Like most families we are always on the go. Unfortunately it always seems to be in different directions. With a busy wife and two kids involved in different activities the family walk has turned into just me and the dog. Even when we are all together, one kid wanted to ride his bike, the other wanted to ride his scooter, the dog wanted to stop and sniff every mailbox, and the walk was just a pain.
That is until my youngest son learned how to ride a bike.
He had no interest in riding a bike until a few weeks ago. He was perfectly content with riding his scooter around the neighborhood even though most of his friends knew how to ride a bike years ago. I have always dreaded teaching my kids to ride a bike; I just don't have the patience that it takes. I look at a kid and wonder why it's so hard for them to get it. I mean there's a phrase "like riding a bike" for a reason. But I was tired of having my kids going in separate directions all the time so it was time for him to finally learn.
Moments after declaring he was riding home he crashed into a parked car... But I think we've made great progress.
Posted by Daddy's in Charge? on Thursday, June 25, 2015
Now that we all knew how to ride bikes it was time to get moving... and get moving we did. At first we only rode our bikes around the neighborhood. We live in a pretty quiet street with not much traffic. It's perfect for riding our bikes around, but after a while it gets boring. Fortunately for us we had planned a trip to my parents house in upstate New York and it's the perfect place to go for LONG bike rides.
Our first ride was four miles. It was a pretty flat trip but it was a good start. The next day my son Tyler decided that he wanted to go FARTHER so farther we went NINE MILES IN TOTAL. But we weren't done there. I took him on a trip around my old hometown of Geneseo, New York and we biked on the same streets that I used to ride when I was a kid.
We rode 12 miles that day. I have never ridden 12 miles in my life, and here my son Tyler did it at only 10 years old. It's really unbelievable to think about.
Of course my younger son, who just learned how to ride, did not want to be upstaged by his older. He decided that he wanted to go on a long ride himself. So we did.
We rode seven miles that day. Seven miles for a kid that just learned how to ride a bike two weeks ago is amazing. Of course I had to stress out every time that he swerved into the middle of the road or veered off into the shoulder, but since there was no traffic it wasn't too much of an issue.
Not all of our journeys involved our bikes though. There were plenty of hikes as well. When you are in Upstate New York there are plenty of places that you can go and find some amazing scenery.
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| Letchworth State Park |
I shared all of this because I have partnered with Life of Dad and KIND Snack Bars who were nice enough to donate a box of KIND Bars for every mile that I moved this summer with my family. It started off slow as it was only me and the dog who ever wanted to get out for a walk, but once my kids got on those bikes, the miles started adding up. Thanks to this campaign, KIND will be donating 54 boxes of KIND Snack Bars to my son's elementary school all because I spent time getting exercise with my kids. What a deal!
KIND turned out to be the perfect snack for those long bike rides as well. While they weren't the most strenuous of rides (The kids are only 10 and 8, so we won't be doing the Tour de France anytime soon) nothing beat a KIND bar to help us fulfill our hunger afterwards.
If you aren't familiar with KIND bars, since its founding in 2004, KIND has been on a mission to make the world a little kinder one snack and act at a time. All award-winning KIND snacks are made from delicious, wholesome ingredients and are gluten free and non GMO. KIND currently offers six different snack lines including: KIND® Fruit & Nut and KIND® PLUS, two lines of delicious whole nut & fruit bars; KIND® Nuts & Spices, a line of whole nut & spice bars that naturally have only 5g of sugar or less; KIND Healthy Grains® Clusters made from five super grains; KIND Healthy Grains® Bars, a line of crunchy and chewy granola bars; and STRONG & KIND®, a line of savory-flavored bars featuring 10g of protein.
KIND has partnered with Made to Matter - Handpicked by Target, a program in which Target has selected brands that have supported three distinct pillars (unique collaborative partnerships, innovation, social responsibility) in an effort to offer their consumers better-for-you and better-for-the-world products.
What do you say? Let's get out with the family and get moving this summer!
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