Bike Blender and Bingo

We had a wonderful time with our friends at Westbrook Elementary last night! Westbrook is the home of one of our initial Walk and Roll to School programs, and our spirits are always lifted when we hang out with the Wildcats.

Last night was the annual Bingo Night sponsored by the school's Community Club, complete with pizza, prizes, popcorn, and pedal-powered smoothies, courtesy of the bike blender! The odometer tells the story - 8+ miles pedaled while producing yummy "Jack-o-Lantern" smoothies.

Pictured here is the NEW (commercially made) bike blender, courtesy of the grant we received from the National Center for Safe Routes to School. The Community Bike Shop came through for us again with a free bike and top level Blenderologist assistance with installation. Shown in the photo is my fabulous assistant (aka my hubby) who is putting the finishing touches on the odometer/spedometer and the pedal-powered lights.

Major kudos once again to HyVee - this time the Peony Park location - for helping out their neighborhood school by donating the ingredients and recipe for the smoothies! Folks, there are registered dietitians at each HyVee, and they are awesome. Their dedication to our community is much appreciated!

I would be remiss if I did not give a special shout out to Lauren, who became my very able assistant. She jumped right in and helped us all night...even devising a system for making sure we had the bike in a gear that was just right for each rider.

Lauren's parents lead a walking school bus from their home each morning when the weather is nice. They've even had kids dropped off at their house to join them! The example they have set for the school is very inspirational, and we applaud their dedication.

Fullerton Fair

What a blast we had at Fullerton Magnet Elementary last night! Fullerton is a very big school, so when they do something, they do it big. The event last night was the Science Fair/Health and Wellness Fair/Waffle Man dinner. We trotted out the Bike Blender for it's first full scale maneuver. Sure, we'd tested it at the bike shop and for a small group at Saddlebrook Elementary, but this was a scale unlike we have tried before!!

Major thanks to the 156th/West Maple Hy-Vee store who generously donated the smoothie ingredients. Store Dietitian Amanda came through with a great recipe for us, and was on hand last night to hand them out to families as smoothies were blended and sampled.

Talk about "trial by fire" - last night was the first official event outing for our new and fabulous intern, Kassi. She jumped right in and did a great job!

Along with strawberry/banana smoothies, and Walk to School zipper pulls, we also had the Fullerton walking distance map on display so that kids and parents could find their house and estimate the time it would take to walk to school. This school is located right in the middle of a large subdivison with great sidewalk connections, so there is a lot of potential.

Thanks, Falcons!!