Bike rides are a great way to burn some energy and get out of the house. Where we live, we are lucky to be within riding distance of a very nice park. The route there is a mix of bike path, sidewalk, and road. Now that the oldest two are road-worthy on their two-wheelers, we planed a 3-ish mile bike ride to and from a local park. The plan was for the two youngest to ride in the Burley, pulled by Sam-the-stud. And then we'd enjoy some outdoor play and a picnic lunch. Even the best laid plan goes awry occasionally...
Be flexible, you have 4 kids!
What we packed: 
Equipment/Prep:
Total time:
Lessons learned:
#bikerides #BurleyBee #BurleyBikeTrailers #inexpensivefun #familybiking #picnics #4kids #familyoutings #bikingwithkids #bikes
- 6 water bottles
- Lunch bag with sandwiches, fruit, veggie straws, and peanuts
- Picnic blanket
- Albuterol inhalers
- Sunscreen
- Fox-tail
- Butterfly net and bug house (you know, just the basics)
- Paper towels and sanitizing wipes
- Baby wipes and two diapers for T-dog
- Checked the air in all tires the morning of the ride and refilled as needed with our bike pump
- Sam's 1986 road bike
- Sara's mid-90s mountain bike
- 2 kids bike- both hand me downs
- 1 Burley Bee bike trailer
- About an hour to get ready and on the road: Sara and kids did meal prep, gathering of supplies, and sunscreen application; Sam did bike prep and breakfast clean-up :)
- About a 2.5 hour adventure, not including the prep, but including the picnic and playing at the park
- It started out great! We were all excited for this, which is not always the case. No tears!
- Then not so great. My back tire popped again about 0.5 mile into it. F, who is still a bit slower than P on the bike, rode her bike back home with me, as I walked the lame, old girl (bike, not daughter) home. The others carried on ahead. F and I picked up the van, and met them at the park.
- It was salvaged and fun!
- Be flexible, you have 4 kids! Kids will remember the fun, joy, and family time, not the transient disappointment you felt. (For the love of . . . I just wanted 1 family bike ride! LOL) So, don't yell, because they will remember that. Just grin, and try to come up with Plan B. Teach them about learning to be flexible. It will help them in the long run.
- We are out of shape!
- Team-work makes the dream work ;)
- We packed everything we needed, didn't forget anything. We did not need the butterfly net.
- The Burley Bee bike trailer is the best investment we've made for biking with little kids. We bought it 8 years ago. Our budget was even tighter then, and we wanted something new and durable, but also as cheap as possible for good quality. So, we bought the most basic version available at R.E.I. and have used it ever since. It's held up so well. We're now 4 kids in. It's simple to switch out between both our bikes, and it fits two average sized little kids well. Our nearly 5 year-old and nearly 3 year-old were comfortable together in there. Sam said pulling them wasn't too bad (except SIGH for SIGH that SIGH last SIGH hill). Because it is the most basic version, it doesn't double as a stroller, so we only use it for biking. It's a bit bulky for storing if you don't break it down. Sara thinks it's not the easiest to break down/set back up (Sam disagrees), so we just keep it set-up in our garage during Summer months (we live in the Midwest). When kids were newly 12 months-old, they didn't always like sitting in it, mostly because they didn't like having bike helmets on, but we insisted. Some of our shortest have also needed some readjusting when they were that young. However, no issues, once our kids have been ~15 months.
