night if I put up all the photos and details!