No time to ride or walk?!?

It has been easy to get into the habit of convincing myself that when I am running late then I do not have time to ride or walk to drop our smallest at preschool or daycare.  Well excuses no more - because having sat back and worked out the time difference - it's nearly nothing!

I started thinking about this the other day when I drove down to pick up our littlest from preschool - I was happily lost in work on my computer at home when I looked up at the clock and it was time to be at preschool (we get charged more if we are more that 10 minutes late!).  Thinking I was short on time I grabbed the car keys and drove down. When I got there I could not find a car park within coo-ee of the gate so ended up parking and walking anyway.  Reflecting on this it would have been quicker had I just walked down in the first place!

Our littlest walking to preschool in winter last year.

Similarly, daycare for our littlest is a bit further away than her preschool, but I took note of the time it took to ride her down and for me to ride back and it is only 10 minutes longer than driving down - and I get exercise.   

Even in the depths of an Orange winter the boys enjoy riding down to pick our littlest up from daycare.

 So why do I drive? Bad habits I guess.

"Animal on Bikes"

On our way to the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo for a school holiday activity we drove past the "Animals on Bikes" along Obley Road.....  here are some of our favourites.....  it certainly made for a fun trip...

Getting kids into bike riding..

The idea of starting our journey over the school holidays was a good one.... well so it went until one of the boys got a puncture in his tyre on the way home from dropping our littlest one at daycare. After a walk home (slightly longer than the ride - but with more constructive talk time) and a trip to the shops for another puncture repair kit then some tyre fixing with the boys we will be off to daycare for pick-ups this afternoon.

This is one of my 2010 goals - to do at least half of my daycare drop offs and pick-ups on the bike. Will see how I go.... not sure about Orange's winters where it can snow! Once school is back next week, the boys will be riding down with me after school to pick up their little sister.

This regular riding should keep them fit for our holiday activities that have in the past included riding some of Victoria's Rail Trails (pictures were taken on the Beechworth-Everton Trail).