As a mother and CEO of Citibabes, a family membership club for kids and parents, making sure my home and business are both healthy and green are top priorities. It takes a bit of planning, but luckily my daughters Natasha, 5, and Chloe, 2, are like my own walking, talking PDAs – they keep me concentrated on what’s important so I can stay focused on them.

- Tracey Frost Rensky, CEO & Co-Founder, Citibabes

7 AM – Namastar Yoga: It can be tough to get the kids organized in the morning, especially in the summertime when we don’t have the structure of school. One way, I’ve found, to start us all off on the right foot and practice mindfulness is to do a half hour of yoga together while the house is still (relatively) quiet. Natasha, 5, adores any kind of dance or movement, so she’s a natural. Chloe, who’s not yet 3, loves to follow along, but can easily get distracted by toys in the room. That is, until I purchased one of those mini laser star projectors online. We pull the shades in the girls’ room, turn out the lights and wow! This extraordinary little machine projects thousands of roving points of light all across the ceiling and walls –it’s like floating in outer space! Perfect for centering the day with a few stretches or to just lay there on our mats counting the constellations.

9 AM – Get Energized: When Citibabes went green we worked with a consultant to make the company and clubs more eco-friendly. It was a really comprehensive process and made me wish there was a resource that could help you do the same for the home, especially in the summer when energy usage can go through the roof with air conditioners. When I found Deep Green Living here in downtown Manhattan offered a suite of home programs – from preparing a non-toxic home for a new baby to cocktail presentations on green living for a group of friends – I knew I had to get them to our apartment in Tribeca. Their 2-hour on-site home consultation on energy efficiency was like a light bulb going on – an energy efficient one, of course. There are now services like Deep Green Living in every city, and the internet is the best place to start, especially when involving the kids.

11 AM – Message on a Bottle: After Deep Green Living installed water purifiers on all of our faucets we made a conscious choice as a family to go bottled-water free. Sigg’s BPA and phthalate-free reusable bottles are all we use now. When I discovered that you could personalize each bottle with a photo and name on Café Press, I ordered one for everybody. Now it’s part of our routine: before we leave the house, we top off the Siggs.

12 PM – Take a Bike! There are so many eco-friendly ways to get around New York City, but in the summer a subway ride can get a little icky. Getting the family out on bicycles for a breezy, afternoon ride is a no-brainer example of packing in green living, exercise and quality time – all into one outdoor activity. Adeline Adeline is my favorite new cycling shop in the neighborhood.  Their retro grown-up bikes are drool-worthy and the selection of candy-colored kids helmets from Bern make it easy to get the girls excited about safety. Sailing down the West Side bike path on a sunny afternoon with the Statue of Liberty in the distance is quintessential New York.

1 PM – Pop Life: The ice-cream truck doesn’t stand a chance if I’ve had the forethought to make and pack Natasha and Chloe’s favorite homemade fruit ice-pops for the picnic. We try to avoid the added sugar or juice concentrate that some recipes call for and instead just throw a combo of our favorite fresh fruits in the blender with a touch of water for smoothness. The girls love anything berry or watermelon. I like to add mint and lime to mine for a little “grown-up” flavor. Just freeze in paper cups with popsicle sticks and peel when you’re ready to eat.

3 PM – The Art of Recycling: Summer afternoons can drag if you don’t have a constructive activity planned for the kids. Usually the girls and I will head over to Citibabes for one of our summer enrichment workshops like Green Thumbs, a planting class for kids, and DinoMite, a workshop on prehistory and volcanoes.  This past school year we created a sustainable arts lab at Citibabes, asking families to donate all kinds of household items –egg cartons, shoe boxes, packaging peanuts – things that normally end up in the trash but at school are repurposed for art projects and science experiments. When Natasha brought home this paper towel roll stargazer she made at Kids in Space, I was amazed – something destined for the recycling bin had become one of her favorite toys.

5 PM- Hard at Play: The best part of being a CEO of company created to bring families together and make parenting a little easier is that I often take advantage of the benefits Citibabes has to offer. Whenever the girls are in class – Chloe’s ballet or Natasha’s Suzuki music lesson – I utilize the free hour I have at Citibabes’ family café to answer emails or do research for our parenting blog, www.CitibabesBlog.com. Balancing family and my career is always a juggling act, but having a safe and supportive environment like Citibabes where other moms and dads are grappling with the same challenges just takes the stress out. When the girls burst out of class waving whatever they’ve just created or excited to tell me something they learned, there is a sense of accomplishment on both ends. Chatting about the afternoon’s activities in our favorite café booth is the kind of bonding moment I look forward to all day.