Drive Free Week--Day 5

We started our day out by going to the Farmer's Market via city bus. I kept forgetting things, so I ran back in several times to grab stuff. On my last trip out I realized that it was time for the bus to be there! So we ran down the street to the bus stop and got there just in the nick of time. Luckily Hayden ran faster than the rest of us and he was at the stop, so the bus stopped and waited for just a minute for the rest of us to get on. The little kids were so excited. We had a good ride. We only pulled the "stop the bus" cord once. Not bad. We had to walk several blocks once we got there (or we could have caught another bus). We hit the stand that gives a free apple to each child. That was a big hit for my apple-loving children. Then we walked around, trying to decide what to spend our money on.
We settled on a 24 lb box of apricots for $25 and a half flat of raspberries. We also got a bag of really funky looking carrots. We were done a lot faster than I had anticipated, so we hurried back to the bus stop to see when the next bus would leave. We had about 15 minutes, so the two big boys walked across the street to a bike shop while I waited (and munched apricots) with the four little kids. The bus ride home was also pretty uneventful except for pulling the "stop the bus" cord several times. Luckily the bus driver was very patient with kids.
As we got off the bus (45 minutes later), Turner thought we were leaving him and he yelled, "Don't forget me!" Everyone on the bus burst out laughing and the bus driver assured him that she wouldn't let me leave without him. It was difficult getting the stroller out of the bus since it was loaded with a 36 lb Turner, 24 lbs of apricots, and several pounds of raspberries. Plus I didn't realize that Hayden had locked the front wheels so they wouldn't turn.

We enjoyed homemade bread with fresh raspberry freezer jam this afternoon and the kids ate their weight in apricots. Tomorrow I'll make apricot cooked jam.

This afternoon I realized that it was Friday and that I hadn't registered Porter for bowling camp yet. His friend Nathan is doing it next week and wants Port to do it with him. I had to run down to city hall to do it and just didn't have it in me to cycle or ride the bus. So I drove. Yes, I cheated. But I also hit the library and the post office on my way home, to make the most of the gallon of gas that I used. But then I realized that I dropped my letter to the IRS in the mailbox without a stamp. Whoops. I guess I'll be seeing it again in a few days.

Only one more day of drive free week. We're cheating and making it a six day week because it's really not practical for us to get to 9 am church without a car. Maybe next summer when we have 11 am church we can do that.