Biker

Jules is loving her balance bike.  She really enjoys going to the park and making the big loops around, where she gets a chance to do some coasting.  She's getting quite good at it!

Progress on the Bike

]
Jules and Her Balance Bike from David Chng on Vimeo.

The Little Valentines

 Snap peas are quite happy

 Look at who can almost reach the ground to use her Strider!

 Should be cruising on the bike by summer!

 Good garden helpers

The Littlest Biker Girl

Julia is bound and determined to ride the Strider bike.  She gets the helmet and tries to put it on and then tries to pick up the Strider bike by herself.  We put her on it and push her around, which she likes.  Obviously, it is going to be a bit before she can actually ride it herself, as she is still tiny!  You can see that she has to grow quite a bit before she can reach the ground and the seat is down in the lowest possible position, but that does not stop her from trying!

Biker Girl

Julia found Alex's helmet and came to have me fasten it for her.  Once it was on, she headed out to the bikes and started to try to get the bike down.  Odds are that she will start to ride bike pretty early ;-)

Biking in Jack London Square

Cool!  There's a train here, ready for boarding.

Chasing the poor pigeon....even on the bike.

Taking a break to enjoy a sandwich and some fruit in front of the marina.

Here comes the train!

On a mission to find a flat place to ride bike yesterday, Alex and I ended up over by Jack London Square.  What a great place to ride around.  There's an Amtrak station with lots of trains, the waterfront with all of the boats and kayaks, plenty of birds and not too many people, so it is easy to ride the bike around freely.  Alex is getting quite good at navigating on his sporty little bike and of course he enjoyed being able to speed up to chase pigeons.  He just cannot help himself, even on the bike. 

Tour de Cure 2010

Our family all ready to ride for a cure!


Stopping to drink some water


David and Alex on the way back to Yountville


The clown painting a garbage truck on Alex's arm.


Wiped out after the ride and all of the excitement

Thanks to everyone who supported us in the Tour de Cure ride for diabetes up in Napa County today! As a family, we raised $675 thanks to everyone's generosity. When I looked at the event website, it shows that at last count, Team BioRad raised over $47,000 and the event today raised $865,000 which can be put to good use towards diabetes research.

We had a very fun and scenic ride up in Napa Valley. Alex enjoyed seeing all of the vineyards and rows and rows of grapes, the cows, tractors and even a California quail. It was a gorgeous day, which made for great riding weather. There were lots of other families out with their kids as well, either in trailers, on bike seats or riding their own bicycles. Alex was inspired and said that when he gets big he wants to try a "big" bike.

After the ride, there was all kinds of fun, along with lunch, wine tasting and massages. Alex jumped like a crazy boy in the bouncy house, did some coloring and even got a garbage truck painted on his arm. Yes, of course, he asked for a garbage truck. It came complete with garbage can, lights and a road. He was quite happy!

What a great day and all for a great cause. Thanks again to everyone who donated. We appreciate it!

Nimitz Way Trail--Tilden Park

Family pic (one of the few that we ever seem to get)


Admiring the cows


Alex tromping through the hills, shortly before stepping in a cow pie.


David and Alex riding past the cows on the path


One of the happy California cows along the way


The family on the way back

Our bike ride this morning was up in Tilden Park on the Nimitz Way Trail. The scenery is beautiful, with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Pablo Resevoir and even some cows to ride along side on the way. It has a good mix of up and down, so you get to work a bit to get up the hill, but then going down the hills fast is rewarding too! Alex liked to go fast and he enjoyed the company of the cows along the trail. He even met up with a cow pie, so it was just like being on the farm. We are so grateful that we can live in an urban area where so much land has been preserved for people to enjoy the outdoors. Now, what to do with the afternoon?

Busy Weekend

Little biker boy all ready to go! (He reminds me of Landen in this picture)


Alex and Daddy riding around Bay Farm Island


Tadgh and Alex enjoying dinner


Alex and Sid playing some bolo golf

We have a fun weekend here, with lots of sunshine. On Saturday we took a nice bike ride around Alameda's Bay Farm Island and then had a nice relaxing lunch at Speisekammer. Alex enjoyed playing in the "jungle" out on the front patio, while David and I enjoyed a nice beverage. After naptime, we took in a short zoo visit and a carousel ride.

Sunday we bought some prep items for the garden, went to the Farmer's Market, and went to a picnic up at Robert's Park to say farewell to Steph, AJ and Emerson, who are moving to India in a couple of weeks. Alex enjoyed the nice shady redwood forest where the picnic was located and also tried his hand at "bolo golf", which is very popular in Minnesota, from what I heard, but I do not remember even seeing it there. In the evening, we continued to enjoy the beautiful weather with a barbeque at the house with Hoa, Sean and Tadgh. The boys enjoyed sausages and potato salad and fresh strawberries from the Farmer's Market, in addition to playing in the front yard for the evening. All in all, great weekend! Hope yours was a good one too.

Riding by the Bay

A Nice Weekend

It was a nice weekend here in the Chng household. We had brunch at the Chia's house on Saturday, which was fun. It was great to get to hang out with the family. Nat is such a great big brother to Mika, who loves Elmo these days. Alex had a good time watching the older kids and enjoyed his new books which were a gift from the Chia's.

Today we took the bikes over to Alameda to ride around by the shoreline. While David was unloading everything, Alex had a fabulous time chasing seagulls around the parking lot. He was quite fascinated by the birds, who were being fed by some ladies nearby. Every time they would all start to fly, he would squat down to make sure they didn't hit his head. It was too cute! In fact, a lady came all the way over to us, from a picnic spot to let us know that we had such an adorable little boy.

He has definitely decided that walking is the preferred mode of transporting himself around. He is quite cautious and is aware of transitions between different types of floor covering, as well as thresholds, which is a good thing. He is starting to try to climb on things more and definitely does not stop exploring for a moment! Lately he also has started to say "un-un-un", which always seems to happen when the context would suggest that he is trying to say "no".

We are keeping busy here and hoping for a nice weather week, so that we can spend some more time outside.

New Rides!

Yay! for Craigslist and its ability to help us all recycle kiddo gear which still has lots of life left in it. A couple of weeks ago, we went out to Danville to purchase a bike trailer and Kettler trike for Alex. David had been searching for a used trailer and when this one came up, it happened to be packaged with a Kettler trike. Luckily, we were able to contact the seller quickly and made an appointment to go and pick it up. The trailer and the trike are both in excellent condition and will be put to good use. Bonus was the fact that they were a great deal!

So, that is why David is tuning up the bike and I'm on the hunt for one as well. As you can see, Alex enjoyed both of his new rides, even though the trike is way too big for him at the moment. We should have lots of fun biking moments in our future.