New trend

Seems that we've started a new routine in our household. An evening walk. The powers that be (aka "the kidlings") have influenced us to do this. A simple thing. A big change for us.

The Hubs gets home early compared to some parents who work. Around 5:15pm. He gets to work about 6:30am, so arriving home early is the benefit. We eat dinner early too. So this allows for more time together in the evening. Somehow, it has evolved that the kids play outside almost every night after dinner. But not every other family eats as early as we do. Which means there's no one else outside right after we finish eating. The result? A short evening walk. By the time we finish a small circuit, the neighborhood begins to come alive.

Tonight? We had a late dinner. We ended up taking a late walk. The cul-de-sac where we normally congregate? There was a housewarming party going on so the kids were inside. We took a longer walk than normal. The kids didn't mind not running around and playing though. I ended up getting the jog stroller to push the Bear in. The Princess had acquired the Bear's tricycle as her mode of transportation. But she was miffed when she saw that the Bear was in the jog stroller. We took a short loop and got the umbrella stroller. We swapped the kids out and continued on our merry way. I guess we'll be using the jog & umbrella stroller on our walks from now on.

What's nice about our evening walks is being able to meet up with the other neighbors in our area. We said "hi" to a young couple walking their two big dogs (a rottweiler and a large boxer). They couldn't stay to chat very long but we had enough time to say which lot we were located. We were also able to meet the couple that moved into the 2-story four spots up the street from us. They moved in last week. Turns out it's an older couple (most the parents around here seem to be in their 30's) and their 12-year-old son. Just the three of them! But he did mention that they each had kids from their previous marriages, so I guess they'll have visitors all the time.

It was a cool evening. The heat of the day was pushed away by the brisk breeze that came up as the sun began to set in the west. We were able to walk in the quiet. Waving & smiling at the cars that would pass us by. What's nice? They'd wave & smile back too. It's a good feeling. A nice neighborhood feeling.