Hey! I have a great idea!....lets to go the park!!!

Is what I said to the kids Wednesday afternoon after they got home from school...and words that I would come to regret!!!

Well...as promised.....the day at the park from Hell story......

So we have this GREAT metropark about 6 or 7 miles from our house that is full of fun things to do...like this awesome playground, a splash park, a nature center, cross country skiing in the winter, sled hills, it even has a lake with the glass bottoms like a the zoo where you walk under and see whatever is in the water.....and it also has what we came for that day...an 8 mile biking, running, walking, rollerblading paved trail through the woods.
So Kaden brings his bike, Kara brings her scooter, and I decide to rollerblade with the dog. We get there about 1:30, its a sunny day one of the warmest we've had lately, but it feels good. We head out and I say how about we go 2 whole miles..the kids were like yeah! lets do it!! They were all excited and I figured Bella would love it, she's been to the dog park a couple times but other than that just our neighborhood, which full circle is only about a mile. I just knew she would love all the new new smells and seeing other people and animals. So we're trucking along. Everyone's doing great, we feel the breeze, the sun, we're laughing,....then Kaden starts complaining about his legs hurting (we've gone about .5 miles at this point) In his defense, there ARE lots of hills, ups and downs, twists and turns...you know! : ) So anyway, I get the kids to switch and have Kaden ride the scooter for awhile. We stopped at about a mile cause we saw all these huge trees that had fallen down and the kids said it looked just like a playground and wanted to go climb.

We continue on our journey, stopping for a snack and some water for us and the dog. Finally we MADE IT.....2 miles, it was fun, we should do this all the time I think...and even say it out loud to the kids. We sit down to rest, and this is when I realize we have to go BACK. You see its an 8 mile loop so if you don't go the whole way you have to go however far you want, but keeping in mind you have to go that far to get back. Something I wish I would have thought about prior!!!!
I felt fine, I knew I would be ok, I was slightly worried about the kids, the complaints increased as we sat on the bench and I filled them in on the fact we now had to go the whole way back, BUT they said they were ready..lets do it! they said again excited to go back and play on the playground. So we get up...well, all of us EXCEPT for Bella. I tug on her leash a little, doesn't budge. We all call her..come on girl, lets go Bella, ....the kids are trying to bribe her with treats...not a movement. I try for what feels like forever...she doesn't move. I freak out a little bit knowing we have the other 2 mile to go. I give her some more water, she is panting pretty hard. I poured the last of one of the 2 water bottles we brought on her skin to cools her off.....then I tried again...I'm pulling, I'm tugging, I'm PLEADING.....no good. So I call Joe....Hunny, what do I do??? I'm in the middle of the woods with the kids, 2 miles from where we need to be, with a dog that won't go!! He calmed me down and told me to sit with her for awhile give her more water and wait til she was ready...I agree to wait it out. So 20 minutes and a snake later....(yes...we saw a snake, it went right over the road and now Kara was totally freaking out)..... we give it another go....nothing...at this point I'm almost in tears..actually maybe I was, I don't know. I call my parents in Texas, who are 2000 miles away..like they are going to come rescue me or something. They try to offer up suggestions..nothing works. I start thinking we're never gonna get out of here, right as this thought floats across my mind, Kara says "Mommy, are we gonna have to sleep here?" This is when I decide the only way we are getting this dog back to the car is if I carry her....all 43 pounds of her....on rollerblades....and a backpack on my back....I know..this is crazy right, but I had NO choice!!! She's so cashed, she feels like dead weight, my back is killing me, ..BUT we're making progress to the car and getting the heck outta there. It felt the an eternity, by mile 3 the kids started really having a hard time....mom my legs are burning, Mom, I can't do it, Mom, I'm not gonna make it.......I had no sympathy at this point, I couldn't...I really wanted to be like ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME, .....there is a happy ending....we finally made it out....a total of 3 hours and 4 miles later, we were on our way driving safe and sound back home. The dog AND the kids proceeded to pass out!!! At least I can laugh about this now!!!! : )

Here's some pictures...mostly of the first 2 miles...after that my hands were a little tied up!!: )

Getting ready to go on the trail

ready to roll

Having fun

The overheated dog standing in a in puddle of water that was poured on her head

trying to "wait it out" Kara looks just a little bit happier than Kaden at this point

So thats my park story....I hope everyone found it amusing...cause I can guarantee I wasn't laughing as it was going on!!!!!: )