the trail

We went with my sister to walk on the Parkway Trail that is near our house.  (When we went two weeks ago we saw Jerry Sloan - coach of the Utah Jazz - walking it.  I said Hi to him.  We are best friends now.)  The weather was perfect today.  We walked on a part of the trail that has recently been completed.  It's wide open and the fall colors mixed with the river made for perfect scenery.  Miss Pink rode her bike for a 1/2 mile before she was done.  (It was at least a 1/2 mile to the park we were headed to.)  She refused to get on her bike again.  We parked it by the side of the trail and pressed on.  Alternating between me carrying her and her walking.

 Mr. Orange and his cousin D. however, would race ahead and then stop to make sure we were catching up.   We made it to the park and let the kids play for awhile.  When it was time to head back Miss Pink would not put her shoes on.  I looked at her feet and she had huge blisters on her heels!  Guess what that meant.  Carry her back to her bike.  

We passed a few bikers on our way and one of them said, "Is that your pink bike back there?"  I said, "Yes".  She said, "Good.  I won't call the police then."  I thought that was a little weird but when we got back to Miss Pink's bike I realized that we had left it in an awful spot.  Her helmet was next to her bike that had been pulled off to the side of the trail.  There were some trees and tall brush and just behind that was a sort of marshy area where she could have fallen in, or been nabbed, of wandered off.  Next time I'll take a paper and pen so I can leave a note that says, "Don't panic!  This bike belongs to my stubborn daughter who refuses to ride her bike right now.  We'll be back for it." or something to that effect.

So I put Miss Pink on her bike thinking she would ride it back to the car.  That lasted about 30 seconds.  I dragged her the rest of the way.  But that's not all.  Mr. Orange stops, gets off his bike and starts looking his bike over.  I catch up to him and his front tire is flat!!!  Miss Pink wouldn't switch bikes so that Mr. Orange could ride hers and I could pull her on his.  So Mr. Orange walked, and I pulled two bikes, one with a passenger, back to the car.

There are times when I think, "Wow.  I am totally a mom."  This afternoon, on the trail, carrying a tired child, pulling a bike, and then two bikes was one of those times.