Burning some rubber with the kids on the Santa Barbara waterfront!

With three children constantly at home it’s not easy to fit in exercise (well, not in the way I’d like – though I do get plenty of movement cleaning up after them and running around playing crazy games… and moving the wine glass to my mouth…).

This week, with friends visiting from New Zealand, we had the impetus to have some focused outdoor fun (especially since the older children were rather hooked on Minecraft gaming action and needed fresh air and sunshine more than they realised!).

We hired a few bikes down on the Santa Barbara waterfront, catching the last of the light before sundown and pedalled like crazy for a good half an hour.

A gentle wind even got up, reminiscent of Wellington – where you’d almost always expect to be pedalling head on into the wind (and being blown along the other way). It was a blast and made us all feel so ‘alive’ (especially me – desperate for a little exercise!). Little Miss 3 loved sitting on the back seat of a double coupe, which I pedalled with the help of our New Zealand friend. My older girls pedalled independently (Miss 10 very relieved to not have to ride a pink bike… whilst Miss 7, on the other hand, couldn’t have been happier to have some ‘flower power’ to coordinate with her pink heeled boots!).

It was a great end to the day, with the daylight fading all too fast in this winter season of short days, but leaving a beautiful scene for us to enjoy.