Upcycling Project: UNboring a skirt

One of my favourite ways to add pieces to my wardrobe is to buy an item of clothing from a thrift store & alter it in some way. Sometimes that will mean adding a design, changing the hem or neckline, or even making something completely new. It's cheap, it's green & I never end up in the same outfit as someone else at a party. Here's my latest upcycling project, where I took a boring a-line linen skirt & added some texture:

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List #36: 10 noises I could live without hearing

Pretty sure he was snoring when this was taken...

Stasha's Monday Listicles topic for the week is annoying noises:

1. Trucks engine-braking in front of my house. I don't live on a highway--WTF?
2. Snoring. (Unless it's being produced by a baby or a cat. Then it's adorable.)
3. My neighbour across the street squawking in imitation of the crows when they gather in the trees. 
4. The click of the enter key when I hit 'publish' too soon by accidentally.
5. The skrick when I bite down on a grain of sand in my food.
6. My neighbour's ridiculous car stereo. Does it really  need to be loud enough that our windows rattle?
7. A really large fly trying to get out through the glass of the window. Bzzrrt. Bzzrrt. Bzzrrt. Bzzrrt.
8. Teenagers calling each other 'faggot' on public transit. Accusing someone else of being gay shouldn't be the worst insult in your arsenal, you homophobic little brats.
9. Small dogs left outside in their yard to bark. Yes, another neighbour.
10. Cheap earbuds blasting the latest, greatest pop drivel in public places. iPod headphones in particular seem to produce more 'music' for other people than the wearer.

Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

Tea Swamp Park & Hula Seventy are not the only ones doing lists, however. Click on the Listicles badge to the left to check out NorthWestMommy's list & 'assignment' for next week.

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Psst... The Sprog now has a Facebook page! Head on over & click 'like' to get even more Sproggy goodness delivered to your feed. :)

Exercise Challenge: Month 4, Week 4

Spent a good part of the week in this getup.

Sunday we biked down to check out Bikes For All to see what they offered in terms of cyclocross bikes. Then we went to Pedal Depot to pick up some new grips for Sprout's runner bike but we found a better solution--bar plugs. The total ride was about 24 minutes.

Monday I strapped Sprout into the trailer (he wanted to be in the iBert, but it was raining, so...) & we headed down to the Spud warehouse to do an interview. The total riding was 40 minutes.

Tuesday didn't get up to much during the day. I have been working so much lately--writing &/or stilting every day for I'm not sure how many days in a row--so I decided to take the day off & be a couch potato. We did end up walking to the gorgeous new Mount Pleasant Park, however, a round trip of about 25 minutes.
Wednesday I carpooled all the way out to Surrey with a couple of performer friends to shoot a TV commercial. Strapped into my stilts all afternoon, I did about 30 minutes of actual stilting.
Thursday was the second day of shooting for the TV commercial I was stilting in. I'd say I stilted a bit more, though I was strapped in less of the day. 40 minutes?
Friday Sprout & I biked to Value Village & scored a few deals. The round trip was about 40 minutes of cycling.
Saturday we biked to & from a friend's place for a birthday party, total riding about 30 minutes. Later we biked over to another party on the Jericho military base, which was about an hour, round trip. From the party, we walked down to the beach to see the fireworks, the round trip being about 20 minutes.

Weekly Total: 309 minutes. :) Almost exactly 100 minutes over the goal!


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What is this Exercise Challenge, you ask? Read my post on Day One for details & how you can get involved too.

Connect with us & get even more links, events& pictures on the official Sprog Facebook page!

The shifting sands of naptime

Sleep has been tricky lately: bedtimes and naptimes both. Yesterday Sprout hadn't napped by 6:30pm and I thought maybe we'd be able to skip it and put him to bed early. Nope. He climbed up onto the couch, leaned up against me and crashed around 6:45pm. After a two-hour nap, he wasn't tired enough for bed until nearly midnight. This wasn't the first time: he's done it a couple of other times this week.

Sprout often wants to stay awake for eight hours after he gets up in the morning, which makes for a pretty late nap. Then he goes to bed later, wakes up later and the cycle just repeats itself. He's getting enough sleep most days--about 12 hours total between night-time and naps--but I wish it were a bit more predictable. I'm constantly struggling to get him to sleep earlier. It's almost like his circadian rhythm isn't set for Earth, but some other planet with days that are a couple of hours longer.

Have you dealt with this with your child? Any suggestions for me?

Psst... The Sprog now has a Facebook page! 

Head on over & click 'like' to get even more Sproggy goodness delivered to your feed. :)

"So, what do you do?"

Recently someone asked me what I do for a living & I replied, "I'm a writer & a stilt performer." Without hesitation or qualification.

When I thought about it later, it felt really good to realize that I've sort of grown into this new identity. I'm no longer a mostly-stay-at-home-mom-blogger-who-used-to-be-an-ESL-teacher-&-does-a-bit-of-writing-&-stilting-on-the-side.

Sprout visits Mama 'at the office'

Though it's a challenge to rebuild my stilting business after two years off due to pregnancy in an environment of severe arts funding cuts, I have been a professional stilt performer for nearly a decade now. I've taught classes in stilt walking & building. I've performed at hundreds of events: parades, festivals, grand openings, parties, weddings & a TV commercial this week.

Saying I'm a stilt performer wasn't really that tricky. The writer part of my identity is the newer one, though I've been writing for myself--in diaries, terrible teen angsty poetry & blogs--since I was about ten. I have put in who knows how many hours writing research papers in literature, language, anthropology, women's studies, linguistics, psychology, art history & more that I've surely repressed. I wrote a lot of tip sheets & lesson plans for my classes when I taught ESL. But I never actually got paid to write until about a year ago.

Since then I've started writing articles for Vancouver Mom Magazine, about where to eat, what to do & what's going on in the city. Not long after that, I started writing for Hawksworth Communications, crafting press releases for their clients' luxury hotels, resorts & restaurants, chef & restaurateur bios, plus copy for a new website (check it out here: O! Osoyoos Celebrates!).

An added complication to the answer to "What do you do?" was that I decided to go back to school to become a Speech Language Pathologist in 2010. I did ten university courses in just over two years (with a few months off to, you know, have a baby & all that. It was only in my last semester that I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get the straight A+ grades that I needed to pull up my only-slightly-above-average GPA from my undergrad degree. & that was just to meet the minimum requirements for the program. Competing with hundreds of keener applicants for 23 spaces would probably mean I'd need a much higher GPA, plus a lot of volunteer experience.


