The new bike lane on Quincy was made even better today when planters were placed along it.

Pretty exciting, and since I took Fairfax Dr home today I didn't see them until a fellow bicyclist tweeted about them. After the kids were in bed I went to check it out.

Looks like a good improvement.

My afternoon appointment was in downtown Manhattan, about 50 minutes by bicycle from our mid-town office.

It was a little intimidating at first, but it was a lot of fun to see the new infrastructure along Broadway. Long stretches of that street have nice, bike-friendly intersections and clear bike lanes. Closer to downtown things become more chaotic -- there were a lot of cars parked where protected bike lanes could be built. But that's the Dutchman in my talking -- the American in me is quite impressed with what has been achieved so far.

Using the Citibike was interesting too. In the beginning the saddle was a little wobbly but I managed to tighten it up. New York is nice and flat so that helped.

My trip took 52 minutes, cost $6 and was 6.5 miles.

Working with the kids on their Dutch is my happy place -- it is so rewarding to teach them and a great bonding experience. Leo is slowly stopping his naps, and he's kind of ready to start "working" with me.

Nora finished kern 10 today -- two more to go and she'll have completed Veilig Leren Lezen. She used her new Loco Maxi for the first time today.

Leo slept for a full hour, which is relatively short, but when he woke up he was fresh. I took him downstairs and we started working together for the first time. He did 3 Loco's, 3 Bobo worksheets and now he's working on the iPod with the Juf Jannie apps.

Adrian shows no signs of stopping his naps yet (good for him!). He's done several Bobo worksheets too but we haven't really had much time to work together yet. All in due time.

Sasha made бухтички for breakfast today. The word бухтички is very similar to буквички and that caused some funny confusion.

Adrian overheard us talking about what we're going to do, and he asked: "papa, gaan jullie letters maken?"

Later when they were on the table, Adrian asked again: "kun je daar mee leren?"

Leo woke up fresh around 4.00 pm and he did his first Loco. We did the first two exercises together.

Later Nora came downstairs and she helped Leo with the third exercise.