The Big Hill

by Tom Johnson on Aug 17, 2011
categories: family

Tonight I spent most of the evening finishing up some video tutorials for work. Didn't finish until 7 pm. Shannon was out at Education Week with Marcy all evening, so I had all four kids. I pretty much neglected them until about 7pm, when I fed them dinner and made them clean up a bit. Then at 8 pm, I wanted to do something, so I insisted we go for a jog.

I put the baby and Lucy in the bike carrier (it doubles as a stroller) and let Callie ride her bike while Avery and I jogged. The kids wanted to go up the "big hill," so we jogged/walked over there and went up and down the big hill three times. I made Callie ride slowly down it to avoid a trip to the emergency room.

Then we went to the church gym (it's on the way home) and ran around in the gym for a while. I ran some some lines and, seeing me, Avery also ran some lines. Then she did some situps and pushups, so I did some as well. Kids were having a blast.

At home, the kids told me that tonight was "perfect" and Callie told me she loved me. Avery said she wanted to do exercises every night. I told them that my strength as a parent is in doing more outdoor activities rather than at-home activities. Mentioning this, they reemphasized how great the evening was. They kept going on and on about it, almost as if they were orphans who never had a father.

It's funny -- I spent just one hour playing with the kids and bam, it's like one of the most fun nights of the summer. I think kids absolutely love to be active. They love to run up and down hills, to race around gyms, to explore new spaces and areas. I need to see what kind of regular "fun exercise" routine we can do.