Spring Dreams

Monday afternoon. Pulled pork is in the slow cooker. Muffins are fresh out of the oven. After a busy morning at the library and lunch downtown, Bear is napping, I just finished the last 10 pages of my book and snow flurries are steadily falling outside the window.

Snow. Still. Falling. Will it ever end? At this rate, we’re going to have snow on the ground until May. It has come to the point Bear is begging me to go out in her stroller. “Mommy push Anna please stroller round round fun” (Yeah, I’m not sure when she started speaking in almost-sentences. It’s crazy). But the sidewalks are impossible to navigate. We finally tried on a warm day last week. It was like Navy Seal boot camp. A regular 25-minute trek took 45 minutes and my arms were aching by the time I pushed the stroller over ruts and ridges and through puddles that literally came up past my knees. An excellent free workout that incorporated cardio and weights but not one I’m keen to take on again. More than once did I actually believe the whole stroller was going to tip over sideways into the aforementioned over-the-knee-deep puddles.

While it is a most excellent location to walk around, I try to steer clear of the mall because the mall = shopping = spending money. I’ve walked the track at the Canada Games Centre and I think it’s time to return because it’s sad when your daughter is begging for a ride in her stroller. When the sidewalks and the roads were both ice/snow covered I was able to pull her around the neighborhood in her sled but now (almost) every intersection is bare pavement. I think it’s high time we hit up a park or golf course for a proper walk with the sled.

I can’t WAIT for spring weather. We are going to walk everywhere we can, every chance we get. And I’m sure it won’t be long before Ms. Independent demands to ditch the stroller and walk on her own and I’m sure our 25-minute trek will be back up to 45 minutes, but at least it will be toddler pace, not Navy Seal boot camp. There’s a difference, right?