Monday, January 30, 2012

The Joy of New Things in Old Places


We spend a lot of time in the Arboretum. I like to think of it as our other front yard. The big one across the street. But our side of the Arb is very hilly. This is good for working out, but not for riding a tricycle if you’re 2 and 3 years old. So yesterday we took a family excursion to the opposite end of the Arboretum, where it’s flat and more conducive to toddler trike rides. 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 tricycles, 1 Honda CRV. We made it work.

I’d like to think we know the Arb pretty well. We walk the dogs there. We take the girls to go jump off granite “rocks” there. We sled there . I run there (well, when I’m in running shape and the weather’s nice…) BestestHusband's getting to know the tree collection quite well. But it’s nice to find new things in old places.

We found a section of the Arb where they’ve done some renovations. They’ve put in some new rose arbors and created a little secluded arena surrounded by rose bushes that will be so charming when everything starts blooming. The girls saw open space and just started running. It was a freeform game of full-family “chase”. The girls were shrieking, the dogs were barking, everyone was running and laughing. It was one of those moments that you freeze-frame in your mind and pray that you remember it when you’re 90 years old and the family all lives too far away. Now that we've found the rose arena, I plan to return often.

Anyway, the girls were having too much fun running, and weren’t interested in riding their tricycles back to the entrance. So I got to ride a tricycle again. For the first time in years. And perhaps the last time for many more years…

The race is on!

If you haven't tried riding a tricycle recently, you should!
Any surprising discoveries this past weekend?

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