Rafael and I went to the nearby bike shop to check on the status of the repair of his bicycle. Actually, he didn't know that I had it fixed because I told him I threw it away. He thought it was beyond redemption. The repair guy showed Raf the "new" bike and I could see the twinkle in my boy's eyes. Too bad we couldn't take it home yet since it was another guy who knows how much we should pay for it and he wasn't there. We would have to go back tomorrow.

He already has plans for the bike. He said we ought to remove the balancers because he already knows how to bicycle without it. He also wants to paint it new. He also wants stickers. Ok. One at a time, kiddo.

But I also have plans. The reason I had it repaired is because I want my children to spend some time outdoors once in a while. Sunday afternoon picnic baskets, grass, bikes, monkey bars, sun, scratches on the knees, playground bullies and others. Last year and the years before that, everytime we take our children out we usually go to one place: the mall. I thought to myself that there is probably a better way of raising our children.

When I was young, my dad would take the whole family to the beach almost every weekend. I'd like to be able to do that to our children as well.

I'm not shutting them out of malls, don't get me wrong. For example, the best movie experiences can only be had there. It's just that maybe there are other places to spend time with the family.

Like parks. Beaches. Zoos. Lakes. Avoid malls if we can. Next weekend, we will try to hit Family Park so they can play with their bikes.

Part of the reason is that I want do Sunday runs again.