I struggled with the decision, but I just wasn't willing to stay in school another few years so that I could try to get into a program to go to school for two more. I just didn't want it bad enough to be able to compete with the twenty-somethings who seemed to have nothing else in their lives but school. So I quit once I'd completed the last semester worth of requirements for a Speech Sciences certificate (still have to apply for that). Since I made the decision, I've thrown myself into writing & I haven't looked back.

A lot of big & small opportunities have come my way since I started writing seriously. I won't bore you with all of them, but here are my favourites.This spring I was honoured with a spot in the top 30 of Vancouver Mom's Ultimate Blogger competition. I also got to work with the lovely ladies of Limelite PR to help promote the Vancouver International Children's Festival as a Superfan. I've recently done a couple of interviews for other publications & started interviewing people myself for The Sprog's Bike Life feature. A few writing & social media related jobs have floated my way because of the writing I'm doing. Even if I didn't get the gig, it was still flattering that someone came to me to ask me to apply for a job.

Being a writer feels right to me. It's not easy to get out coherent prose when there's a toddler demanding my full attention & I struggle to find the self-discipline to work for myself after a lifetime of being told what to do, how to do it & when I was allowed to go pee. But this identity as a writer fits, better than being an ESL teacher did.

 Yup, I'm a writer & a stilt performer.

Linnaeus 23.2

Mama was playing with stickers...

Wow! Getting so close to two! Two more weekly updates left, then I'll switch to monthly.

New this week:

• Singing his ABCs (though he tends to skip K, L & R).
• Increased speed on his runner bike & wanting to go out on it daily.
• Getting completely obsessed with the Muppets' Mahna Mahna video. He sings it himself & demands to see it regularly.
• Now likes to do up all his clip & zip fasteners: high chair 'seatbelt' clips, packpack strap clips, helmet clip, zippers. 
• Starting to make the connection between pooping & the toilet or potty. We've had two successful, er, deposits. Mostly it's just that he's started talking about the potty as he's filling his diaper.
• Showing a definite preference for the iBert rather than the trailer.
• Lots of four-word sentences.
• Clearly making his choices known when given options to pick from: "Do you want hummus or peanut butter on toast?" "Hummus!" or "Would you like to wear the red striped shirt or the yellow raccoon shirt?" "Raccoon shirt!"
• Napping on days when Mama was there to put him to sleep.

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Bike Life: SPUD Organic Food Delivery

For the latest edition of Bike Life, I thought I'd write about Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery, aka SPUD. I've been a customer of SPUD for well over a decade, getting a Rubbermaid bin of fresh organic fruit, veggies & other groceries delivered to my door weekly. Now, you're probably wondering, why is a grocery delivery company being featured on Bike Life? Because they do some of their deliveries by bike. Or, rather trike.

Shift triker Robyn, with a SPUD delivery

After contacting SPUD about doing an interview, I got to meet Corbin Bourree, Director of Business Development, as well as Robyn Ashwell, Co-owner of Shift Delivery Co-op, who is also one of their intrepid delivery trikers. Robyn trikes part time for Shift, about 15-20 hours a week, on top of her other duties with Shift.

SPUD has been doing bike delivery with a trailer for years--that's the rig they use in Victoria currently--but has been working with Shift Delivery Co-op for almost a year now. Shift runs custom-built cargo trikes (more detail on Shift & their tricycles in a future Bike Life feature...) to deliver SPUD's boxes & bins on a number of their routes serving business customers in the downtown core. Each Monday, two of Shift's trikers deliver about 70 boxes of fresh produce & groceries. You might be wondering why bike delivery? Of course it's greener than driving a truck, but isn't it slower or less efficient?

When I asked Corbin this question, he told me that SPUD has found it to be about 20-30% more efficient in the downtown core than delivery by truck, for a few reasons. It's faster for a trike to zip through the bike routes downtown, past the traffic. Parking is never a problem because the trikes don't need to find an available spot in a loading zone--they can pull up on the curb. The trikers don't need to wait for the freight elevators either--they just hop off the trikes & bring the boxes up to the buildings in the regular elevators. When talking about the efficiency, Robyn added, "We thought it would be more efficient before we started, but proving it has been really exciting!" Trike delivery downtown is going so well that SPUD is planning to expand the service later this summer.

When I asked Robyn if she finds that she needs to eat a lot more when she's biking this much, she replied, "For sure!" Robyn gets around most of the time on her Devinci Stockholm commuter bike, which she uses to get to & from work at Shift, as well as bike tours & pretty much everywhere she needs to go. Well, except for the Bowron Lakes circuit, which she recently did by canoe.

Photos courtesy of SPUD.

When asked what the best thing about biking for a living is, Robyn replies immediately, "Being outside! When I bring deliveries into the offices, sometimes people are sitting there in windowless rooms & they ask me what the weather's like."

The downside of biking for a living is what you might expect here in Raincouver. "It can be hard to get up in the morning on a really rainy gross day, but once I'm on the trike it's okay. I also don't like the occasional negative interactions, because I'm trying really hard not to get in people's way." She says it's frustrating when drivers are rude, & that it can be hard to just take a deep breath & continue on.

The vast majority of people respond positively to SPUD's three-wheeled delivery, however. Robyn tells me that she always keeps her helmet on when she goes up into the office buildings to make her deliveries & it gets her some double-takes. When she explains, that yes, she delivers food by trike, people respond with, "That's so cool!" and "Love the idea!"

Corbin mentions that SPUD gets lots of emails & calls from people who've seen SPUD's logo on the sides of the Shift delivery trikes or talked with Shift's trikers. "All the feedback is excellent. Shift trikers have been great ambassadors for SPUD."

If you decide to try SPUD, tell them I sent you:

you'll save $25 on your first four deliveries.

(use my referral code CRVAN-CORLIS) 

I--like all SPUD customers--will get a credit of $25 if you join up too. :)

A little more about SPUD: 

Click on the infographic to enlarge...

"In 1997, SPUD.CA was founded based on the idea that there was a better, more sustainable way to buy groceries. Not only was there an opportunity to directly connect communities with local farmers and food producers, ordering food online and using a just-in-time home delivery system meant a better product and convenience for customers.

When you purchase local food, you are involved in an important movement that contributes to your local economy, improves food security, reduces your environmental impact and provides more nutrient rich foods. 

SPUD.CA serves and supports 6 urban areas in North America. These great communities include Greater Vancouver, Victoria & Southern Vancouver Island, Calgary, Seattle & the Eastern Puget Sound, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles & Orange County."

