Over the River and Through the Woods

I took The Elder and Segundus on an epic walk today.  It was more of a "Tour of Aptos" where we saw all of the sites, but they would probably point to the donuts and the beach as the most important highlights.  I had given up walking with them for a while without my husband, mostly because we live at the top of a hill.  Walks would always sound great on a warm, sunny day, with the beach only a few blocks away, so we would pack up the stroller and set off.  We would walk out the gate; cheerful, grinning, and laughing.  However, the return trip would inevitably involve me pushing a giant stroller straight up a mountain, sweating and exhausted, while two children cried and moaned about how hot, hungry, tired, thirsty, etc......they were.  

Walking without a stroller was a better idea, but they were still too little to make it home on their own.  We did family walks, so they could take turns getting rides on Papa's shoulders, but I rarely took them out during the week anymore.

With Leif starting kindergarten next year I began to realize that my favorite childhood memories involve that blessed, free time before I started school.  Every free moment I am now determined to do some playing--hiking, beach trips, poking around in the woods days...and to top it all off my children can now take long walks and come home cheerful and happy!

We have now entered an exciting new phase of parenting--a stroller-less, happy children, hiking and exploring time!  It all started off today with a plan to walk across the railroad bridge to do a bank errand and get some "treats."  As we strolled high above Aptos Creek with only a single wire as a "barrier," my sons liked to talk about the dead body that was found down there a few weeks ago.  I wanted to use it as a lesson about how high bridges are dangerous, but they mostly wanted to talk about the dead guy.  Segundus asked excitedly if the police cut off his head and put it in their big pile after they found him.  I assured him that they probably didn't (but I'm still curious where the "pile of heads" picture came from).  The whole conversation had a very "Stand By Me" sense about it.

We did our bank errand and the boys were desperate for donuts, so we set off up the mountain.  On the way, we passed over the creek once more, and the boys had to poke their heads through the fence and ask me about dead bodies again.

The Little Donut Shop on Top of the Hill is a quaint place.  It's the kind of donut shop you imagine your grizzled great-grandfather named Jethro to go, and sit outside all day smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.  It resembles this type of place perfectly, except in one, small detail--the prices.  They remind you that you're still in California, and still in a resort town by the beach (even though there are still grizzled old men in there drinking coffee, but they're not allowed to smoke cigarettes anymore).  I paid a small fortune for 3 donuts and bad coffee, but the boys love it, and the owner loves them enough to give them free mini cinnamon rolls once they're done.  The other patrons of the shop were discussing where they would fly if they owned their own aircraft, whether or not winds are traveling clockwise or counter-clockwise over Monterey Bay, various government conspiracies involving mysterious seismic booms, and temperature thermoclines that make Santa Cruz warmer than Aptos.  It's a fun place.

Since The Elder insisted that two donuts had given him extra energy, we crossed the freeway once more to frolic in the fields above the state park and beach.  There's a massive empty lot (which always equals "fun" in the kid mind), but what makes it better than any ordinary empty lot is that it ends in a cliff down to the ocean.  They picked flowers, and then pretended they were storm troopers or lions, and then we headed down the "secret path" to the beach.  Segundus told me that this was the "dark woods" and several times their way was blocked by a branch or stick or two.  This, of course, necessitated them getting down on their backs and sliding, military-style, under the stick.  Most of these sticks were an eighth of an inch or so in diameter, and lay about 3-4 inches off the ground, but....you know.

This brought us to the sand which cannot be passed without playing in.  They found various pieces of trash to entertain them and then pretended that a log was their pet, giant alligator.  Then we all had to get drinks and bathroom breaks before we headed up the cliff to our house.  Traditional stops here include: the fire hydrant with lots of dog poop (to be grossed out by), dirty cars that park close to the sidewalk (to run hands along), and an abandoned front end loader that has sat, unexplainably right outside a multi-millionaire dollar mansion for sale, ever since we've lived around here.  At this point, as we were halfway up Mt. Everest, The Elder told me that the energy from his donuts was beginning to wear off.  Still, very little whining ensued; it was all minor until Segundus tripped, smacked his chin, and bit his tongue on the curb.  Thankfully we were within sight of home, and hurried there.  Our very last treat of the day was to see our neighbor drive by in his race car, out for a drive (he owns a Ferrari).  

Thus ended our "Tour of Aptos" with one happy Mama, one happy kid, and one bloody chin.