Cheaper Than a Car Payment-And More Fun Too

Yesterday we had to take the van into the shop. In the past this has been stressful for me because I end up having the kids with me and no way to get them around while we are waiting. But three visits ago I noticed how close Purcell Park is, so for the past two visits that is what we have done. Walked to the park!

The first time I took the double stroller (God bless you for this, Stacey!) It made the walk pretty quick, but it is hard on the arms and back. We also couldn't go as many places because strollers need paths and preferably not grass ones.

We did get to see a big rain puddle full of baby ducks, teenager ducks, and mommy and daddy ducks! The boys enjoyed throwing crackers at the ducks and eating them themselves.

Fast forward a few weeks and we are back at the shop. (New mantra: It's cheaper than a car payment. It's cheaper than a car payment. It's cheaper than a car payment.)

This time we tried out the backpack carrier and Henry opted to walk lag behind and run to catch up, repeatedly. We saw the ducks again, evicted from their puddle by the fact that it has stopped raining all day, every day. This time they were over by Blacks Run. The babies are growing up, sniff sniff. We fed them some bread crusts, but they weren't overly hungry this time. The fish were though. They were crowding on top of each other and jumping out of the water to get to the bread. Must have been the Rye bread. Glad somebody likes it!!

We walked around the whole track stopping at the pond to feed some more fish. Henry was plotting to catch "those ducks right there in the middle." No amount of arguing would convince him that those decoys weren't going anywhere. I finally had to agree that "as soon as those ducks swim over to the edge, you can jump in and catch them." It's the truth, isn't it!?!?

Henry also collected a fair number of sticks on our journey. Some of them were "walking sticks" and some of them were magic wands. If you were any of the fair number of other people walking or jogging along the track in Purcell Park yesterday morning, I apologize for the little boy waving a stick and yelling strange things at you. He was "throwing pears at people" with his wand. (Don't worry, he doesn't really know magic.)

After an incredibly long walk around the track (how many switch backs does one trail need??) we made it to Kids' Castle just in time for it to be overrun by the 4th graders from Keister Elementary on an end of the year picnic. We played over by the baby swings, both in the rocks and in the swings. Benjamin especially liked pushing around piles of rocks.

When we found out the car was ready, we packed up to leave. We discovered that the walk is much shorter if you head behind the buildings and cut across parking lots. It is also safer for little boys who insist on jumping over every single crack in the ancient pavement.

And all that sunshine and walking makes for some serious nap time later in the day!!