Posted by Mike Thu July 2, 2009, 10:44 pm
Once in a while, Alex and I like to camp out somewhere in the house. Usually it's in his room on the floor (beneath the glow-in-the-dark stars and planets on his ceiling), but this past weekend we camped in the dining room downstairs. It had been a long day (and week) for Alex and Amy. They had five days of Vacation Bible School at our church which was capped off with a program and dinner Friday evening. I was beat, too, (which usually isn't the case around Alex's bed time), so it was a good time to camp out. We gathered up all of our supplies: comic books, flash lights, blankets, pillows and an air mattress and set up camp downstairs.
Before we went to sleep, we flipped on the flashlights and each told a ghost story. Alex's was about some boys that were chased by a ghost on Halloween night. Mine was also on Halloween and involved a ghost chasing down two kids that stole his 'Golden Arm' (standard stuff really). Alex was listening so intently that I made sure it wasn't too scary. So, it had a semi-happy, non-suspensful ending.
In the morning, I wanted to give Amy a much-deserved break and have a morning to herself. So I asked Alex what he would like to do, where he would like to go. He thought for a second and said, "What have I been wanting to do for a long time?"
I said, "Ride bikes at Purdue?"
He put on the hugest smile and nodded his head 'yes.' I think maybe he had something else in mind, but my answer trumped whatever it was. So, we decided we would put our bikes on the bus and spend half a day riding around campus.
The first thing we did was stop at Triple XXX for breakfast. Alex got the Mickey Mouse pancakes. Nothing better than syrupy flapjacks with whipped cream, chocolate chips and sprinkles to start your day.
Our ride reflected in the windows of the West Lafayette Public Library.
The Co-pilot has been a blast. I was a little worried about how we would transport it on the CityBus, but it fit fine in their bike rack. We got a few smiles and nice comments as we huffed and puffed around campus.
We stopped at the library to read some books and do some puzzles.
Here is one of the many painted dog statues that can be found around town. It's titled "Dog Eat Dog."
"The Dog Days of Summer" is a project to support the Art Museum of Greater Lafaytte. I guess they've done this every two years for the past six. Previous statues were frogs and hogs, now dogs. I just realized they all rhyme. What's next? I can't think of any other -og animals. How about a dutch theme? Clogs?
A few years ago, South Bend did a similar thing with ape statues and Chicago (where the trend started?) did cows once.
Another dog on the pedistrian bridge that overlooks the Wabash river. Notice one is missing. This is a groom and someone has kidnapped his bride!
A day after the statues were unveiled, some in West Lafayette were stolen or vandalized. So, all of the statues on that side of the river were moved indoors. As far as I know, none in Lafayette were stolen...unless you count the missing bride above. She would be on the Lafayette side of the bridge.
The pedistrian bridge isn't bike friendly. I had to carry the bikes up and down some steps.
At one point, Amy called me and said she was bored. So, we made a mad dash to the bus and got home around 1pm. We could've stayed out longer since it wasn't that hot. We did manage to get in a few video games at the Memorial Union on campus and we stopped at Borders to get a Scooby Doo comic book.
On the bus ride home, Alex and I played a game where we would make up silly quotes about people that we saw walking. Dumb stuff like, "Does anybody know where I can find a Wendy's?" when we saw people walking in the direction of a Wendy's. Or, "I ate too many cheesburgers!" as someone came out of McDonalds.
At one point, while the bus was going through a neighborhood, I saw a woman, in a driveway, washing her hair in a bucket while another woman watched nearby in a lawn chair. Not sure what was going on there, but wish I had time to take a picture.
It was a very fun day of just hanging out, my little buddy and I.
Comments
Angela Schabloski - Fri July 3, 2009, 11:42 am
Great pics, what a fun day. Oshkosh has done Lions outside, it ws fun to see all these crazy artistic lions around town. They were voted on and then auctioned off, most of them are no longer on display but I have seen maybe 5 around town. (there was originally 32)Lindsay - Fri July 3, 2009, 9:40 am
Alex is a truly blessed little guy to have parents that love him so dearly and invest so much time and energy into his upbringing. :)I love you and Amy. Thank you for being a part of my life!