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The Future of Cycling Infographic

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
H. G. Wells

Here's a great infographic I found recently, put together by WellHome about a year ago. Though the stats are all American, I'm sure the numbers are fairly similar in Canada. I also think that the marketing of cycling needs to change for people to consider it a normal transportation option rather than an extreme sport, so starting the infographic off with a silhouette of a mountain biker on a full-suspension bike throwing himself off a cliff isn't really the way to get your average North American biking to work. But that's a discussion for another post--this infographic has still got some really cool stuff in it.

Linking up with Bits of Bee this week: 

   

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List #35: Birthdays

Sprout's first birthday party last August.

Stasha's Monday Listicles topic for the week is Birthdays. I took a trip down memory lane & thought back to some of the birthday parties I've been to, both mine & other people's. I remembered a lot of fun stuff, so here is a mishmash of fun memories & things I like about birthdays in general:

1. The cakes. I can't pick just one--I've seen some incredible birthday cakes in my life. Recently there was the 99% edible carousel complete with animal-shaped cookies riding between oreo straws of my friends' son's first birthday. I loved the construction-themed masterpiece my sister put together for her son's 5th birthday. Then there were all the colourful shaped cakes my mom would bake for us when we were little with the pans she rented, painstakingly decorated with buttercream icing. Yup, I've seen & eaten some really fun cakes.
2. The costumes. Okay, I know most people don't have costume birthday parties, aside from maybe the paper hats, but I love dressing up. One of my favourite parties was my 33rd, where we had a sci-fi/cyberpunk-themed costume bash. Everyone dressed up--costumes included Spock, two Captain Kirks, Predator, Darth Vader & various other bizarre aliens & futuristic get-ups.
3. Knowing how to party. My in-laws are well into retirement & despite their rather advanced years (77 & 81), they still know how to tie one on. Every year, for my mother-in-law's birthday, they have a huge do in their back yard with dozens of friends. Copious quantities of beer & wine are served, & nobody goes home without stuffing themselves on bratwurst & the myriad desserts that everyone seems to arrive with.
4. One-of-a-kind gifts. I love to make presents for people. Lately I've been pretty busy with work, so I've slacked off on the gift-making, but there's nothing like seeing someone enjoy something you made with your own hands.I much prefer to spend time on making something unique over spending money buying something that's likely to be duplicated.
5. Timing is everything. I was born near the end of August, which often meant my friends were on vacation when I was having my birthday party. However, the 22nd also falls during the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver. Being able to celebrate my birthday on the rides, seeing all the prize-winning farm animals & munching on cotton candy was pretty special as a kid & I still love to go there around my birthday as an adult.
6. The planning. Possibly my favourite thing about kids' parties is planning out themes, decorations, the food, the invite list & all the little details that half the people probably don't even notice anyway. I've tried not to overdo it with the planning for Sprout's first & second birthdays, as he's too little for costumes or involved games but I have some great ideas for when he's a bit older!
7. An excuse for a get-together. I'm a social person & I love bringing people together. Birthdays happen all throughout the year & give everyone a chance to have fun. 
8. A new number. Sometimes birthdays are a huge milestone, like the first one. Or the fifth, for me, as that was just a week or so before I started kindergarten. Turning 16 meant I could start learning to drive. 19 came with full voting privileges & the ability to legally drink. Though this year's isn't going to be anything spectacularly different--I'll be 37--I was getting tired of the number 36 anyway.
9. The centre of attention. Maybe it's because I'm one of three kids in my family, or maybe it's just my personality, but I think that having a day dedicated to celebrating one person is pretty awesome. Hallowe'en & Christmas are great too, but they're more about everybody. Birthdays you get full permission to hog the spotlight.
10. Best present ever. In 2010, my 'birthday present' arrived almost two weeks before my birthday: Sprout was born. I don't even remember what we did to celebrate that year, though I think there was something. Giving birth to a healthy little boy was enough to keep me on cloud nine for a long time.

Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

Tea Swamp Park & Hula Seventy are not the only ones doing lists, however. Click on the Listicles badge to the left to check out NorthWestMommy's list & 'assignment' for next week.

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Psst... The Sprog now has a Facebook page! Head on over & click 'like' to get even more Sproggy goodness delivered to your feed. :)

Exercise Challenge: Month 4, Week 3

Riding home from Stanley Park in the iBert

Sunday we went on the Velo Family Ride from Trout Lake to the Athletes' Village & back home again. The ride itself was pretty leisurely, not really cardio, but we rode hard enough on the way to & from it, so I'll count that: 25 minutes.

Monday we got in 20 minutes of walking to & from Ryu Sushi.

Tuesday Sprout & I had an epic bike ride: we went to Stanley Park, then rode around the park on the seawall & back home again. Total riding time: 120 minutes!
Wednesday we just didn't walk far enough to count as exercise. A little here, a little there.
Thursday I biked Sprout to Buddings & back: 22 minutes of riding.
Friday A nasty cold struck suddenly in the afternoon & I spent most of the rest of the day on the couch.
Saturday Despite feeling really awful in the morning, I dragged myself to my rehearsal & was on my stilts for a couple of hours, sitting & lounging in between frenetic bouts of clowning. Then later we biked to Illuminares & back again. I'll just call that about ten minutes of serious clowning exercise & 25 minutes of riding.


Weekly Total: 222 minutes. Just over my goal, mostly due to getting four days worth of exercise on Tuesday. :)


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What is this Exercise Challenge, you ask? Read my post on Day One for details & how you can get involved too.

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Get more greens into your toddler

Sprout is not what I'd call a picky eater, however he does have one sticking point: leaves. Spinach, kale, chard, collard greens, cabbage, lettuce: he won't eat them. Sadly, they're a great source of vitamins & minerals. I've tried chopping them & 'hiding' them in pasta. No dice, he picks them out. Then I tried mincing them, which had better success.

Lately, I've found great success adding kale into smoothies. He doesn't seem to mind the greenish tinge that they all have. It's also a great way to use up overripe bananas--just peel them, break them into two or three pieces & toss them in the freezer in a container.

The many ways to consume a smoothie/moisturizing mask

Here's my recipe:

• Two frozen bananas
• a handful of frozen kale
• a dash of vanilla
• a shake of cinnamon
• a few dollops of plain yogurt
• a tablespoon or two of hemp hearts (or chia seeds, flax seeds, etc)
• some other fruit--mango, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry--whatever you've got
• some milk or juice to thin as needed

Makes enough for one adult & one toddler to have big servings--about 750mL, usually.

I just add all of this in the blender (gradually, with liquids near the beginning, as my blender is a bit persnickety) & keep pushing the button until it's whizzed up into a smooth consistency. I sometimes make it quite thick & give Sprout a spoon--he thinks it's ice cream. Shhhh.. don't tell him it's not!

