On Monday I had a late-afternoon meeting at work, so John picked up the kids from school. (School day is 8:30 am. to 3 p.m. and my usual work day is 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) Later in the evening, he marveled, "Can you believe we didn't get home until 4 o'clock?!" Well, yes. Yes, I can. I've learned that kids' short legs have a dual impact on their walking speed. 1. Shorter stride means it takes more steps to cover the same distance as an adult; and 2. Short legs leave you much closer to the ground where there is no end of items in need of closer inspection. Acorns, crab apples, leaves, sticks, worms (wiggling or dried out), rocks, sidewalk cracks, etc.So even though Edward's school is four blocks away and Daniel's is only another two blocks from there, the walk home is never expeditious and rarely direct. Sometimes we stop to play on the playground at one or both schools. Sometimes we stop for an impromptu picnic of whatever is left in their lunch bags. Sometimes we stop to pick up items of interest to add to the collection of pine cones, acorns, sticks, bark strips, et. al. on our front porch. Sometimes we stop to have meltdowns about brothers who won't let us be first.
Thus, we rarely make any plans for the after-school/before-dinner hours. With nowhere to go and beautiful fall afternoons that beckon us outside, we're wide open for bike riding, frisbee throwing or even the latest obsession, front porch pulley.
