Evening Walks

Now that the weather is warmer and the daylight hours are longer, we have resumed our (almost) daily evening walks. It is a nice way to unwind after dinner and transition into bedtime. The dogs love the exercise, Chase loves to look around, Riley loves just about any excuse to be active and outside, and Casey and I enjoy having a little bit of (mostly) uninterrupted conversation. We have been doing walks after work since the day we brought Winston home as a tiny little puppy almost 10 years ago and it's fun to reflect on how much our family has changed over the years and how many new additions we've made to our walking crew since then.

Riley's role in the walk is ever-evolving as well. He started out in his infant carseat attached to the stroller. Then he moved to sitting in the stroller itself without the infant carseat. Then he started truly walking with us -- first while pushing his little lawnmower down the street as we walked, then while holding our hands, then walking completely by himself but with frequent breaks to crouch down and closely examine something fascinating like dirt on the sidewalk or an ant hill or a feather or some other random item that caught his attention (those walks took F-O-R-E-V-E-R, perhaps his first attempts to delay bedtime). Then he started walking quicker. Then he wanted to ride his bike. Then he wanted to run, alternating between nights with Monny and Daddy as his running partner. Now his walking is really more playing catch with himself while moving in a (mostly) forward direction.

I can't wait to see what the walks bring for him next...