Large families--bikes + garage= Mom going crazy!

[battlemaiden]

Is there room in the garage for anything else?

 

Bikes, scooters, skateboards, basket/soccer balls, coolers, dog kennel, tools..............

 

What. Do. You. Do?

 

As an a aside, I'm highly suspicious of people with garages neat as a pin that also have children. ;) It isn't normal.

 

Jo

[GSMP]

If you need a bike rack to keep it a little organized I can help you on that one....:lol:

 

My husband made one for us. We have the five bikes for us and a few extra because some kid in the neighbor hood or visiting niece or nephew needs one to ride.

 

It is a very easy rack to build. Only uses pvc pipe and sand.Well maybe some glue too.....

 

I have pictures of it at my blogl. I really thought we had one with all the bikes in it...but I guess I forgot to post it.

 

http://gingerporter.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/my-husbands-projects/#more-245

 

That will help a little.....oh and if you need pictures of wooden swords and a sword holder, which every home school garage should have....that's there also.......:lol:

[Unicorn.]

I feel your pain! The first house we owned had a garage, we lived there for 5 years. Not. one. single. night. did a vehicle spend in that garage! We now live in a house w/ no garage again. We do have a very nice carport attached to the house. But it is full of bikes, scooters, skateboards, misc. balls, stilts, etc.

 

Sigh. Someday. And all too soon unfortunately.

[Jen500]

One day for Mother's Day I said I wanted my car in the garage. Dh worked really hard and we can fit my van in the 2-car garage. It's tough though.

[Colleen]

Is there room in the garage for anything else?

Bikes, scooters, skateboards, basket/soccer balls, coolers, dog kennel, tools..............What. Do. You. Do? As an a aside, I'm highly suspicious of people with garages neat as a pin that also have children. ;) It isn't normal.

 

Oh, but it is normal in the town here. Day after day I run through the Neat as a Pin new neighborhoods and, as their garage doors are open (why wouldn't they be, since they have nothing to hide?) I wonder what drug these people are on. Everything ~ and I do mean everything ~ is in its place. Tidy with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "D" and that stands for "Don't Have to Work More Than 40 Hours a Week". Because the men ~ yes, it's the guys ~ of these homes have entirely too much time on their hands to weed wack, trim bushes, string Christmas lights, and alphabetically organize the contents of their garages.:glare:

 

Now, our reality is a bit...different. Our detached garage is unfinished and is home to approximately 4957 different species of insect. "Lived in" details such as cobweb-coated, fly poop-stained windows add a homey touch. Cords of wood are stacked (those are stacks?!) such that they consume one-half of the garage. Every other free space ~ aside from my vehicle, which oddly enough, I continue to insist belongs in the garage ~ is taken up by bikes, scooters, rollerblades, lawn chairs, mowers, strollers, and so on. You know. I know you know. Once a month or so I pull into the garage and proceed to loudly lament the situation. No one listens, nor do I expect them to. It's just therapy.:tongue_smilie:

[battlemaiden]

 

Oh, but it is normal in the town here. Day after day I run through the Neat as a Pin new neighborhoods and, as their garage doors are open (why wouldn't they be, since they have nothing to hide?) I wonder what drug these people are on. Everything ~ and I do mean everything ~ is in its place. Tidy with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "D" and that stands for "Don't Have to Work More Than 40 Hours a Week". Because the men ~ yes, it's the guys ~ of these homes have entirely too much time on their hands to weed wack, trim bushes, string Christmas lights, and alphabetically organize the contents of their garages.:glare:

 

Now, our reality is a bit...different. Our detached garage is unfinished and is home to approximately 4957 different species of insect. "Lived in" details such as cobweb-coated, fly poop-stained windows add a homey touch. Cords of wood are stacked (those are stacks?!) such that they consume one-half of the garage. Every other free space ~ aside from my vehicle, which oddly enough, I continue to insist belongs in the garage ~ is taken up by bikes, scooters, rollerblades, lawn chairs, mowers, strollers, and so on. You know. I know you know. Once a month or so I pull into the garage and proceed to loudly lament the situation. No one listens, nor do I expect them to. It's just therapy.:tongue_smilie:

 

Colleen- My dh and I are cracking up reading this post!! Thanks for keepin' it real.

