Get on your bikes and ride

We have re-discovered biking this summer, and have had some of our best family time when we've been on two wheels. The bikes have both literally and figuratively taken us off the beaten path, and we've had a lot of fun.

It all started when we bought new bikes for ourselves in May. It was something we had been talking about for a couple years, but just never got around to doing. We live in a very bike-friendly place, complete with bike lanes on many of the main streets, so it was such an easy thing to break into.
We received a retro hand-me-down Burley from some friends that has been sitting in the basement awaiting some action. And action it has gotten -- I'd love to know how many miles we've logged on that thing. The girls love riding in it, and thankfully, L doesn't mind pulling it. The two of them combined are close to 80 lbs., so it would be a struggle for me to pull them, especially uphill. L must be freakishly strong, because we've had several steep inclines that I'm barely dragging my own butt, and I look over at L and he's cruising right on up with an extra 80 lbs. behind him!
The evening bike ride to a park or activity has become one of our favorite pasttimes. Eat dinner, do the dishes, load everyone up, and hit the road. One evening, we went to the neighborhood ice cream place, and an older couple were oohing and ahhing over the girls in the Burley. The man said, "It's so nice to see something that a man HAS to do [pulling the Burley] -- there aren't many of those things left." I couldn't decide whether to laugh or resent him. I did a little of both.

During our time at the beach, we did several rides on a Rails to Trails bike path. Hello, stimulus money? That would be the perfect project in a slow economy: clean up nasty old unused railroad tracks and give us more places to move our ever-increasing girth (for free!). Many states have Rails to Trails, and you often end up seeing things you can't or won't see from the road.

I don't know if we'll be able to use the Burley for both kids next year. Jellybean crowds Peanut quite a bit, and her legs may be too long next year. *sniff* Just like everything else with little kids, I'll enjoy it while I can.