Emma wanted to blow bubbles.

I said yes… but outside in the backyard.

Em said if we were going into the backyard, she would like to ride her bike on the walking trail.

I told her that would be fine.

We put the bikes over the gate, put the girls’ helmets on, and we walked the block back to the walking trail. (No gate from our yard to the trail. Bummer.)

Five minutes later, Ana shrieked, “Oh, no, guys! I am getting a BLISTER!” (Sigh.)

Emma said she’d rather blow bubbles anyway.

We walked the bikes back to the backyard, lifted them (again) over the gate, and walked the block back to the house.

Emma decided that she DID want to go outside on the walking trail… in the wagon.

I said this would be fine.

I loaded the wagon with water bottles and the bottles of bubbles. The girls piled in, and we headed out and around the block to the walking trail.

Eighty pounds of little girls in a wagon makes tight walking trail corners impossible. (And, boy, I tried!)

I said I had a better idea. Did anyone want to go to the duck pond?

YES! Of course.

I pulled the wagon back around the block and out of our neighborhood. Down the sidewalk near the busy street, down the corner, and into the park. (That mile is nothing when I’m running it at 6am… but a wagon pull at 3pm is a different beast entirely!)

We saw the ducks. We made the laps. We rode across the bridge. We did a whole lot of quacking. We (Mommy, that is) accepted the sympathy of every runner out there because at least they were just pulling their own weight.

Bubbles spilled. Water bottles run dry. Time to head home. Girls ten times heavier somehow! (And ten times meaner to each other. Sigh.)

Home again eventually, red faced and pooped out.

The End