 

You are absolutely right- it really is just therapy. I know it is normal when you have active kids. Like the club fort that has been set up in the Plumeria trees next to the house- including, but not limited to, a blue tarp and folding lawn chairs. I cringe everytime I look at it. I will never have "Yard of the Month" but the neighborhood kids love being here and I always know where my kids are- but I have lost track of the little one in the garage. It is *that* bad right now. :glare:

 

Anyways, your post had me truly laughing out loud- and my dh too, since 40hr weeks aren't, and never will be, his reality. ;)

 

Jo

[lynn]

Is there room in the garage for anything else?

 

Bikes, scooters, skateboards, basket/soccer balls, coolers, dog kennel, tools..............

 

What. Do. You. Do?

 

As an a aside, I'm highly suspicious of people with garages neat as a pin that also have children. ;) It isn't normal.

 

Jo

 

We got bike racks and scooter hooks so everything is neatly on one wall.

[Faithr]

We have a two car garage. One side is for my car (the mini-van), my dh gets to park his car in the driveway. The other half of the garage is full of shelves that house all the sports equipment (as well as other stuff like coolers, etc.) and bikes. The bikes aren't on the shelves of course. They take up the space the other car would.

 

Before we moved here we didn't have a garage or carport or anything. We kept the bikes on our tiny front porch and all the rest of the stuff in the basement.

 

Around here too I see garages neat enough to eat off the floor. Of course these couples both work, have no more than two kids, have nannies, housekeepers, lawn care service, etc. etc. They don't actually live in their houses so it makes it much easier.

[Marie in Oh]

Colleen- My dh and I are cracking up reading this post!! Thanks for keepin' it real.

 

You are absolutely right- it really is just therapy. I know it is normal when you have active kids. Like the club fort that has been set up in the Plumeria trees next to the house- including, but not limited to, a blue tarp and folding lawn chairs. I cringe everytime I look at it. I will never have "Yard of the Month" but the neighborhood kids love being here and I always know where my kids are- but I have lost track of the little one in the garage. It is *that* bad right now. :glare:

 

Anyways, your post had me truly laughing out loud- and my dh too, since 40hr weeks aren't, and never will be, his reality. ;)

 

Jo

 

Oh my goodness, your reference to lawn of the month almost made me spit my cheerios onto the computer screen.

 

We never were in the running for lawn of the month-- the lawn, ahm, inspectors (I won't call them what we called them here) probably thought my dh was deployed all the time. (See post about army verses the air force as that was not the case).

 

There was a family though, and he must have mowed three times a week at the lowest setting. He had a putting green. His garage, I tell you, was prestine. Everything in its place. They are still like that. With three kids to boot. They live in a neighboring town now as he is stationed here, though we lived together on base in CA, and they are much like the family that moved in across the street from you with the guy with Bullet on his Corevette lisence plate.

 

Like Colleen said, some of these guys have lots of time on their hands.

 

One side of our garage is bikes, etc. and the other is our van. DH just said he is going to clean the garage on his quarter off from teaching this fall. :toetap05: We'll see. Since every Saturday from August to October is spent at soccer field near you, I won't hold my breath.

[MomofSeven]

that we need to get one of those bike racks that you see at the library or on college campuses. Right now, in our garage, we have 9 bikes. Yes, 9!. But I have 6 kids and the little ones go back and forth between their tricycles and their two wheelers. (Don't even get me started on the other wheeled vehicles we have - strollers, wagons, moster truck). Anyhoo, to your question. We have a three car garage and can tuck away the bikes in the third garage out of site from the main entrance.

 

Still, with all the other sports equipment and toys, we can't either car in the garage. During winter, all these things get tucked in the back so at least my van can get parked.

 

I'm with you, however. I find a very clean garage suspicious and slightly distubrbing.:001_smile:

[Quiver0f10]

We park in the driveway :D

[frogpond1]

We may not be a large family, only 6 of us, but we don't have a garage at the moment. Bikes are under a temporary carport thing out behind our house. I'd love a messy garage myself as apposed to keeping all storage stuffed in closets and under beds.