JULY 13 - 6 Wheels, Green Timbers Park, and Cool Drinks

Breehy's and my morning route - 14.5 km (approx) - and if that didn't do me in, the walk to Walmart with my faithful buggy tagging at my heels did. But first the bike ride.

My plan was to ride to Tynehead Park , but as a(nother) clever Scottish poet said, 'The best laid plans of mice and men go aft astray.' You'll see why I changed my mind (and Breehy was grateful) later on in the blog.

So off we went, up 134 Street to 96 Avenue, wheee-ing downhill past Tim Hortons and all their freshly baked donuts (that's a bit of sarcastic humour, by the way) and taking bike paths, sidewalks, and (shiver) roads, we continued our travels. Until I saw this:

Well, we can't resist a park, especially a green one that was obviously full of timber. Vokey men would see only the lines of a schooner in this park, but this Vokey gal just enjoys the beauty of the trees.

What a peaceful path. From here you can see no high-rises, no cranes reaching the sky - not even any power towers or telephone wires. You don't hear traffic, you hear birds chirping and tweeting (the old fashioned kind.)

I found a pond in the distance and decided to check it out. On the way, there was a really nice meadow -

A nice pile of climbing rocks -

- beside a picnic area -

- and then the pond, which was home to several ducks and a few fishermen.

The only downside of the park was the new layer of crushed stone on the path, which made it really difficult for Breehy to travel smoothly. We found our way back to the comfort of the paved bike path and 96 Avenue and headed on our way.

Mmmm. There was a lot of uphill driving here, but that meant the way home would be a breeze. We passed a little strip mall on a corner and had to visit here -

And a few minutes later - oh oh. We stopped and decided it was best not to go down that hill, as we would have to come up it later. And the one in the distance? Well, I must say, we just wimped out and headed back for home.

A little corner store supplied us with a really nice Iced Lemonade, which was perfect for a hot morning snack.

Unfortunately, there wasn't as much downhill as I thought there would be on the way home, but the last few metres were bliss. Indoors, cooled down, showered, then it was a walk with my buggy to Walmart for some essentials - which included what seemed like 100 pounds of Kitty Litter. When I got back home, I realized that somewhere along the way, I had lost the shower.

A quick whirr of the blender frothed up a nice cool smoothie for a late lunch - a few frozen strawberries, a banana, a tablespoon of sugar, and some milk to make it all pourable. How easy is that? Yum.

Now, the evening is closing in, and I have two kidlets eating snacks and watching Tree House cartoons. Soon I'll pop them in bed for their sleepover, and I won't be long following them. I don't know why, but mornings always come real early, even with no benefit of alarms.