puddle jumping

thunderstorms have been rolling into grand rapids almost as often as the trains that pass through our neighborhood each day. according to gibson there has been so much drumming in heaven that there must be a concert. and a concert there was. the entire weekend was filled with crashing thunder, sudden bolts of lightning and dark clouds looming in the not so distant sky. but what a great weekend it was.

sunday we decided to try and squeeze in a trip downtown before the next storm was supposed to hit. the festival of the arts was underway and we wanted to make sure we could take it in before it was gone for another year. in our usual fashion we decided at the last minute, much to my chagrin, to ride the bus downtown. steve loves public transportation and i saw the spark in his eye when he brought the idea up. so...we packed up the double stroller, ran back to the house for milk and the camera and finally loaded up onto the bus, destination downtown. each of the boys sat in awe on the bus. claiming his very own seat elliott wave his arms and sang 'rou an rou' (wheels on the bus go round and round). and as usual, barley containing his excitement gibson sat, knelt, squirmed trying to take it all in.

we got off the bus and headed down to the festival hoping to find great entertainment and even better food. instead we found a big dark cloud moving quickly in our direction. wonderful. no car. two kids looking for excitement. severe weather and no plan of how to escape it. we managed to make our way to the art museum and took cover there while the storm passed overhead. as the rain slowed we made our way outside once again looking for any type of adventure for the boys. what we found were food booths just making their way out of their make shift shelters and sound stages that were unoccupied. none of this mattered to gibson. he was completely in his element having his pick of puddles to jump in, and elliott as usual was loving watching him. as the streets began to fill with people once again our puddle jumping came to an end as we searched for elephant ears.

after sharing gibson and elliott's first deep fried festival treat we decided we better make our way to a bus stop to head home before the next storm hit. and once again because we didn't have a plan or know the bus schedule we found ourselves running, sprinting..ok,as fast as you can sprint with two young boys and a bulky double stroller...towards a bus that was accross the street and already at the bus stop. we must have looked desperate because the driver waited for us. we had a brief rest as we rode to the bus terminal to make our final transfer. but as we arrived at the terminal, we had to have even more drama and sprint to our next bus...which, by the way, was at the opposite end of a very long terminal...because it was ready for departure. and we did all of this to go probably at the most six miles...a ride that would have taken us five minutes in our own cozy car, and it would have been cheaper. but when it was all said and done we arrive home safely, exposed the boys to a little culture on the bus and laughed a lot along the way. it was a great day.