Bus Adventures!

Clara and Elena have been bus travelers for about a year now, ever since Steve started taking them once and awhile on the bus that runs near our house.  He would let them stop downtown and get some hot chocolate, then they would ride home.  The other day Christina was with the girls downtown and they just really wanted to ride a bus, so we went and just go on the first bus we saw to ride its route (none of the routes are really longer than 45 minutes round trip!). 

The girls liked it so much that we made a plan for Friday that we'd get on a new bus, go to a park we had never been to before, and ride home.  Christina plotted out which bus went by a new park, got the schedules, and was feeling good.  At 10:30 we got on the bus and headed out!

We got off easily at the park - so far so good!  The girls ran down the few blocks from the busstop because they could see the park in the distance.

 And it was definitely a very fun new park, full of things they hadn't played on before.

 The thing with buses, though, is that you aren't on your own schedule.  We knew we could stay at the park either 30 minutes or an hour and 30 minutes (but nothing in between).  The girls said they wanted to stay a long time, so Christina planned for the longer trip.  But right around 25 minutes into their playing they started to get whiny and fighting with one another, and it just seemed better to head home.

So Christina ran with them, trying to get to the busstop before the bus passed.  We never saw the bus go past, but we must have missed it because after waiting 10 minute we were sure it wasn't going to pass. But running for the bus made us even more tired and more cranky!  Luckily, there was a little cafe down the street.  It wasn't quite as close down the street as Christina had hoped, but the girls were troupers and walked all the way down with her.  When we got there, they said - "Whoo!  We need lemonade!"

 So we got some.  Look how tired Elena was!!  We got some quesadillas, too, so we could fortify ourselves for the rest of our adventure.

 We went out to the busstop REALLY early this time (a new busstop, because we were now about a mile down the road!) and caught the bus without a problem.  We rode it back to the transfer center, and all almost fell asleep by the time we got there.

 Still, they were so proud!  We finally got back around 1:00 - it was a fun, if unpredictable journey!

The only problem we really had was that we got back to our car to find a ticket.  Our unexpected delay only cost us a $2 ticket, though - so overall, the trip was a success.