first bike trailer commute
We decided that today would be the day that we dropped off and picked up the kids from day care with our brand new bike trailer (which survived the burglary of our cellar!). It took a little while to get everything loaded up and ready to go, but we eventually got underway and dropped ZZ off first, since her nanny is closer. Unfortunately, Zoe LOVES the trailer and did not want to get out when we arrived, so it took a little coaxing. Eventually, Chloe managed it, and after installing Zoe with her Babu (fuzzy blanket which goes wherever she does) on the Nanny's couch, we set off for St Egreve. Alex's nanny is situated in an area with the worst parking I have ever seen, so the bike trailer is fantastic. You just ride onto one of the car inaccessible areas, go right up to the door, and remove the baby. An even more welcome development was the fact that the nanny has a garage, which we just wheel the trailer into, so I don't have to pull it to work and back. It's not all that far, but still. From nanny #2, it was smooth pedaling to work
After work, Ian and I rode the Clemenciere->Quaix->Proveysieux ride. It was the first time things felt good in a long while, and was probably one of my better power output days
From proveysieux, it was back to St. Egreve to pick up Alex. Ian helped to watch the bike while I got Alex and hooked up the trailer, and then it was back to le Fontanil to get Zoe. Once I had loaded up child #2, I gave Chloe a call and we did a little family ride to the wheat fields on the other side of the departmental road. Halfway through, we heard the dreaded "Zoe CACA!" from the trailer, and quickly discussed the impending problem with Chloe. We pulled off the road, let her find a place to get started, but there was thankfully no action. Meanwhile, we were frantically hunting down leaves with which to wipe her. While foraging, she did manage to pee ON her pants, which we had to remove before putting her back into the trailer. After a spirited ride back home to get her to the toilet, we were confronted with the problem of removing a naked child from the trailer without making the neighbors thing that we were lunatics. "American custom! kids ALWAYS naked in bike trailer; not in France?".
