On Sunday my children and I were meeting friends at Minnehaha Park and then planned to stop for ice cream and some book shopping in Highland Village. It is only a nine mile round trip and parking at Minnehaha Park is difficult so we decided to ride our bicycles. My six-year old rode on the […]
Saturday mornings in the Hop household. Contrast a typical weekday morning with an easy going day, full of relaxation and adventure. Its Saturday today. Time for an adventure! Sometimes we make errands an adventure too. Ordinary daily tasks can certainly be turned into a fun time for the little ones. Imagination and mindset are the […]
What do a father and daughter do to make the most of their morning commute? Riding bikes of course! Our morning routine is pretty typical of anyone. We struggle to wake up — well, Dad does. Daughter has been up for the past hour, carting stuffed animals and toys into Dad’s room and piling them […]
How can you tell if a neighborhood is safe, friendly, walkable, & successful? Advocates for great streets & neighborhoods look for clues as to what makes neighborhoods great, so what are some clues? Kids are often used as an “indicator species”–meaning, if kids use it, it must be great–and a common test is the Trick-or-Treat […]
By my count there are six schools on or one block off of Jefferson Street in Northeast Minneapolis. From the trail at 18th Avenue NE to 4th Avenue SE, there’s Spero Academy/Heartwood Montessori, Sheridan Elementary, Webster Elementary, Aveda Institute, Marcy Open School, and the University of Minnesota. 5th Street NE is a bicycle boulevard and […]
When I was in school as a child I took the bus. Nearly everyone I knew took the bus or walked. Now, my children are in the very small minority who walk or bike to school. Many children are still bussed to school, but my memories of 1985 do not include a long line of […]
Dogs–good. That being said, there are some dog owners in our community who are not. I live in Loring Park, which I like, and there isn’t a ton of open space other than the huge park the neighborhood is named after that nowhere in the neighborhood is more than a few blocks from, hmmm. A […]
When I was pregnant with my daughter my husband worked second shift, and five nights a week I was left to wrangle our then two-year old son by myself. After working all day I lacked the energy to cook, clean, and play with him. My solution was to find different people to feed and entertain […]
Thanks to the I Can Shine Bike Camp, children with Down’s syndrome get a chance to learn the skills and feel the joy of bicycling.
In this brief video, Saint Paul City Council Member Amy Brendmoen and her son Lars go for a bicycle ride with Fresh Energy to talk about safer streets.