bike to school, mile run and siblings

Today was a busy and active day!

Bike-to-School Day
Today was Bike-to-School Day and because so many kids take the bus to Lakeshore they arranged for kids to meet at the park-n-ride near our house and ride together from there this morning.  What a great idea!  I like a good challenge, so we decided to try and see how it went.  I told Rachel we could do it as long as I could fit the two bikes and double stroller in the Suburban.  They all fit, so our plan was to meet and ride with other kids from Lakeshore.  I was surprised that it was so wet when I woke up and was afraid it might rain.  Rachel was very disappointed.  But, after looking at the radar it looked like we'd be just fine.  So, we packed everyone up and headed over to the park-n-ride.  Got there and got everyone all set just in time to go with the pack of kids.  There were about 30 kids and 10 adults... I'm not good at estimating.  Pretty good turnout for a cool and cloudy morning.  I think Rachel is the slowest bike-rider, but we were able to keep up with the pack... that is with a lot of my encouragement. ; )  So, we got Rachel to school and then all of us (besides Rachel) had to ride back to our car.  So, that was almost a four mile round-trip... not too bad.

[here's Rachel very excited to see her friends on their bikes]

Rachel: One-Mile Run

As if the bike ride this morning wasn't enough... Rachel had to run the mile in gym class this afternoon!  I thought it was really nice that the gym teacher invited parents to come run with their kids.  I went to run with Rachel.  I wasn't sure how she'd do with an entire mile... she can easily be distracted.  So, I decided to join her and help encourage her.  She did GREAT!!!  She didn't have to walk at all, which really surprised me.  I was very proud of her.  Here she is with her Popsicle that she talked about several times during the run. : )

Here are some sibling pictures I took recently ~ some cute firsts.

Eli feeding Nate...

[this is the first time Eli fed Nate... he was very excited to do it!]

[love how they're looking at each other in this one]

Rachel doing Kate's hair...

[This is the first time Rachel sat down and tried to do something nice to Kate's hair.  It was so cute and reminded me of when my sister and I used to do this.  Always so much fun.  I have a feeling I'll see much more of this in the future.  Love it!]

[Rachel had a plan...]

[here's the finished product - pretty cute]

Keep smiling! : )