The Frozen Pickle Mystery

Our walk around the block today was t..h..e l....o....n...g...e....s....t w...a....l...k ever! And it was cold today. It was really cold. Why was it such a long walk? Well, Collin and Cayla became infatuated with some pods on the sidewalk around the corner from our house. These pods (from a Kentucky Coffee Tree I think) have been laying on the sidewalk since October. Every walk since October I have tried to interest the kids in the pods. I have picked them up, ripped them open, handed them out, shook them, and throw them up in the air. Cayla and Collin were never interested in them in the least. Now, today, during our coldest walk ever, they became interested - really interested. As Greta turned into a canine isicle, Cayla gathered as many pods as she could carry, shook them, delighted in the lovely rattling sound she produced, and procedued to rip them open. Opening fibrous pods that have been lying around for a few months, while wearing mittens, and being assulted by a cold, cold wind is not an easy task. When Greta started shaking uncontrolably, I insisted we resume our walk. A..n..d w...e d..i...d while continuing to open pods. Thinks began to pick up 20 minutes later when every last pod was shredded and seed was extracted.

And then, we saw it. It stopped us dead in our tracks. A frozen jar of pickles sitting in the middle of one of our neighbors' driveway. Forget the fancy toys, new bikes, and ice cream sandwiches. If you want to catch (and hold!!!) a four-year-olds undivided attention, place a jar of pickles in the middle of your driveway and let it freeze. We stood in that driveway observing those pickles for a solid 5 minutes. 5 really cold minutes. Collin and Cayla would apprecitate any insight into why anyone would place a jar of frozen pickles in the middle of their driveway. They weren't buying any of my hypotheses.

You know how this long, long, cold walk ended. About two houses away from home, Cayla declared she needed to pee. And sure enough, our walk was just a little to long and cold.