Long Walks

We paid both of our cars off a few years ago and plan to drive them until they won't drive anymore (either then or when upkeep becomes more expensive than car payments would be...).  My car is a 2002 and has had several maintenance issues that needed some attention for a while now.  David is really good with cars and once we learned about the issues we planned to save the money on labor and just have him do the repairs himself.  Well, life got in the way and the convenience of having someone else do it finally won out in the "saving money vs. paying for convenience" decision.  I chose today to have it taken care of because Fridays are our free days and we would have plenty of time.  Our appointment was at 10 and they said it would take about two hours so during that time we did something we haven't done in a really long time...

We took a LONG walk.
Ayden is eating an apple and enjoying the scenery.

When we lived our neighborhood, we took really long walks almost everyday.  Now that we live in the country and Ayden is older, he usually walks right along with me down our driveway and back or he just wants to play some other outdoor game.  We walked to a couple of nearby shopping centers and went to a cafe/bakery for lunch and then walked back.  Ayden was pretty quiet the whole time, people watching and taking in the ever changing scenery. Today was a sunny day in the low 80s but there was a wonderful breeze.  I was definitely tired when we finally made it back to the car service building but I felt good.  I hadn't been that active for that long in a WHILE.  It made me realize that I miss taking long leisurely strolls.  You've got to give a little to take a little in everything you do.  There are SOOO many things that I love about living in the country but one thing I do miss about living in the neighborhood is how easy it is to walk out your front door and have a nice, long,  stroller walk on a sidewalk (stroller being a key part since you can get lost in thought rather than supervise a toddler...).  But, if we still lived in a neighborhood where I got to do it all the time, our big walk during our long wait today probably would not have been quit so enjoyable for me.  

After we got all the car stuff squared away (which ended up being MUCH cheaper than we anticipated.  Score!) we came home for lunch and nap.  I was so tired that I put dinner in the crock pot then relaxed while Ayden slept.  I spent some time on my phone and then took a small nap myself.  I have found that if I nap out on the couch where it is brighter, little noises can wake me up enough every now and then to keep me from falling into too deep of a sleep and I set an alarm for 20 minutes, I actually feel much better than when I wake from an hour long nap in our bed in the dark bedroom.  I set my alarm to wake before Ayden so that I'd have time to wake up myself before I would need to be chipper for him.  I actually ended up having to wake him up because I needed to get to a chiropractor appointment.  From then on I had to remain in "just keep swimming" mode.  We got home at 5, I made the sides for dinner while Ayden played, David got home at 5:30, we ate, we changed, we went to our nephew's preschool graduation and then ended the evening at a bon fire at their new farm.  David and Ayden played in their creek while I sat and chatted with some other ladies.  It was a beautiful night for it and we were all tired when we got home.  I was so glad I took the time to rest today or I may not have made it through all of that!  

I have a CSA recap post in the works.  We almost ate everything we got.  Let's just say we may have met our salad eating quota for the year in one week.  Haha.  We pick up our next box at the farmer's market tomorrow!

What are your pros and cons for country vs. suburbs?  

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Plane, Art, Zoo and Baseball"

And two years ago today: "Saving Money?"

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