Obviously you can change this recipe completely--though I'd leave in the bananas, at least. I find the overripe bananas give it a lot of sweetness & a nice creamy body.

Another thing you could do with this is make popsicles. Or if you have an ice cream maker, you could try it in there. Anyone want to experiment with that one & let me know how it goes?

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The Sprog: As Seen In...

I put together a list of tips for cycling with style as a guest post for Tairalyn of Little Miss Mama. Here's the collage I created on Polyvore to illustrate. Check out the full post HERE.

cycling with style by lisa-corriveau featuring a scoop neck tee

Be sure to take a look around Little Miss Mama--it's full of tips for how to dress for less, some great DIY projects & much more.

Green Sprog Tip #2: Coconut oil as moisturizer

I recently read about using coconut oil instead of moisturizer on Sustainable Baby Steps & immediately gave it a try. I have some organic virgin coconut oil in the cupboard & I've been looking for something to help solve the odd dry skin patch I always seem to have under one eye. Moisturizers never work--if they're eye gels, they seem to dry it out more, if they're thicker face creams, they seem to overload the skin & it's dry the next day anyway.

The test drive

The first time I used the coconut oil on my face it took a while to absorb. My face felt a bit greasy longer than it would with the Alba moisturizer I've been using lately. However, this wasn't an issue with my hands: they absorbed the coconut oil in minutes. The next time I used a bit less & it was fine. After a couple of weeks of using coconut oil on my face & body most days, my skin feels quite soft & that pesky dry patch is better, though not gone.

Most commercial moisturizers advertise themselves to be oil-free or non-oily, etc, blaming oil for skin breakouts. Seems like a bit of a red herring to me--maybe the breakouts/clogged pores are caused by all the petroleum products & other weird chemicals in the products, not natural oils? After slathering myself in coconut oil for a couple of weeks, I have had no issues with clogged pores or increased acne.

A little dab'll do ya

Something to keep in mind when using pure coconut oil as moisturizer is that you really don't need much. With most commercial moisturizer, the main ingredient is water & that's how it spreads over your skin easily. With coconut oil, you only need a tiny bit, but that's harder to spread around on dry skin, so it works best right after a shower.

Coconut Oil: what can't it do?!?

Did you know that coconut oil has antimicrobial properties? It kills nasties like listeria & this study found it took care of yeast (Candida Albicans) better than fluconazole. Coconut oil is being looked at as a possible solution to the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant microbes.

It won't break the bank

Possibly the best news about this magical stuff is the price: you can get virgin organic coconut oil for way less than even a bargain-basement facial moisturizer, let alone fancy organic moisturizer. Last time I bought Alba facial moisturizer I paid about $18 for 85mL! Well.ca has 445mL tubs of coconut oil for $12.29--that's over five times cheaper & that's not even the cheapest price out there.

Two thumbs up

The verdict: I highly recommend you try coconut oil on your skin. Because everyone's skin is different, you might have different results than I did, but even if it doesn't work for you it's not a total loss--you can still use it to make deodorant (check out my 'recipe' for that here) or cook with it! If you do try it, or even if you're just thinking about it, please let me know in the comments below!

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Linnaeus 23.1

Naps are all over the place right now. Sunday & Monday Sprout slept very briefly. Tuesday not a nap to be seen. He woke up at 10am (because of his late nap the day before) then got cranky & sleepy during dinner around 7pm, but got a second wind & didn't sleep until 11ish. Wednesday he nearly fell asleep in his lunch by 1pm, then resisted sleeping once I was doing the usual routine of breastfeeding him down. I put him in his crib with some toys & books for some quiet time, at least. After about 90 minutes of playing & a little protesting, he fell asleep & stayed down for a couple of hours.

Running past the mural in the basketball court at the Mount Pleasant Family Centre

Sprout is 'singing' constantly & now seems to know 90% of the words of his songs. I say 'singing' because it's relatively tuneless. I'm crossing my fingers that this doesn't bode ill for his musical abilities & he'll learn to carry a tune later. This week's faves include "Twinkle Twinkle", "En Haut, En Bas", "Ladybug" & the one that goes "Hurry, hurry drive the firetruck". He's also started singing parts of "Hush little baby", which is pretty adorable. He continues to parrot everything & everyone--not just us, but birds, random strangers, the neighbours, dogs, people in videos.

We spent nearly all our time at home out on the deck, either in the wading pool (until the raccoon got at it Monday night, that is) or in the swing. Having a deck with a roof over much of it has been awesome this year. We can take advantage of the great weather without getting direct sun. Which is important when you have a baby as lily white as this one...

Getting some air time, aka, 'Free Willy' time

Water parks are still not a favourite. Sprout's quite suspicious of the spray nozzles, fountains & water curtains there. He doesn't mind splashing around in a shallow pool & liked the tidal pool part of the water park at Lumberman's Arch on Tuesday. So I'll keep slathering the sunblock on him, tying on his floppy hat & dressing him in his sun guard suit.

I keep watching for signs that he's ready to potty train, but we're definitely not there yet. Hopefully before the weather cools down too much we'll be able to take a crack at it. I need to be patient though--I keep hearing that the earlier you start, the longer it takes. Seems like it works quickly if they're good & ready.

Riding the teeny rails at Confederation Park

I'll leave you with a few fun firsts from the past week:

• First tattoo--don't worry, it's not permanent
• First orange juice--more interested in playing with the juice box than drinking, Sprout squirted a lot of it everywhere
• First time on a miniature train (we rode the one at Confederation Park at his buddy Aiden's birthday)
• First time staying awake for 13 hours straight
• First time riding all the way around Stanley Park with Sprout in the iBert--we don't really go on long recreational rides that much--it's just how we get around
•  

  

  The tattoo on his forearm says 'Transit stole my heart'

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Wordless Wednesday

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Vancity Fresh Air Movie Tour

Found this in my gmail inbox & I had to share it with you! We're definitely going!

-The Sprog Family

MEDIA ADVISORY

WHAT? Vancity Fresh Air Movie Tour is back in Vancouver this summer. In partnership with Fresh Air Cinema, Vancity is extending an invitation to people of all ages to bring their chairs, blankets and community spirit and enjoy the movie The Princess Bride under the stars with family and friends.

Vancity encourages participants to ride their bike and make use of the free bicycle parking from BEST the bicycle valet.

Vancity will also be handing out farmers market vouchers valued at $5 which can be redeemed at your local farmer’s market to support the purchase of local, natural and organic food.

