Back in the swing of things!

First off, apologies for the long gap between posts this summer…it was an eventful season with many ups (and a few downs), and less cycling than I would have preferred. We’re into a groove now, more or less, with Mommy and the girls back in school and a new, ever-evolving schedule taking root.

Little Guy and I have gotten to take some nice long morning rides the last two weeks, exploring the city and running errands en route to picking up his big sisters at school. Especially since all three kids hit a growth spurt this summer, I’m appreciating having to haul just the one kiddo for the first half of our rides as I ease into the daily routine of pick-ups and errands and riding with a fully-loaded bike on a daily basis again.

Here we are, touring the quiet early-hour Sacramento streets of Downtown and Midtown. Little Boy does the navigating up front while Dad handles the grunt work at the pedals. Occasionally, I retrieve a piece of bagel from the tin can cup-holder up front to keep the Navigator happy.

Yesterday, he and I had a leisurely ride downtown to enjoy the lovely Southside Park. This place is a jewel in the city’s crown, both spacious and full of activities for kids of all ages. Our guy loved walking along the path of the fishing pond, exploring every rock and plant he could touch. The space-themed playgrounds were a hit, too. If he can climb it or swing upon it, he assuredly will.

No, my son has not been put behind bars…this is the fence–thankfully–protecting wandering little ones (and other wandering ones much bigger than little) from the fishing pond at Southside Park. He was fascinated by the ducks, then sauntered over to the awesome space-themed playgrounds. This is definitely one of our (and seemingly everyone else’s) favorite parks in the city.

Next it was off to pick up the girls from their new reality: big-kid school. Reason # 235 why I love riding a Yuba Mundo: no more trying to navigate a trailer through streets and traffic. I still find myself over-estimating how much time it will take to get from place to place, because the streamlined Mundo can go pretty fast. I can ride from any number of places in the city to the school in just a few, relatively stress-free minutes.

About to ride home from another fun day at school!

Riding right up to the school sidewalk without having to hunt for a parking spot is also a nice daily perk I didn’t know I’d appreciate so much. And after the girls have spent the bulk of their mornings sitting indoors, it’s nice to be able to pick them up on the bike and not have to stick them in the back of the hot car (I know, I know…let’s see how I feel when the inclement weather comes our way). Thinking of them waving their hands in the breeze as we roll down the tree-lined streets and listening to them rush to explain their days to me at a mile-a-minute pace is almost making me teary-eyed as I write this. The Rockwellian tableau seems like a small, recurring gift to me…a bit of unexpected gold mined from that most monotonous of taks: the carpool pick-up.

I can, sadly, all too easily imagine myself driving too fast, on edge from judging others’ driving and parking skills, hastily picking up the girls after trying to cram one last errand or chore before pick-up time, and then just driving home with a half-car’s-length between me and my little ones. Contrasting this with our leisurely, intimate rides makes me very thankful, for I know that I’m just as prone as anyone to miss the small things only to lament their passing once it’s too late. As one of our girls’ former teachers wisely summed up our time here (especially as it relates to our loved ones), “The days are long but the years are short.”

Here’s hoping that I hold those words close to my heart, before and after our rides together.