I love that the focus of Valetine's Day has shifted from sweethearts and happily ever after to friendship and celebrating all kinds of love and all kinds of great folks. On the way to spin class this morning, I ran into a pack of my very dear mom friends (also on their way to the same awesome spin class) and shared some great Valentine's Day hugs.

While checking my email this morning I came across the lovliest Valentine from a good friend and fellow cyclist, The Urban Commuter. He decided to celebrate Valentine's Day by recognizing Forty Fabulous Femmes who are active cycling advocates in the city. What a lovely gesture!

Derek and I are looking forward to a romantic skate together on the canal this evening while the kids have dinner with their special valentine, Grandma. Over the weekend we had lots of great family outdoor time together -- skiing and skating included. There's nothing I love more than big old family outdoor adventures, but as anyone who has ever tried to put a sleepy child into a bike seat or has run out of snacks on the way home from the park knows, family adventures always include a little more planning and a little more patience.

Yesterday, for example, the kids and I decided we'd go skating on the canal while Derek was having an all by himself grown up ski. The glorious seven kilometre canal is only a few kilometres from our house, but it's too far to walk when you're also planning to skate. The kids and I actually sat down together for a logistics meeting before we set out on this adventure.

Jasper hasn't skated since last year so he wasn't sure he remembered how to do it. Anna Sierra gets to go skating with her class at school every week, so she felt well prepared for the adventure. I love skating but I wasn't sure how we were going to carry everything we needed to the canal.

We decided Anna Sierra would ride her own bike, Jasper would ride the Kona with me, I'd carry all our skates on the Kona and the kids would wear their skate helmets on the bike. To my delight, we discovered Anna Sierra is a very competent winter cyclist and Jasper (who has been watching figure skating on TV with Grandma) not only remembers how to skate from last winter but can also do spins and jumps.