WHERE? David Lam Park - 1300 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver

WHEN? Sunday, July 29 5:00pm - onwards *Come early to enjoy the celebrations

WHO? In addition to the large screen feature movie, Vancity will be displaying their Mobile Community Garden and contribute to Fresh Roots Schoolyard Market Gardens; outdoor, hands-on learning classrooms. Attendees will have an opportunity to plant a seedling that will grow in the garden to be harvested for schoolchildren to eat in their school cafeterias.

Vancity will also be hosting community not-for-profit organizations and other social enterprises for locals to learn more about the difference these organizations are making in their community.

WHY? Vancity is committed to building healthy sustainable communities that can thrive and prosper. As an example, Vancity is currently helping to support local, natural and organic food initiatives. Bringing the community together to showcase their members’ innovative products that are not only economically profitable but also socially and environmentally responsible is one of the ways Vancity supports its members.

Did you know?

• Fresh produce sold at BC farmers' markets travels less than 300 km to get to the consumer. Compare this to the average North American meal, which travels 2,400 km to get from field to plate and contains ingredients from five countries in addition to our own. All the transportation results in a lot of fossil fuels being burned which contributes to air pollution, acid rain and climate change. 
• Over 75 per cent of farmers selling at farmer’s markets are certified organic or use natural methods of farming.
• 25 per cent of farmers have been farming for less than five years.

For more information visit www.vancity.com Email: mediarelations@vancity.com or call 778-837-0394

Tweet us @Vancity





Lorraine Wilson
Media Relations Consultant
Vancity
183 Terminal Avenue
Vancouver, BC. V6A 4G2
Office: 604.877.4539
Cell: 778.837.0394
vancity.com

Member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, a network of the world’s sustainable banking pioneers: www.gabv.org

My car sharing story

One of the reasons I blog is advocacy. I want to make the world a greener & more child-friendly place by getting more cars off the road. I have a theory that talking about how we live car-free will help convince a few people that it's doable. I think that cycling & car sharing are two great transportation options for many people. Call me a commie--I am, let's face it--but it's just not necessary for everyone to own their own car.

I mention cycling, walking, transit & car sharing in my posts once in a while, in an offhand way, but I thought I'd share with you how I got started on car sharing to further the conversation. Here's my story:

The Honeymoon Phase

I joined Modo in 2003. (It was called the Cooperative Auto Network at the time, but to simplify, I'll just its current name: Modo.) At the time, my main transportation was transit. I biked sometimes & walked a lot too. I thought it might be handy to have a car sometimes, but had no desire to drop tens of thousands of dollars to buy a good one, or deal with a cheap but unreliable beater.

Suddenly having access to a whole fleet of cars was pretty exciting, as I'd never owned one. I never got used to having a vehicle waiting for me in my driveway 24/7, so the concept of making a booking online, then walking a few blocks to pick up a car wasn't a big deal for me. I probably drove a bit more than I really needed to because it was such a novelty. Still, I rarely used the cars more than once a week.

Our wedding on The Chief, photo by Aki Mimoto

The Actual Honeymoon

In the fall of 2003, Oli & I got married. We used a Modo car to travel up to Squamish, where we hiked up to the Third Peak of the Stawamus Chief & got married by a friend's dad. We took the same little Volkswagen Beetle on our honeymoon to Galiano & Saturna Islands too, windows all decorated with washable glass markers.

The Money Pit

Fast forward a few years to 2006. Oliver had failed to renew his license within the deadline & needed to take his driving test all over again, so we decided to buy the car my brother-in-law was selling. Oli would use it to practise, then we'd quickly sell it after he got relicensed. Quickly turned into over two years. We owned that Pontiac Sunfire from 2006 to 2008 & used it about as much as we'd been using Modo cars: around six times a month.

It took a while, but Oli finally got over his nerves enough to book & pass his road test. Sadly, we didn't sell the Sunfire before its four-year-old fuel pump went kaput. Quick tip: don't ever buy a car with a fuel pump that's inside the gas tank--it's going to be really expensive to fix. $1200 later (this was with a labour discount we negotiated with Tremblay Motors, because we are Modo members) we sold the damn thing.

When I sat down & did the math on how much owning a car cost us, including insurance, gas, maintenance & depreciation, I was pretty unimpressed. $3000 a year despite really low usage. We drove it about twice a week & took it on a handful of road trips to the Okanagan to visit Oli's parents. We didn't use it to commute because driving downtown to work together & parking the thing there would have added another $1800 a year.

Free again

Back to our car-free status, Oli became a Modo member & we started car sharing again. Modo had grown quite a bit since I joined, with over 200 cars in the fleet, so there were lots of fun cars to choose from. Having light trucks, minivans & small cargo vans as well as easy to park Minis, Prius & Vibes at our disposal is pretty awesome. We get a big one if we're bringing friends to a Giants game, or going to Ikea. We take a little one when we're driving to a house party in the West End (where we can park in any permit zone for free--did you know about that Modo perk?). 

Two went there & three came back

In 2010, we used a Modo vehicle to drive to BC Women's Hospital to have Sprout. I was pretty far along in my labour by the time we got into the car & the bumpy roads in our neighbourhood probably hastened Sprout's descent, but we made it before he was born. (Don't worry, I put one of those absorbent blue sheets on the seat underneath me!) Our midwife referred to the birth as 'textbook', so we were home again pretty quickly.

Driving is a special treat for Sprout.

Modo post-baby

Since having Sprout around, we drive a little less than we used to. Until Sprout was a year old, the infant car seat would fit in the stroller, so it was pretty easy to get him & the gear to the car. The car seat we have now is quite easy to install securely & take out, so it's not difficult when we're all going out together. However, when I want to drive somewhere on my own with Sprout it's complicated. I've got to bring him & the car seat to the vehicle, which is a five-minute walk away. The car seat doesn't fit in the stroller basket (even though the Uppababy has a huge capacity) so thus far, I haven't taken Sprout in a Modo vehicle on my own yet.

Biking, walking & transit take care of our transportation needs the majority of the time. We use Modo cars about once or twice a month to go to Ikea, Costco or visit family out in the suburbs. Even though it's less convenient than having a car parked in the driveway all the time, I don't miss owning one. I like the freedom of not having to worry about finding parking on the street or if the car's been broken into or if I've paid the insurance.

Dollars & sense

As Modo members, all the maintenance, insurance & nearly everything else is done for us. We occasionally fill up the gas tank if it gets below 1/4 full during our booking, but we don't pay for the gas directly. We just pay when we use the car--by the hour & by the kilometre. It's very predictable--no worries about big repair bills or expensive fill-ups. If you don't drive at all, you pay nothing. Our bill in the past couple of years has averaged $50 a month.

