Sunday, June 15, 2008

Onto Friday's adventures...

After a strong cup of coffee and a short segment of Callilou, we were ready to embark upon the day's journey. I didn't lose my temper at all as I cooked breakfast for the girls, got them ready, packed the day bag, packed S's backpack, and skaddadled out of the door. You see, I was in a spectacularly happy mood. I was going to pick up my bicycle! I felt like a kid at Christmas. Was the giddiness from the winning portion or actually getting a bicycle? Either way, it was bringing out the kid in me. No wonder I related more to my girls that morning:)

I picked up S from Billygoats early so that we could get to the Biketown Ceremony on time. If you haven't caught up on my previous post, check it out. For a couple of years now, L and I have been talking about joining theBicycle Coalition. We weren't bike activists or even bicyclists, but we think that they are a solid organization. We noticed a discounted membership in Green Zebra and took that as a sign to support the Bicycle Coalition. Since gas prices have been increasing for the past couple of months and I was also looking for an alternative form of exercise (I'm a runner), I've been thinking about cycling. I wrote to a cycling friend and asked her to be my mentor, I stumbled upon a cool ride in August touring Organic Farms in Sonoma County, and I had researched local bike shops where I could go to find a used road bike. You see it was fate when a few weeks ago I was perusing the Bicycle Coalition weekly email and spotted a contest to win a new bicycle. The post stated that you should forward the email to family and friends because they assume that most members of the Bicycle Coalition already have a bicycle! Well, I didn't and I seized the opportunity. Bicycling.com supported this program called Biketown. They selected 5 cities this year and gave away 30 bicycles in each city. Of course the purpose is to get more people out of cars and onto bikes. Having a bike not only could help with the obesity crisis by getting folks to exercise more, but it could also help save the environment and our wallets by reducing our consumption of gasoline. I wrote a 50 word essay telling them why I deserved a free bicycle and how it could "set me free." Obviously, I was chosen, which brings me back to Friday...

A couple of my friends met me down at Justin Herman Plaza to watch the girls while I was fitted for my new helmet.

After a short ceremony where they described the program and what they hoped to accomplish by giving away all of these bikes,
I got to get on my bike!How do you like that cheese grin? Simone was very excited too. I love this photo of us.
After a quick lunch with our friends, we came home and took a very long nap. It was great. I slept for about 45 minutes and the girls slept almost 3 hours! It was lovely. When S woke up, she said, "Remember yesterday, you said after a nap we could make cookies." I just smiled and said, "You're right. How do you remember everything!" We made yummy chocolate chip cookies together and then delivered them to a couple of neighbors. We ended up having tea and chatting at our next door neighbors C&L's house. It was lovely. After our nightly soiree, we came home and easily fell asleep.

It was a wonderful day!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I love all your posts! I'm so happy that you finally got your bike and I can't wait to read about all your adventures with the coalition. I'm beginning to get very jealous that we just don't have many safe and/or easily accessible places around here to bike!

I'm also happy to read your girls napped well. I'm so fortunate to have great (most of the time) nappers. As Liv approaches 3.5, I worry that it's not going to last. But, Matt and I both nap on a regular basis (and would on a daily basis if we could) to this day. Seeing that we never gave up naps, I'm hoping our kids never will either.

S's haircut looks great. I keep Liv's short for the same reason, except it's somewhat cirly and somewhat straight. Since she refuses to keep anything in for more than a few minutes, she looks upkempt most of the time! URGH!

I hope the rest of the weekend with your girls went well and L came back refreshed!

Anonymous said...

The nosy person in me loves to know what other people are up to! The cousin in me loves to know what a blessed life you live. I am glad you and your family are doing so well.
Love,
Lindsay

Anonymous said...

another blog to add to my daily read list. I love seing pics of the family as well.

Cassie

Unknown said...

Another blog to add to my daily reading list! Looking forward to more photos of the girls!

Cassie