"The Bike Park"

Today ended up being quite eventful or should I say this morning did. The kids and I headed out around 9:00 planning to go to Safety Town so Q could ride his bike and practice road safety. For those who don't know what Safety Town is, it is a park that has stop lights, road signs, mini roads and bridges for children to practice riding their bikes, scooters or roller skates all while learning road and bicycle safety. As we were loading up the car it started to sprinkle. I mentioned Rainbow Play Systems, since we didn't want to get stuck in the rain, and Quinton jumped on the chance to go there instead. Unfortunately it was closed (9:22 am, not sure what time they opened) so we decided to go to Safety Town anyway. I told Q that the sprinkles would feel good since it was already in the 80s and muggy outside and that a little rain wouldn't hurt us. He informed me "We only have to worry about thunder and lightning, because lightning could hurt us. Bad Nicki. Really bad."

We arrived at Safety Town with the sun shining bright. After unloading the bike and stroller from the car and getting Sloan buckled in, Q informed me he had to pee. Port-a-potty here we come . . . So gross!! Somehow I managed to I hold the door open with one foot (the ungodly smell) and lifted Q up at the same time so he wouldn't have to touch anything. He was thoroughly disgusted by the sight and smell of the "bagoo bathroom" at Safety Town. FYI, the definition of Bagoo is "gross, yucky, icky, smelly, disgusting" and any other descriptive word that means you don't care for something. You may have heard this term used in a Jim Carry movie (Bruce Almighty? Liar Liar?I'm not sure which).

After that traumatizing event for both Q and I, we strapped Q's helmet into place and were off. It was nice having the place to ourselves at first because it gave me a chance to explain the road signs, line markings on the ground, and road/bicycle safety rules. But other children came shortly after and Quinton was ready to make friends. Most of them were too busy concentrating on their own bikes/scooters to pay any attention to him, but he tried his hardest to chat with them. After about 15 minutes, it decided to start sprinkling. Q hates getting rained on, but handled it okay. He said "Riding in the rain is fun, right Nicki?" Trying to convince himself that the statement was true more than anything. After a few short minutes the sun popped back out and we went on our merry way.

Obviously, my camera never made it to Safety Town

However, it didn't last for long. After about another 15 minutes it started sprinkling again. By chance Sloan and I had stopped by the exit to get a drink and that's when we heard the low rumble of thunder. I saw that Q had heard it too, because he turned his bike around quickly and jetted toward the exit. Before he even made it to us he was informing the other adults as well as myself "That was thunder guys. THAT WAS THUNDER GUYS!" Trying to keep him calm and prevent the other children from getting scared I said "I think you are right Q. But you know what? I didn't see any lightning so it is probably off in the distance. Regardless, I think we better pack it up." Q agreed that it wasn't a big deal and thought we still needed to go home too.

As we headed toward the car, it started to rain. Q jumped off his bike and straight into the car before I could say anything (hmm... I believe I enjoy not having to ask him a million times to get into the car). I got Sloan buckled in and the stroller & bike loaded just before it down poured. As I waited for Q to buckle himself into his seat (yes folks he is a Big Boy now) lightning started flashing. It took only a minute before the hail started! I felt bad having the kids out in this weather, but I guess knowing other mothers had their children out and about too made me feel a little better. Not to mention it happen so quickly! The rain, hail, lightning and thunder pretty much came and went all within 3 minutes. Seriously it was that fast. We no more than got about 3 blocks up from Safety Town and it had subsided to a sprinkle. Once we got to the house, the sun was shining and most of the clouds had moved on. "What in the world is going on with this weather?" Q exclaimed. What a great question!! :)

The weather continued to act the same way throughout the day. We had a couple severe thunderstorms with 60+ mph winds during the afternoon, but they lasted maybe 15-20 minutes. Rainy days are okay, but it seems as though we've had a bit too many lately. Although we were unable to play outside today we made the most of our day filled with indoor fun. I have to admit, I enjoy playing "Sorry", "Hullabaloo", "Connect Four", and "Candy Land" with Quinton on days like today!!