Pedalfest 2017

A few weekends back we spent the day at one of our favorite local festivals: Pedalfest at Oakland's Jack London Square.

If you're not familiar with Pedlafest, it's a whole day dedicated to bike riding fun. There are all sorts of crazy bikes to try out, fun rides for the kids, tasty food, amazing stunt shows, markets, a bicycle powered stage and a ton of other bike related fun.

Pedalfest 2016

This past Saturday we spent the day at Oakland's Jack London Square for our favorite annual bike festival, Pedalfest. We watched BMX riders do amazing stunts, we helped provide pedal power to the pedal powered stage, we rode around on crazy bikes, the girls decorated their bikes with ribbons and stickers, we ate tasty food, and the girls took part in the kids' bike rodeo to learn bike safety skills.

Bike to School Day 2016

Last week was an extra active one for my girls. On top of their regular swim and karate classes, Ava and Lola took part in the Berkeley Kid's Triathlon. But the triathlon wasn't the only active event of the week. Last Thursday was Bike to School Day (and Bike to Work Day) here in the Bay Area.

Berkeley Kids' Triathlon 2016

This past weekend Ava and Lola took part in the 9th annual Berkeley Kids' Triathlon. 

This was Ava's fourth time competing and Lola's first. Having taken out both first place and second place in the past, Ava was pretty keen to take home another trophy. She wasn't fussed about winning though - she wanted to come in third place so she could round out her trophy collection!

Lola wasn't too fussed about trying to win. Given that she can't actually swim properly on her own yet, she knew her chances of taking home a trophy weren't high. She just wanted to have fun and loved the idea of taking part just like her big sister.

52 Weeks: Week 33

Week 33: Bike Riding

Going for bike rides is one of Ava and Lola's favorite things to do. We used to enjoy going for family bike rides on weekends until thieves stole our cargo bike late last year, and more recently Kim's bike this past week. We've gone from having more bikes than family members to now just owning children's bikes. It's a sad state of affairs but we're not going to let the Bay Area's major bike theft problem stop us from riding, even if it is just the kids for now.

So this week the kids and I got out and about for a bike ride to nearby Albany. Ava and Lola rode their bikes while I pushed Mathilde in the stroller. There is a fantastic bike and pedestrian trail that leads from close by our home in Berkeley all the way to our destination - the kids' dentist! The trail actually continues much further but we've never ventured any further along it. The last few times we've planned to do so something has popped up to stop us. In this case it was discovering that Kim's bike had been stolen and therefore having to head home after the dentist to deal with police reports, insurance claims and blasting our building management.

Pedalfest 2015

A few weekends back we attended Pedalfest, one of our favorite local festivals.

Pedalfest, held at Oakland's waterfront Jack London Square, is a day full of bike related fun. We watched BMX riders do tricks, made pedal powered smoothies and art, decorated our bikes, took part in a parade, learned bike safety skills, powered a stage with our pedaling, rode crazy bikes, and took in the atmosphere of the festival.

First up Ava and Lola took part in the kids' parade. We've always missed out on this in the past so the girls were pretty excited to join in. They decorated their bikes with ribbons, stickers and pipe cleaners courtesy of Oaklandish and then followed El Arbol the Bike Tree, through the festival.

Berkeley Kids' Triathlon 2015

Today Ava competed in the Berkeley Kids' Triathlon for the third year in a row.

I can't wait until the end of the post so I'm just going to blurt it out now...

...She won!

She won! She won! She won!

I'm so happy for my little triathlete.

Our Family Wheels

Our family "car" got an update this weekend.

Ok, you're right. Our family doesn't have a car. I'll start again...

Our family "bike that fits as many people as a small car" got an update this weekend. That's better.

Kids Triathlon 2014

Today Ava competed in the 7th Annual Berkeley Kids Triathlon.

Heading to the finish line

You may remember that last year Ava competed for the first time and came in second place for her age group (6 & Under). This year Ava moved up to the 7 & 8 age group. Being one of the youngest (and probably the shortest!) in the older age group Ava was up against some stiff competition this year.

Ready to swim (she's in the yellow)

Ava put in a lot of effort and did such a great job. The girls in her heat were all pretty much in the same league when it came to the swim making it a pretty close race. In the older age groups, which raced earlier, there had been a clear winner a lap ahead of the pack but Ava's group all finished the swim around the same time.

About to finish the first lap

From the swim (where I was told off by security for taking photos!!!) the kids headed to the bike leg of the race. As I had Mathilde in the stroller with me I wasn't easily able to head to the bike track. Instead I headed straight to the finish line to be ready to watch Ava finish. Last year I had run around like a crazy person trying to take photos of Ava in each leg of the race. I hadn't counted on her being quite so fast so I kept missing her as she zoomed past! In fact, we ended up having to re-enact Ava crossing the finish line so I could get a photo! This time I wanted to be ready at the finish line and I was so glad that I was. Ava seemed pretty happy to see us cheering her on at the end of all that hard work. And boy did it look like hard work! Check out that red face!

Crossing the finish line

Airborne!