Want to know more?

If you're interested in learning more about Modo, visit www.modo.coop--there's an extensive FAQ section. Or email info@modo.coop, call 604.685.1393 (1.877.226.2277 is toll free in Canada + US). Modo staff are knowledgeable & happy to answer questions.

If you do join up, tell them I sent you & you can save the registration fee. I--like all Modo members--will get a referral bonus if you become a member too. :)

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Give us some like love on the official Sprog Facebook page!

Summer night moth

A moth stumbled into our living room tonight, flitting around the one lamp in the darkening house. I drew Sprout's attention to it & went over to catch it in my hands. It landed on my knuckle & stayed there for a minute, as I showed it to him. He was fascinated by the yellow spotted bug on mama's hand. Then it took off, zigzagging around the ceiling, getting buffeted by the fans on full-speed to cool the stuffy house. I got a glass from the kitchen & recaptured the speckled moth. Sprout & I went out the front door into the cool darkness to let it free. The moth hesitated for a while inside the glass, but after a few shakes, we watched it flutter up, silhouetted against the night sky.

List #34: 10 THANKS about the Velo Family Ride.

Meeting up at Trout Lake (we picked up four more on the way)

It's Monday list time again, so I thought I'd write about the kid-friendly group ride we went on this weekend. This dovetails with Stasha's topic of the week 10 THANKS, so I joined up with the linky there. For the ride, we met in John Hendry Park (aka Trout Lake) & biked over to the Olympic Village, then back again. The plan is to make these rides a regular thing, so stay tuned for the date of the next one!

Ten things I'm thankful for about Sunday's Velo Family Ride.

Heading west along the 10th Avenue bike route.

1. The skies clearing (well, the rain stopping) just in time for the ride.
2. Meeting more Twitter friends in real life for the first time. I'd been talking to @cbruntlett & @mbruntlett (of Velo Family Diaries) for a while on the interwebz. It was great to meet Chris & Melissa in the flesh. 
3. Enticing Sprout out of the playground where we met up by telling him we were getting on bikes. Seeing him running toward me yelling, "Bike! Bike! Bike! Bike! Bike!" was awesome.
4. Seeing all the great community driven projects in our neighbourhood along the ride: the St. George Library, people having coffee in Gather Round (the tiny parklet in a traffic circle), the St. George Blueway mural, the Brewery Creek Community Garden in Guelph Park.
5. Getting smiles & nods from other cyclists as the 13 of us rode by.
6. One of the kids climbing all the way up to the neck of the giant sparrow sculpture in the Olympic Village Plaza.
7. Lounging in the not-quite-sun with treats & coffees from Terra Breads in the Olympic Village Plaza.
8. Getting a chance to chat about the various options for biking with kids (most of which were in use on the ride): trail-a-bike, bakfiets, trailer, front-mounted seat & riding independently, with or without training wheels.
9. Being given three cabbage plants thinned from Jin-Sook's Brewery Creek garden plot on our way home.
10. Last, but not least, thanks to Melissa & Chris for organizing it! 

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Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

Tea Swamp Park & Hula Seventy are not the only ones doing lists, however. Check out NorthWestMommy's list & 'assignment' for next week.

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Psst... The Sprog now has a Facebook page! Head on over & click 'like' to get even more Sproggy goodness delivered to your feed. :)

Exercise Challenge: Month 4, Week 2.

Sprout, Natnie & Kiki in their playhouse

The beautiful summer weather has turned me into a bit of a sloth. We're getting out & doing things, but not going all that far. I still haven't managed to get to Aquafit yet, either.

Sunday we walked up & down the hill into Cates Park & spent much of the day on the beach & in the playground. Only about 20 minutes of exercise.
Monday I had a screen test in New West, which involved schlepping stilts, costume & toddler in stroller on & off the Skytrain, plus at least a half hour of stilting, I think. I'll call it a half hour of exercise. Then we biked to & from Superstore, a 45-minute round trip.
Tuesday I have no idea what I was doing
Wednesday I biked Sprout up to the David Livingstone water park, but it's only a kilometre away, so not enough to count as proper exercise. We did get in a 20-minute walk for ice cream, though.
Thursday I did some walking & biking, but never ten minutes at a time. My neighbourhood amenities are all too close, dammit!
Friday I biked Sprout to Buddings, for 25 minutes of exercise.
Saturday was filled with birthday parties, which involved a lot of driving & sitting on trains & lawn chairs, but no real exercise.


Weekly Total: 140 minutes. Well below my goal. :(

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What is this Exercise Challenge, you ask? Read my post on Day One for details & how you can get involved too.

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Give us some like love on the official Sprog Facebook page!

Giving up the nap

Lately Sprout's naps have been getting later & later, to the point where it's nearly dinner by the time he falls asleep. I keep thinking that it's me, I'm keeping him out too late in the day, or I need to wake him up earlier to reset his sleep pattern.

Then when I was talking to my sister last night, she broke the news to me: he's probably ready to drop the naps. Though her son napped until age three, her daughters stopped napping in the day around the age of two. Unfortunately, I think she may be right.

Sprout can go nearly nine hours without sleeping in the daytime & usually sleeps through the night. We're in an awkward stage where he can't quite go the whole day without a nap, but if he does nap, he'll end up waking at 7 or 8pm, which pushes back his bedtime to ridiculous o'clock.

Besides the fact that I don't relish going through a month or so of Sprout falling asleep during dinner until he transitions to no naps, I've gotten a lot more writing work lately. Sprout not napping means I will have to shift my writing to before he wakes up (ugh) or after he goes to bed. Or I'll have to spend more money on childcare, which sort of defeats the purpose of working.

On days when I don't have writing work I need to do, the break that I get when he has a nap really keeps me sane. I can't really complain--Sprout's a pretty easy-going kid & he spends a lot of time playing by himself these days--but I'll miss having the house to myself for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.

I suppose the other thing that's bothering me about all this is that I feel like I'm on shifting sand all the time. Even if I had been more strict about having a set nap time, it would have shifted & adjusted anyway as he developed. The only constant is change, when it comes to children.


So tell me: is your toddler getting ready to give up naps? Or have you got older kids & been there, done that? Any advice?

And the winner is...

...Eschelle! Lucky comment #1 was chosen by the True Random Number Generator at Random.org. With her four free passes to Vancouver Fit 4 Two prenatal/postpartum fitness classes, she hopes to try out the stroller fitness classes this summer.

Also: Eschelle is a fellow blogger & she writes at Mumfection. Check it out!

