Sunday Walks

Our family is incapable of going on a nice leisurely walk. I envy the families I see walking around the neighborhood having such a nice time together. I have always enjoyed going on walks, especially on Sunday afternoons. Walks were never John's favorite but it was easy enough to get him to go until we had children. However, he insists on knowing the exact distance and time of the walk before hand and gets very annoyed if the walking path deviates from the predetermined path or takes longer than expected. Once Ainsley was born the leisurely walk got a little more difficult. She didn't enjoy being in her stroller for long periods of time from day one. She wanted held. So as long as I carried her on me in a baby carrier we were okay. Then she outgrew those and walking became even more difficult. It usually involved a decent amount of crying, a lot of treats to keep her occupied, and toys constantly being thrown from the stroller (we lost several toys on walks). Now that Owen is here walking has become even more difficult, but not because of Owen. He is more like his mother. He will sit in the stroller for a long time and just enjoy being outside.

Last night the weather was perfect so I decided to make everyone get out of the house and go for a walk. I would say the events of last night were typical. We offered to let Ainsley ride her bike. She informed us that she never wanted to ride her bike again. She asked if she could push her baby in her stroller on a walk. I let her thinking we would get less whining. No such luck. The stroller thing was cute and fun for a while (probably about 1/8 of a mile). One funny thing about taking Ainsley on a walk is that she is very friendly at the beginning when she is still happy. She calls out "Hello" loudly and several times to everyone we pass until she gets a reply. After our enjoyable 1/8 of a mile last night the whining began. "I'm tired', "I have a headache"," my stomach hurts", etc. (FYI we have tried putting her in a stroller as well and the happiness distance is the same, but that way we end up pushing an empty stroller with Ainsley trying to push as well). We ended up putting her babies and her stroller under our stroller while Ainsley moaned as she wandered behind us. Interestingly enough Ainsley has ended up riding under the stroller in past walks. John refuses to slow down (that's a bit of an exaggeration) and walks about 10-15 steps ahead of us the entire walk. I get annoyed because he won't slow down. Ainsley continues to whine, I get annoyed with Ainsley. John gets annoyed with everything, the walk is going to be longer than anticipated now. Ainsley refuses to be carried except for a very particular way. I end up carrying a whining Ainsley on my back chasing after John who refuses to slow down. An hour after we left the house we return. Three annoyed people. But we did get some exercise. What a fun family activity.