another blue sky, another picnic (on our no drive day)

Maybe you think I never cook?!?! 

It's true that picnic-eating is pretty perfect for our family these days.  The weather is cooperating nicely, my children love picnic fare and a good adventure, I love the low-prep low-clean up meal and Matt bikes to/from work so it's easy for me to text him our location and he can meet us on his way home.

Our city limits the number of cars on the road with a license plate numbers based system.  Each weekday two different numbers are prohibited from driving.  Mondays = cars with license plate numbers ending in 1 or 6, Tuesday = cars with plate numbers ending in 2 or 7, and so on.  Our NO DRIVE day is Tuesday. 

I think it's a great system.  Honestly, we don't drive that much anyways (most everything is walking distance for us) so it's not a big deal to have a NO DRIVE.  (The bigger challenge for me is remembering I'm not supposed to drive on a Tuesday!)  And, the big blessing is that when I do choose to drive only 80% of the total cars in the city are allowed out on the roads .... less traffic = happier driving.  [Weekends and holidays have no limits..... everyone is free to drive.]

So today's beckoning blue skies called for a walking distance picnic.  And our new apartment is close to so many fun choices.  Today we chose to this one...

We set out with Luke on my back and John Paul in the stroller and the other three on foot.  (We've done this on bikes - Matt and I each on bikes with one of the little boys sitting behind and the big three on their own bikes, but without Matt's help I knew I was not up to the task of managing three bikes and a stroller with a 30 pound toddler on my back!).

We crossed 3rd ring road (one of four loop roads that circle the city, we live just inside 3rd ring).  Lots of walking bridges and pass-under tunnels make a multi-lane highway fairly pedestrian friendly. 

You won't be surprised to hear that the view from this bridge captures a child's curiosity.  We could stand here and watch for hours! 

[The tall brown buildings are our complex.]

The walking bridges are very bike/stroller accessible - yes there is a hefty flight of stairs but also a set of ramps. 

We're runners when it comes to the down ramp :)

At the base of the ramp we connect to the extensive green-way system.  Since our move this summer we have really appreciated this green-way.  Super quick access from our apartment and it goes for miles and miles!

It runs both sides of 3rd ring and also branches off to follow the many winding rivers that make their way through town.  (And Lydia says 'why did they call it the green-way if they made it red?')

We live half a mile from a beautiful river green-way area ... the landscaping includes enough gravel paths that our children could throw rocks in the water for years and never run out.  Score for us, since we have plenty of rock-throwers and no one ever seems to want to stop throwing. 

This time we headed away from the river and once on the green-way I let John Paul out of the stroller and Luke down from my back and it was happy exploring freedom for everyone. 

Julianna rarely leaves home without her jump rope. 

We bought sandwiches and chips (and cookies), Matt found us and we headed for a nearby playground.

On the way home we took the tunnel route and Matt had Isaac so it was faster traveling. 

Much-needed baths and more read-aloud and everyone sleeps well tonight. 

The end.