Thanks everybody for playing along & thanks to all those who spread the word about the giveaway!

Green Sprog Tip #1: Eat less meat

Thought I'd roll out another feature on The Sprog this Friday: Green Sprog Tips. I want to share with you one simple green idea per week that you can do to reduce the footprint you leave behind. I've been meaning to do it for ages, but you know how it is. Then a really great infographic landed in my lap, so I had to share it with you.

Before you read it, I'll admit first that I'm not vegan or vegetarian (though I was for a couple of years--then the siren song of bacon & chicken strips got me). I doubt that this blog post will convince you to become vegan either, but I think it would be great if we could all cut back on the animal products. I won't launch into a long explanation about the heavy toll meat production has on the environment--that's what the lovely infographic is for!

My plan is to institute a day a week where we don't eat any meat here in the Sprog household. Not that we're necessarily huge carnivores, but we've been eating our fair share of pigs, cows, chickens & fish lately. Do you want to join us in having a meatless day (or two or maybe three?) a week?

If you're not sure how eating less meat could impact the environment, please read on:


Infographic by CulinarySchools.org

ICBC in push for province-wide bike training plan

BCCC NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                        

25 June, 2012

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia is supporting the BC Cycling Coalition to develop a province-wide standard for bicycle training to encourage more people to cycle more safely, more often.

Called ‘Right to Bike’, the initiative aims to produce a standard for training people to ride and register of qualified instructors. The impetus for the initiative comes from provincial and regional plans to increase cycling to help reduce traffic congestion, pollution and obesity. While new bike lanes continue to hit the headlines, there has been no attention on the need to provide willing cyclists with the skills they might need to start riding. Voluntary and commercial organisations have offered a variety of cycling courses across BC for years but there is no coordination or consistency on what is taught.

Evidence from other countries shows that having a standard taught by registered instructors is a critical part in creating confidence and safety. ICBC is investing in this initiative to allow BCCC to research best practices and produce a single standard of bicycle training and an instructor registration process. The aim is for bicycle training to become as normal, available and trusted as ICBC’s driver training system or the Red Cross’s swim training program.

Speaking about the grant award, Jared Huber, ICBC’s manager of community involvement, said, ‘ICBC is proud to be a part of this initiative, aimed at creating safer roads and healthier communities. A standardized cycling training plan will allow cyclists to learn skills progressively about safely sharing our roads. We expect the guide to incorporate the best knowledge available and serve as the framework for bicycle safety and education in B.C.”

The intention is that the Right to Bike standard would be built around three levels of ability similar to approach used by the successful UK-wide ‘Bikeability’ program. The levels would start with basic bike handling and move up to riding in city traffic so offering something to everyone. However, at least initially, there would probably be a focus on using the Right to Bike standard for training in schools where many authorities and groups already offer courses.

Once the standard is agreed, host cities and communities will be approached to adopt Right to Bike for local courses. BCCC is also working with training organizations to agree a process for registering instructors.

The initiative has captured the imagination of many groups as a way to help interested but concerned people to take up two wheels. BCCC has received written support from a wide range of organisations and individuals including Cycling BC, Mayor Gregor Robertson, the Vancouver School Board, Fraser Health and TransLink.

Right to Bike is being announced at the Velo-City Global conference which is being held in Vancouver this week. This is the first time that the premier conference on cycling is being held outside Europe and will bring together up to 1,000 of the world’s experts on developing cycling cities.

 

Notes: 

 

Bikeability is a UK training standard established by Cycling England. In London, £3m per year (2010 figures) is provided by Transport for London to subsidise 50,000 training courses with 80% being children of school age. 10,000 adults are also trained through Bikeability of which 70% are women. Many London boroughs offer free or subsidized training using the funding supplied by Transport for London and local budgets.

Summer is here

Sprout has really started hamming it up for the camera lately.

Yesterday we had a very summery day. We biked to meet friends at the new spray park in our neighbourhood. Not sure why, but Sprout didn't want to go in the water at all. He spent nearly the entire time running around in the playground & climbing up the tallest structures, banging on the plastic drums & riding the 'rock-rock' (pony on a spring).

At lunch we ate lots of watermelon, then I filled up Sprout's little pool on the deck. He splashed around happily, emptying nearly half the water out. The deck has been a great extension of our living space since the weather's been warm enough to really enjoy it. We always have the back door open & Sprout has his 'sand' table out there, the tent to play in & a few other toys.

The downside of treating the deck like another room of the house is that the 'sand' & dust from outside get tracked into the kitchen, with its ridiculous white tile floors. Who puts white tiles on a kitchen floor, I ask you? So mopping is a big part of summer for us.

Just before dinner, Papa took Sprout on a runner bike ride around the block. He still goes really slowly on that thing, but he loves it. Then we had home made potato salad with lots of eggs in it. Potato salad is something we eat any time of year, but when eaten outside on the deck it's definitely summery.

I love the long days of summer. Having so much more daylight is great for us night owls. We can have dinner at our normal time (7 or 8ish, sometimes later) then actually do something afterward, like walking over to the Dairy Queen for ice cream just before they close. We weren't the only ones with this idea--there were probably a dozen other people there, sneaking in for dipped cones, blizzards & other sugary cold treats before 10pm.

On the way home we stopped for a few minutes at the park. I think most kids in the neighbourhood had probably been in bed for hours at this point, so it was deserted. Sprout loves having it all to himself once in a while. Walking home in the cool--but still shorts & t-shirt weather--of a great summer evening capped off a lovely day.

What summery things have you got up to lately?

What I've been reading lately

You can download your own copy free here

Just in time for Wordless Wednesday, I found a great check list of ideas for pictures to take (or have taken) of yourself with your kids, courtesy of Simple As That. For many reasons, moms are usually the ones taking the shot & photos of us with our children can be few & far between. Another issue I see is that we take pictures when it's a special occasion, but none of the everyday moments. This check list has some creative suggestions to get you in the shot & help you document your real life, not just your 'dress up occasions'.

Want to eat organic but think it's too expensive? Annie from PhD in Parenting has got a great list of tips to do organics on a budget.
Also on the topic of organic food, I read an article about SOLEfood, Vancouver's urban farming organization. I take a little pride in their success because I helped build the raised beds & shed at the first location in the parking lot next to the Astoria Hotel. :)

Purifying the air in your home through houseplants. Sustainable Baby Steps has a great article on 19 plants (some of which you may already have) that help rid the air of nasties like formaldehyde (from new furniture & cabinets made of pressboard) & benzenes (this is a risk in houses with attached garages, even if you only start your car when the garage is open)

As a reformed formerly spandex-clad gear-head, I love this:

"Mikael’s goal is to make cycling as common as vacuuming – you don’t need special training to vacuum, there are no “avid vacuumists”, and you don’t go to Vacuum Equipment Co-op to buy special gear – it’s just something you do. In Copenhagen, people don’t self-identify as cyclists and only a small percentage of people who bike do so for financial or environmental reasons. Most people do it because it’s the most convenient way to get from A to B." 

