Autumnal delights

Chapter 1: Gold

Amber and I have been seeking and finding such natural RICHES tucked away amidst our prickly brown valley. Mother nature’s color palate is vivid and varied at this time of year. These autumnal delights speak to my soul. While we were driving home from grocery shopping on Monday, October 29th, the yellow leaves were so molten gold that I had to pull over to bask in their glow. It took three tries: Wapato–river access was blocked off, Toppenish–a sign by the river said it was Indian reservation land only, and finally Zillah–at last, a Department of Fish and Wildlife owned site. With a solid dose of perseverance, I finally found a parking area next to the beautiful trees by the Yakima River. I needed to go near the river because that’s the only place where trees grow uncultivated in our dry valley (water being a necessary commodity for plant life).

Chapter 2: Red

A week later on Monday, November 5th (today), our fall foliage exploration was more premeditated. We drove to Union Gap and parked by the Jewett Pathway/Yakima Greenway, and I pushed Amber in the stroller for a pleasant six mile jog through a surprising variety of flora and fauna. When I ran this same route back in September when the sage brush was blooming yellow, I made a mental note to come back when the leaves were changing. The run started out brown and sunny, but when we reached Sherman Park by the Arboretum, more color appeared. The vivid red leaves on the trees lining the bike path were absolutely stunning. I kept stopping and gazing up into the fiery treetops, taking pictures and admiring how the sunlight lit up the colors. I wanted to stay under that row of trees all day! My brain changed the words of Winter Wonderland to a not-so-clever “running in an autumn wonderland” and those words played over and over in my head while I drank in the beauty. But Amber got restless so I gave her a long stick to hold while we ran back through the bare brown section of trail to our car.

I brought Amber’s bike so she could get some energy out after sitting in the stroller for an hour. We have mostly gravel around our house, which is much harder to pedal on as a beginner than a smooth paved surface. After I ran, we pulled Amber’s bike out of our van and I walked alongside while she rode back up the bike path to the tiny old wooden playground almost a quarter of a mile away. Amber jumped off her bike and played for a while, climbing and swinging and asking for help on the monkey bars twice. Then we reversed course and she pedaled back to the car. Amber was quite pleased with herself for pedaling that whole way. Pavement is much easier on training wheels than bumpy rough terrain! Amber tends to look down at her feet while she pedals, so I constantly had to tell her to look ahead and stop steering off the path into the grass.

At last we arrived back at our van and drove over to Costco for some heavy duty re-stocking.

Chapter 3: Balloons

Amber got a balloon for her birthday. (I’ll write more on her birthday later.) The birthday balloon was a much-anticipated gift. Every time we went to the grocery store for the entire two months before Amber’s birthday, she asked if we could get a balloon. I always responded “wait till your birthday!” The anticipation for a balloon really got Amber excited for her birthday. As promised, Amber received a big helium-filled balloon on her birthday morning (yesterday) and her bliss was complete.

Twenty-four hours later, (today, this morning), Amber walked into the kitchen, holding her floating balloon and doing the potty dance. “Go use the potty, Amber, quick!” I told her. She handed me her balloon with a “can you hold this?” because Jay and Rose love to play with her balloon and she wanted it to be safe while she used the potty. No sooner had the balloon touched my hand than it popped in a loud sudden explosion. Amber cried “MY BALLOON!” in such a sad voice, my heart about broke. The ceiling in our kitchen has a rectangular florescent light with no cover on top. It was uncovered when we moved in, and has never been much of a problem…until Amber’s big balloon brushed against the sharp edge of the light fixture. POP!

I asked Amber if she wanted to use her birthday money to get another balloon, and she readily agreed. So this morning after our foliage run, bike ride, playground time, and Costco overload, we stopped by WinCo to get a balloon. Amber spent at least ten minutes browsing the small rack of balloon choices. She picked one and we got in line at the customer service desk. Then she went back and changed her mind three more times. At last we made it up to the desk and bought the balloon with Amber’s birthday dollars plus a 35 cent parental boost. The lady opened the balloon package and walked over to the helium tank. When she twisted the handle on the tank, nothing happened.

“Oh no, we are out of helium!” she exclaimed.

My heart sank. We had just spent twenty minutes selecting a balloon and waiting to buy it! The lady laboriously refunded Amber’s $4.30, apologized, and gave us two stickers with “I Love WinCO” written on them. Amber promptly peeled them off and stuck one on my stomach, one on hers. My feelings towards WinCo were decidedly cooler than usual, so I did not wear my sticker long. I was surprised with how well Amber was taking her second balloon loss of the day until we walked out the store exit. Amber planted her feet and said “I need my balloon!” I tried to explain to her that they didn’t have the right kind of air to put in the balloon and we needed to go to another store instead, but Amber employed all of her evasion/emotion tactics on our way across the parking lot (dash and dodge, go boneless, plant feet firmly, flail and cry, etc.). After catching her for the third time, I scooped her up and started to carry her but she started thrashing her four limbs so violently, I put her down and practically dragged her back to the car.

Now, I don’t tend to feel sympathetic with store-tantrums because kids have to learn limits and budgets. But this balloon was Amber’s number one birthday wish! And she had her own money to buy it and she had planned on buying it all day, but it was tragically ripped from her bosom not once, but twice in one day! My sympathy was awakened. I was also feeling quite tired out from my run and all of the lifting and loading involved in a Costco visit. The clock was fast approaching 1pm and I just wanted to go home and shower. But we had to find a balloon first. Back to the drawing board.

THANKFULLY, a store called Party City was just a mile or two down the road. Amber cried all the way there. She calmed down when we arrived at the next store so quickly. When we walked into Party City, we were greeted by a cheerful saleslady standing in front of an entire massive wall bursting with different balloons. It was overwhelming. When Amber pointed at a balloon she liked, I had no clue which one she was talking about. Finally I steered her towards the row of balloons that was more in her price range and she selected a balloon with several princesses on it. I was amused because the balloon she had to leave behind in a tearful wake at WinCo had Spiderman on it. Amber is a girl of many interests.

The Party City lady filled Amber’s balloon with helium and was about to hand it over when the lady at the next cash register said “you didn’t fill that full enough.” They both walked over to the helium station (which was hidden behind a tall counter) and messed around with it for longer than any four year old wanted to wait. Then I saw one of their hands reach out and grab a second balloon. They emerged a few minutes later with two identical balloons and said they couldn’t get enough helium into the first one so they filled a second one, but we could take the less-full balloon for free. Amber reached out and the balloon ribbons were in her hands at last. She would not let me tie the balloons to her wrist or help hold them when we went outside, and I was extremely concerned that she would lose them in the sky. Thankfully she kept a hold of them and we made it to the car.

The princess balloon duo ghosted around the car, obscuring my rear view mirror all the way home. An hour or two after we got home, Amber walked through the kitchen with her balloons and POP! She lost one of them to the sharp light fixture. Thank goodness for the spare!

All’s well that ends well: Amber started the day with one balloon, and she ended the day with one balloon.