Before Ava crossed the finish line I only saw one other girl who I knew was definitely in her group cross the line. I was pretty sure that Ava had come in second place again - or at least for her heat (there was one more heat for her age group to go). Ava was also pretty sure that only one other girl was ahead of her and she was pretty excited about the prospects of winning another trophy.

After race oranges

After what I'm sure seemed like an eternity for Ava it was time for the medals and trophies to be awarded. Each kid taking part in the triathlon received a participation medal. Yet another for Ava's already large collection!

Ava was so sure that she'd come in second again but when the third place trophy was awarded to the girl who had crossed the finish line just before her I could tell that Ava's heart sank a little. She hadn't won her trophy. I knew as soon as the kids lined up for their medals that Ava hadn't won a place. There were two girls in the group who I had seen cross the finish line a good 30 seconds before Ava but they were so much taller than her that I presumed they were in the older category that ran just before Ava's group. They were obviously pretty fast as Ava hadn't realised that they were ahead of her either!

Waiting for the winners to be announced

Ava was a little upset with the outcome right after the medals were awarded, as you can tell from the look of disdain on her face below, but she was soon over it and talking about how much she had enjoyed taking part. She did her best and she had fun. And that's the whole reason we were there. 

Ava with her participation medal

Ava now has her eyes set on next year's race for which she'll be one of the older kids in her age group. She figures that will surely equate to winning a place!

The official times should be emailed out to the competitors within the next few weeks. I'm pretty sure that Ava came fourth over all for her age group but we'll find out for sure soon. According to the announcer, Ava's group had been the closest competition of the day with all of the competitors finishing within a relatively short time of each other.

Oh, and next year Lola will be old enough to take part! She's pretty keen to join in but considering that she doesn't yet know how to ride a regular bike on her own (she's a speed demon on her balance bike though!) and still can't swim she's got a lot of training ahead of her! At Lola's age a lot changes in just a year though so who knows, maybe I'll have two little triathletes next year.

International Walk & Roll to School Day

Today, October 9th was International Walk & Roll to School Day.

For us it's not really different to any other school day as Ava always either walks, rides her scooter or rides her bike. Definitely a benefit of living close to school and not owning a car!

For today Ava chose to ride her bike. She loves riding her bike to school but seeing as it requires a little extra time in the morning to get the bike ready we usually stick to walking or scooting most days.

Waiting for the traffic light to change

My Little Triathlete

I'm a proud Mummy today!

Well, I'm always proud of my kids but today I'm extra proud of Ava.

Ava competed in her first ever triathlon this morning and I'm so proud to say that she came in second place for her age group. Way to go Ava! What a fantastic result.

Our little winner

Bike to School Day

Today is Bike to School / Bike to Work Day.

Ava loves riding her bike to school but she usually rides her scooter instead as it's much easier for me to keep up with her as I push Lola in her stroller. Today we decided that both girls could ride their bikes to school (while I ran along side!) to celebrate Bike to School Day.

Here's a look at Ava and Lola riding their bikes to school.   

Ready to ride as we leave our building

Pedalfest 2012

This last weekend was a busy one for us here in Berkeley. On Saturday we attended the annual bike festival Pedalfest at Jack London Square in Oakland and on Sunday we went to our first family baseball game, also in Oakland. It was an Oakland weekend all round!

More about the baseball later, let's have a look at Pedalfest...

I bike Oakland

Father's Day USA

Oops... once again I've written out a blog post and then forgotten to go back, add in the last few details and click the publish button!

It's not really Father's Day here anymore, but it was when I started typing this post...

--

It's Father's Day here in America.

Lucky Kim gets to celebrate Father's Day twice a year; in June for American Father's Day and again in September for Australian Father's Day. No fair! I only get one Mother's Day.

The upside (for me) to having two Father's Days a year is that I get an extra chance to work on gift and card ideas.

This year for Father's Day (USA edition) Ava and I decided to give Kim the gift of family bike rides. Ava drew some lovely pictures of Kim and the girls riding their bikes and I turned them into a gift pack.

Ava liked the idea of giving Kim a booklet of vouchers. I liked the idea of making him a card that entitled him to unlimited family bike rides. Something he could keep in his wallet and pull out every time he wanted to take the girls for a ride. We decided to combine the ideas and make both. Well, sort of.

We came up with the idea of the Mason Family Bike Club. Ava and I made ID cards for each member of our family and these were included in a Member Gift Pack with a dozen vouchers, each one good for one family bike ride.

The "Mason Family Bike Club"  member gift pack with Ava' original drawings

Bicycle built for two... or three...

I REALLY want to get myself a bike.

The Bay Area is great for bike riding - apart from the hills - and it's quite a popular mode of transportation here.

As we don't have a car I walk everywhere with our Bugaboo Bee stroller - Lola in the stroller and Ava standing on a skateboard attached to the back. I like walking everywhere however it's not the fastest way to get around. A few extra wheels would really come in handy.

Because I have to take the kids into consideration choosing a bike isn't so easy. I want to make sure that I choose the safest option for them.

There are quite a few options out there that I'm currently looking into. Each has its pros and cons.

Winther Kangaroo

Winther Kangaroo