On the Road Again

This weekend marked Elise and I's official return to running. We invested in the dualie version of the wildly-successful jogging stroller that has--at various instances in the recent past--saved both our health and sanity.

We started on Saturday with a what became a somewhat hilly loop around our homestead. On Sunday, we drove to a nearby trailhead that linked us with the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail that winds along a creek and through the heart of Arlington, though you feel as though you are in the middle of the woods without a soul around save other runners, cyclists and centipedes (Sam met his first one which ended in an impromptu lecture on the value of all lives both big and small).

I also visited my first 'sprayground', though Elise, Sam and Pete had already been. This will, no doubt, be our salvation this summer, and I vowed to bring a camera the next time we go.

The weekend was peppered with some of our best and most trying moments. The later occurring when we missed Sam's nap window, not returning from the sprayground until after 2:30. This only served to reiterate the importance of naps. Though some of my most memorable moments from the weekend occurred when just Sam and I were sent to fetch supper.

On both occasions, he ended up in my lap, demonstrating a proclivity toward snuggling he, as a rambunctious, untameable two-year old, would like one to believe he could do without. After we ordered our food, we sat to wait for it, and, after a few moments in his own chair, he would slide down, scoot over to my chair and surreptitiously climb up. On Saturday especially, exhausted, he let me wrap both my arms around him fully like a strait jacket and rest my chin on the top of his curls. We watched Sportscenter that way until our burgers were done.