A favorite Daddy time activity...
Sunday, September 12, 2010
I've been a bit restless this weekend. I've fought bad breathing all week, and then yesterday the air cleared a little, and today we could clearly see the mountains. So when our supper guests canceled, I packed up the food as a picnic and we set off with great anticipation and excitement for "the green space." I remembered everything: blanket, utensils, spill-proof containers for the sauce, drinks, camera... I remembered everything - except the way.
Since we had been dropped off there last time, it was hard to retrace our steps. But we had found our way home from there fairly easily; we were pretty confident of finding it again: through the SM mall to Shangri-La mall, across the road to the market mall, through that to the green space. Easy, right? We should have looked at the map first. I didn't count on there being two roads to choose to cross! So we spent a hot, bothered, slightly tense hour and a half walk wandering up and down small crowded unfamiliar streets and weaving our way along obstacle course sidewalks beside inner city highways... until dusk. Then, just as dark fell, we discovered our error and found the entrance. But we didn't go. It was too late to eat a picnic on the grass in the open.
Not quite able to admit total defeat, we ate our picnic in the basement food court of Shangri-La mall. Not exactly the happy green space we were all looking forward to! Afterward, we browsed the bookstore and Daddy read the girls stories from the Bible bookshelf, and we bought some dice for playing Yahtzee. We came home with two tired, full, happy girls, so we won somehow.
What did I learn?
Typical Liz shortcuts work much better in the woods where you can make your own trails.
Begin exploring places before 4pm if you want to have time to finish before dark.
I really need to find that green space (or get out of this city for awhile) soon! Spending more than an hour in the concrete tangle of exhaust choked streets just whet my appetite some more...
I can learn a lesson from Jasmin who went from disappointed to quite tickled to be eating a picnic in a mall... why spoil the fun of that just because it was meant to be outside in some green space?
Since we had been dropped off there last time, it was hard to retrace our steps. But we had found our way home from there fairly easily; we were pretty confident of finding it again: through the SM mall to Shangri-La mall, across the road to the market mall, through that to the green space. Easy, right? We should have looked at the map first. I didn't count on there being two roads to choose to cross! So we spent a hot, bothered, slightly tense hour and a half walk wandering up and down small crowded unfamiliar streets and weaving our way along obstacle course sidewalks beside inner city highways... until dusk. Then, just as dark fell, we discovered our error and found the entrance. But we didn't go. It was too late to eat a picnic on the grass in the open.
Not quite able to admit total defeat, we ate our picnic in the basement food court of Shangri-La mall. Not exactly the happy green space we were all looking forward to! Afterward, we browsed the bookstore and Daddy read the girls stories from the Bible bookshelf, and we bought some dice for playing Yahtzee. We came home with two tired, full, happy girls, so we won somehow.
What did I learn?
Typical Liz shortcuts work much better in the woods where you can make your own trails.
Begin exploring places before 4pm if you want to have time to finish before dark.
I really need to find that green space (or get out of this city for awhile) soon! Spending more than an hour in the concrete tangle of exhaust choked streets just whet my appetite some more...
I can learn a lesson from Jasmin who went from disappointed to quite tickled to be eating a picnic in a mall... why spoil the fun of that just because it was meant to be outside in some green space?
Monday, September 06, 2010
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