Two Weeks In

It seems we have spent this whole summer driving from one place to another.  It's been great fun to visit so many places but I grew weary of driving everywhere.  So two weeks ago Michael and I swore off the car for a month.  We decided we could bike, walk, or bus to wherever we needed to go.  The only exceptions would be emergencies and a couple of unavoidable trips.  One for work (to Sun Valley) and two trips for homeschool co-op (in Meridian).  We'd take the bus to co-op but the Boise public transit system is less than stellar.  Other than those exceptions our minivan would just have to stay parked.  Today is day fourteen of the experiment and I am proud to say I noticed the van was very dusty when I biked past it yesterday.  It hasn't moved an inch in two weeks and we have still managed to get everything done we needed to, postponing nothing.  It helps that Michael and I have truly awesome bikes.  Seriously - they're frickin' rad.  In case you aren't familiar with our bikes, here are some pictures:

Look how little my babies were!  Oh, so very cute.  This is the most recent picture I have of my bike.  It's not nearly that clean right now.  Also now I usually only carry Grace and Sam as Libby is quite old enough to ride her own bike, much to her dismay.

This isn't a recent picture of Michael's bike either but I'm doing the best I can here.  It hasn't changed any though.

A picture of our groceries.  I know how exciting this must be for most of you.  I know everyone is dying to see my groceries.  Except, not really.  But the exciting thing is that Michael managed to haul all of this home on his bike.  Look at those bananas!  They aren't bruised a bit.  Winco is two and half miles from our house with an unfriendly hill to climb on the way home but we made it work.  I didn't really want Michael to do the shopping by himself because I get grumpy when he doesn't read my mind about quantities and brands.  I seem to think the scrawled grocery list I make means the same to him as it does to me.  So the kids rode their bikes and I put Grace and Sam on my bike and we met Michael after work.  He hauled the groceries home and I hauled the babies home.  I think I got the better end of the deal.

A week or so later I needed to go to Zamzows and get chicken feed.  Michael had work he had to do and the babies were sleeping.  So I grabbed Maddie (my bike, short for Madsen, her brand) and the big kids hopped on their bikes.  They needed to go to Zamzows and buy fish.  We stopped at Grocery Outlet on our way because we were biking right past and when you are biking everywhere you learn to consolidate trips.  My haul might not be as impressive as Michael's, but that's okay.  I managed a forty pound bag of chicken food, didn't squish the bread, and kept two fish alive.  I felt pretty awesome.

We are two weeks in and going strong.  Because we decided to not drive the van, Michael ended up biking almost 25 miles one day to get his honey-do list done (thanks for picking up our entries, ribbons and prize money from the fair, honey!).  I haven't lost any weight or had any grand epiphanies, but I do enjoy the feeling of self sufficiency and not relying on a fossil-fueled machine to get me places.  Two more weeks to go!