I Like to Ride My Bicycle

Okay - this is NOT a picture of my family on a bike ride today.  In order to BE a picture of my family on a bike ride today, the man and woman would have to switch places, the woman in front would have to be 8 months pregnant, and the trailer behind would have to hold two.  THEN you would have our beautiful family bike ride today! :-)  But since I have NO WAY of capturing that on film, this is the next best thing.

We rode for probably 8 miles today.  I was SO PROUD of my twins as they took turns on the tandem bike.  Almost from the moment we left our house, my 4-y-o daughter was telling her twin brother, "Guess what?  Me and Mommy are going to BEAT you on our bike ride today!"  And that was the theme of our ride - with my 2-year-old chiming in with whomever was loudest and/or riding in the bike trailer with her when Daddy occasionally passed Mommy.

But what stood out to me the most was how GOOD it felt to be OUT together!  We weren't spending money, we weren't doing things that took a lot of prep work.  We were just out in nature, riding over the fallen Autumn leaves, past the smelly cows and beautiful horses and fields, over the bumpy bridges, down the hills, up the hills, having the BEST time together!  We laughed and reminisced.  We talked about the future and baby names.  We dreamed about living in the houses in our favorite neighborhoods along the route.  The kids chimed in and added that we were going to have horses and chickens and . . . . We just truly ENJOYED each other!

So many people are intent on giving their kids what they never had.  My husband and I realized today that we are no different . . . and today, we gave our children something we didn't have much growing up and would have LOVED more of.  Then I started to think about ALL the things we gave them today:

• We gave them a family outing that got us all some GREAT exercise (without the word exercise ever coming up in our minds or theirs)!  
• We gave them a family tradition of spending time together that doesn't cost money.  
• We passed onto them our family value of appreciating,enjoying, and meditating in nature. 
• We left our cell phones home and gave them the example of getting unplugged for family - that THEY are absolutely the MOST important things to us.  
• We gave them a MEMORY that they will never forget . . . and will be such a part of them that they really won't remember when it started.

Some things really are - above everything else - simply about TIME!

Fitness Challenge

I know I have been M.I.A. for a while now.  But I have had a surge of energy and new ideas for how to utilize this blog to help people, myself included, in our daily quest to meet our weight loss New Year's Resolutions and focus simultaneously on raising healthy, active, amazing kids.  So get ready and check back often - cuz I promise I will be here and will have something worth the precious time you take from your family to read it!

For today, let me tell you about a challenge I am taking and hope you will, too.

MapMyRun is a site I joined when I was training for a half-marathon last December.  And I LOVE it!  They just sent me an invitation to join in one of four 30-Day challenges to kick off the New Year and resolutions across the globe.  The four challenges are:
1) A Commit to Fit challenge (15 workouts in 30 days)
2) A Run challenge (30 miles in 30 days)
3) A Bike challenge (100 miles in 30 days)
4) A Walk challenge (26.2 miles - yes, a full marathon - in 30 days)

Whatever your resolutions or goals, you can easily participate in one of these challenges AND BE ENTERED TO WIN SOME GREAT PRIZES along the way.  In fact, I think most of these things, broken down into daily goals, could be accomplished in 15 minute increments throughout the day!  What a great way to start the new year.  Grab a friend or two, form a group, hook up the new Wii (or dust off the one you haven't used for a while) and get MOVING!!!  Include your children, your spouse, your sister, your mom, whoever. Then check off one resolution completed and get motivated for more.  Cuz 2011 is a year for MORE!