a long walk

After several days of torrential downpours, and more on the way tomorrow, today was anomalistically sunny and beautiful. The humidity was low, and there was a cool breeze coming off the water. In short, it was an absolutely perfect day to spend almost entirely outside, which is exactly what we did.

This morning, after we dropped Garrett off at school, Caleb, Matthew, and I began the 3-mile round-trip trek to purchase fresh produce at Brooklyn's famous fruit stand, 3 Guys from Brooklyn. Caleb insisted that he push Matthew's stroller, and he did -- the entire way. It was hard work. (For him, anyway. I got off easy. Do you realize how much drag small children holding onto the stroller as you walk can create? A LOT. I spent years training my boys to hold onto the stroller as we walked about the neighborhood so I could keep them close, but now it's time for me to train them to let go. Or, you know, push the stroller for me.)

 Down the street.

 Past "Blake's playground."

 Over the freeway.

 Getting close.

 And we made it.

I convinced Caleb to let me push the stroller on the way back since it was so heavily burdened with our purchases that if I didn't balance everything just right, it would topple over backwards. And I don't think Matthew would have appreciated that.

To reward everyone for their good walking, we stopped at a playground about half-way home, where we did a bit of exploring and sampled some of the fruit we'd been hauling (all that walking makes you hungry!).

Later, at another playground (because we just couldn't seem to stay inside), Matthew got really excited when Caleb started pushing him in the swings.



Those legs! And that laugh!

(Garrett was with us at that park, but he was off making friends with kids who owned bikes so that he could learn how to ride one. And, once he figured it out, he boldly announced that we needed to go buy him one on Saturday. If only we had somewhere to keep one....)

What a beautiful day for a lot of walking. According to my pedometer, I've clocked in today with 14,152 steps (so far), which amounts to 6.3 miles. Whew! I think I'm ready now for tomorrow's forecasted rain.