Morning Stroll

We may not live in the Halifax peninsula, and are further away from Tanner's school, but we live in a pretty sweet neighbourhood. Within a few short weeks, I've met most the the mothers on our street (which is actually a circle of houses) and all are so welcoming and down to earth. I see myself easily being good friends with all of them. There is also a sweet shopping area close by, which means we have  a Costco, Walmart, Superstore, and Target all within 5 minutes from our house. Our chapel is also only a 5 minute drive away. Behind our house is a fantastic pathway cutting through a ginormous forest (Remember how Tanner likes to take the girls on adventures?), with playgrounds scattered throughout. It is wonderful!

Last week (or so), when my parents were still around, all us girls were up early in the morning. So, I took the girls out for a morning stroll so that my parents would be left with a quiet house, giving them a chance to catch up on lost sleep. They needed it.

It was sunny out but crisp, and the pathway was busy with all the early morning walkers. I told the girls that our mission was to walk to the top of the big hill and then come back. Easy enough, right? But with all the people passing by stopping to ask "Are these all yours!?" or to say "You are a busy momma!", my girls were quite distracted walkers. Some even wanted to know all of my children's names and ages. While they all meant well and were super friendly, it made our morning walk less of a walk and more of a mix and mingle. One sweet lady even pulled out a tissue from her pocket to wipe Lily ever-runny nose (gotta love those 2-year-old molars!). The people here are seriously the most kind people I've ever met.

Here's June, sporting her new toque from Momma Ellingson.

 Shadow portrait. Gwen absolutely loves shawdows.

We did eventually make it to the top of the hill. But by that time, Lily had had her fill of walking and would continually sit herself down on the path and just cry. I kept my cool, though. I knew I couldn't pick her up as I was already hauling June in the carrier, so I just waited and waited and waited as long as it took for Lily to get back on her feet. Luckily I had Gwen there, who helped encourage Lily along.

In the end it took us nearly two hours to walk a 30 minute route.

By the time I returned home my parents were up and worried as they had no idea where I had gone.

Oops.