Things I learned today...

We had a very rare day here.  October in Minnesota is not known for it's warmth.  But somehow, the temperature sky-rocketed to the mid-80s.  The sun shone.  The breeze blew gently.  It was a gorgeous day!  After walking inside on a track at the gym for the last few days, I decided the kids and I could use a change of scenery.  We have some gorgeous lakes here in Minnesota.  Lake Calhoun is one of the absolute prettiest!  Imagine a lake surrounded by trees, a couple of sandy beaches, and walking and biking paths all the way around.  Add in that it's at the very center of the city and you've got Lake Calhoun.  It's gorgeous!  The walking path measures just over 5k.  I figured if I started on the path, I wouldn't have any choice but to walk all the way around it, right?  So instead of walking just 2 miles today, I walked 3!  And learned some incredible things in the process....

1.  Walking 5k while pushing 30 lbs worth of stroller with 50 lbs worth of children in it is hard work!  And makes for an incredible workout!
2.  Love, in all it's many forms, is a beautiful, wonderful thing!  While walking the lake path, we passed several mothers with their children, a dad pushing his daughter on a swing, a younger couple on a tandem bicycle, and a pair of middle-aged gentlemen who were holding hands while walking their dog.  Love is amazing!
3. The perpetually-low portion of Lily's current growth spurt is officially over.  In spite of walking nearly half the lake path, she remained in the 200s all day long.  Yuck!
4. Leo will attract attention from anyone and everyone no matter where we go.  The kid is just too darn cute! He spent half the time hamming it up and listening to all the women coo over him.  I'm going to have my hands full!
5. The more I walk, the easier it becomes.
6. I will ALWAYS be jealous of anyone on a sailboat.  Seriously, I if I could have swum out to one of those boats with the kids and hopped on board, I would have!
7. Minnesotans are officially C*R*A*Z*Y!  Seriously, there were women in bikinis sun-bathing.  In October!  In Minnesota!
8. Dogs really are our best friends.  It's just as much fun to dog-watch as it is to people-watch!
9. When a rare nice day like today shows up, everyone will find a way to take a moment to soak in the beauty of it!  You wouldn't believe how many people told us that it was so gorgeous out today that they had to call in sick to work so that they could be out and take advantage of it!
And finally....
10.  My kids are PHENOMENAL!  Seriously.  An hour of walking, waiting in line for 20 minutes just for ice cream cones, and not a word of complaint from either of them!  They were just as happy as I was to be out and about and soaking up the sun.  It was fantastic!