that was a tense moment... sometimes I need to chill... it would be good if I could contain my emotions

a few weeks back it was my wife's birthday...

when I drove the kids to school on that Thursday morning I brought the bikes
I have not been as consistent with the bikes as I would like
partially because Lisa has been handling morning drop off
and
partially because it is tough for the post school bike ride with the boys at different schools and all of the post school activities for the boys



but...
on this day I made it happen

it is tough...
there is all sorts of extra leg work to make this happen
but I made it happen
dropped the boys off at school with their bikes

then at time of pick up I went to Grant's school first... then we rode a virtually car free neighborhood route to Dean's school

We get to Dean's school and I can see that he is yearning for post school activities with his friends
well.... we do not ride the bikes that often
so I have to make the choice for him

not only is there an urban ride
but we have an agenda
I wanted to go get cupcakes for mom and her birthday
then go home and make dinner

we did some looping around and found ourselves at Something Sweet in Cleveland Park
we arrived and the boys begged for Root Beer Floats
ROOT BEER FLOATS?
I could not oblige... they could not have ice cream floats now and then cupcakes after dinner

we bought a variety of cupcakes and loaded the box into the Bob Trailer behind my bike
then we left off for home
I tried to ride fluidly and avoid any and all bumps

a few blocks away after our photo by the National Cathedral I glanced back at the box
I could see that the box was in place
but the cupcakes had all bounced out of their circular slots
in just a few minutes the cupcakes were ruined

we turned it around... we went back to Something Sweet
I threw a tantrum... they offered replacement at half price
but there was no discussion... just that offer
my tantrum continued
I stormed out... allowing my kids to eat the cupcakes then and there

we rode home...
hustled home in order to allow Grant to suit up and get to Karate class
I had Dean walk Grant to Karate with the dog
with the instructions to go to Heller's Bakery and get something for mom

there was specific instructions to keep the box level
there was question if he could handle it
mention if he needed to leave the dog behind
Dean was confident that he could manage

with the boys gone I went for the phone
gave a call to Something Sweet and apologized for my behavior
explaining that I have a lot going on and that my frustration was with other issues in my life
the boy on the other side of the phone was appreciative of my call

the half price replacement should have been good enough
but really... I still would have needed to get the cup cakes home

well...
LIKE FATHER LIKE SON
Dean got home from his several block walk with the dog and the strawberry shortcake that he selected from Heller's Bakery
and sure enough... it was not ugly... but it was not pretty
three of the four sections of cake were somewhat squished

I pulled aside the pretty piece of cake and put it on a plate
the less than pretty pieces would be fine for me and the boys

it was fine
the cake tasted fantastic
and the boys ended up having two deserts
even if I tried to fight it