As Simple as Going for a Walk

We woke up to find snow on the ground this morning.  As I stood in our kitchen and looked out the window, even more snow began to fall, as if to mock me.  It was just enough to cover the ground, but enough to cover the ground is enough to deplete one's hopes for Spring coming on time.  But as I've said before, Spring is a fickle lady, especially here in northern Minnesota.  She showed her fickle nature yet again today.

So I watched the snow from our kitchen window and chose to think instead of warmer days we've enjoyed recently, particularly one day a couple weeks ago that was so lovely that we ventured to the Lakewalk for our first walk of the season.  We went because the warm sun begged us to be outside and because what else could be as simple as going for a walk?

Eli put Kai in the carrier and off we went.  We made it to the bridge over Tischer Creek and the boys were enamored with watching the water rush toward Lake Superior.  Ice remained on the edges of the creek and it was a fabulous sign of Winter turning to Spring.

We crossed the bridge and walked on.  As it turned out, that was a mistake.  We definitely should have turned back.  We overestimated Caleb's energy at that point (and therefore overestimated his willingness to keep walking on his own), and underestimated Kai's sheer determination to do some walking for himself.  When we finally decided to turn around, Eli took Kai out of the carrier just so he could take off his outer layer, but Kai adamantly refused to go back in the carrier.  The boy wouldn't be carried in our arms either.  He would only walk.  Except that he still can't walk entirely on his own - he has to hold one of our hands and although he's quite fast, he's not particularly graceful.  And when it's late in the day, he can be slow and easily trip over himself, which is exactly what happened.  But he was in heaven, holding my hand and walking and tripping and falling to his knees and picking himself back up.  If I tried to carry him for a bit just to quicken our pace, he thrashed in my arms, wanting to walk again.  So we made our way back to the car very slowly.

Eventually Caleb realized how tired he was and literally laid down on his back in the middle of the Lakewalk.  He just laid there and wouldn't get up.  And Kai kept tripping and falling but refusing to be carried.  So we decided the only way to finish the walk was like this:

We had to force Kai back into the carrier and he literally cried and reached for me the entire way back, as if I would release him if only he tried hard enough to get my attention.  And Caleb was content to be carried like this, even pretending to be a hawk (a wounded one, perhaps).  So my beloved husband carried our weary kids all by himself all the way back to the car.  What a stud!

As we reached the parking lot, a family of five who were biking had stopped to turn around and head back the other way.  One of their sons asked why they had to turn back already when he had energy to keep going, and his mom nodded in our direction and said, "Because we don't want to end up like them."  I laughed out loud and said, "Yep, you don't wanna do this.  Turn around now!"

Because even something as simple as going for a walk can turn into a kid-carrying fiasco!