From Canadian Veggie's blog post, Getting More Asses on Bikes in Vancouver.

& more on cycling, this time a practical tip on how to ride in a long dress, from Let's Go Ride a Bike.

Had another opportunity for a book review come my way: Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber. Once I finish reading The Story of English in 100 Words, which is overdue from the library right now (!), I'll jump in!

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Psst... The Sprog now has a Facebook page! Head on over & click 'like' to get even more Sproggy goodness delivered to your feed. :)

Linnaeus 23.0

New fave, bought at Wee Ones Reruns

Whoa, this week snuck up on me! One month until the sprog turns two. Here's a rundown of his latest shenanigans:

• Sprout's become a runner. When we're in public & he's not restrained by something (in the carrier, sling, stroller or wagon) he will take off. Luckily, he's still slow & steady when it comes to stepping off curbs, so if we're in an urban area, he probably won't run into traffic before I can snag him. 
• He sings all the time now. Alone, he'll usually do an improving rendition of Ladybug. With me, he'll usually request Will Stroet's Full of Beans, which we do as call & answer. "One, two three," "Bockoli" "Four, five six," "Cawit ticks" "Seven, eight, nine," "Tumeetos fum vine" "Ten, eleven, twelve" "We ee well" "Into the teens & we're..." "Fuoo beans"
• Sprout's no longer afraid of cold as he was a year or so ago. He went through the spray curtain at the water park & also waded in the ocean a bit for the first time.
• New books this week are Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? & Green Eggs & Ham, both of which have entered the nightly rotation. I got him the first one because it's just a series of sound effects, which he loves. During the day he's always imitating things--trucks, lawn mowers, shavers, dogs, other children, bike pumps, sprinklers, spray bottles, birds. He sometimes names things according to their sound: Oli's shaver is Papa rum-rum.
• Sprout's been pretty hungry the last few days. The only thing he didn't want to eat at all was the brie I gave him. When I tried another day with the rind cut off, he scarfed it down. Never met a cheese he didn't like...
• No sign of the molars last time I checked, but he's got a dry spot on his chin from the drool, so I suspect they're coming. Been saying that for months...
• Sprout managed to poop not once, but twice on the floor during some brief naked time this week. Sigh. Puddles, I can deal with, but solids... ugh. Would love to get him toilet trained soon, but I don't think he's ready yet.
• He's becoming more & more gregarious every day. At the beach, I let him roam around a bit within sight. He didn't go near the water, but went visiting all the people sitting back in the shade. He jumped in & started playing with a couple of slightly older kids after 'borrowing' their bike helmet & wearing it the whole time, backwards. Got photos of that, luckily. 

An afternoon at Cates Park watching the Whey-ah-Wichen canoe races

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Exercise Challenge: Month 4, Week 1

This new spray park is only 1km from our house!

Bit late publishing this week's update. Got all excited about my guest post & the latest edition of Bike Life... Better late than never!
 

Sunday we biked to Granville Island & back: 40 minutes total.
Monday I didn't do a whole lot.
Tuesday I got about 25 minutes walking in between running errands.
Wednesday we walked down to the library, then to dinner at Habit & home again. About 40 minutes total.
Thursday I biked downtown & back (with little Mr. Eats-a-lot on board) AND walked to Fray & back with Sprout, Nana & Gumpa: 60 minutes total of exercise.
Friday I walked 20 minutes
Saturday we walked up to the new spray park at David Livingstone Elementary, about a 25-minute round trip.

Weekly Total: 210 minutes--exactly 30 minutes a day when averaged out. :)

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What is this Exercise Challenge, you ask? Read my post on Day One for details & how you can get involved too.

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Give us some like love on the official Sprog Facebook page!

List #33: My favourite bike rides

Multilevel bike parkade at Centraal Station in Amsterdam

It's Monday List time again. Today I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite bike rides of all time. On most of these rides we were having way too much fun to take many pictures so this one will have to suffice. :)

1. Amsterdam to Durgerdam. We rode from our hotel to the little free ferry near Centraal Station, then after a quick crossing on what was barely more than a barge, we rode through parks, neighbourhoods full of brightly-coloured houses & areas of severe modernist architecture. We rode a long while along the dike there (inhaling way more gnats than were really necessary) & stopped at a little mom & pop run diner with a great ocean view. 
2. Southern Galiano Island to Dionisio Point. It's a seriously hilly island with some loooooong climbs, as I recall, but there's virtually no traffic on Galiano. Plus, due to a land dispute, the private road to Dionisio is blocked off to drivers, so the park is technically water access only & very quiet. Dionisio features some of the gorgeous sandstone formations that look like swiss cheese, plus a midden site & a very basic provincial park campground.
3. Paris to Versailles. Okay, we didn't actually ride from Paris--we took the train most of the way, but the ride from the station & around the expansive grounds of the palace is really fun. This was the only guided tour we did in Paris, with Fat Tire Bike Tours.
4. East Van to the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve Trail. Okay, the part where we rode to the LSCR wasn't my favourite, it was the trail to the Seymour Falls Dam that's awesome. The Seymour Valley Trailway is a paved 11-km-long road for cyclists, hikers & skaters along the west side of the Seymour River.
5. Around Brussels on Car-Free Day. We happened to be in BXL the week of their car-free day on the year that they launched their public bike share system, Villo. We bought a 24-hour 'subscription' to Villo & rode around the city, the entirety of which was closed to cars. Not just a street or four like in Vancouver, but the whole damn city of Brussels. We took our Villos to tour Cantillon Brewery & stopped at a park created from sand & turf rolled out all over a public square, complete with beach chairs & a beer garden.
6. Critical Mass rides. Every one I've been on was tons of fun. Whether or not you agree with blocking bridges or taking over both directions of main streets, it's exhilarating to ride with hundreds or thousands of other cyclists.

 What's your favourite ride? Let me know in the comments below!


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Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

Tea Swamp Park & Hula Seventy are not the only ones doing lists, however. Check out NorthWestMommy's list & 'assignment' for next week.

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Psst... The Sprog now has a Facebook page! Head on over & click 'like' to get even more Sproggy goodness delivered to your feed. :)