Downtown Food Truck Field Trip

Continuing on with our summer of fun FFM and I met Granny Annie and one of her charges (Granny Annie's a nanny! Say that three times fast) for a fun day downtown, a.k.a IN THE CITY.  GA and her charge Rush led the charge on an adventure to find the Food Trucks that serve lunch at a park downtown every Tuesday and Thursday during the summer.  

To get downtown we drove to the home where GA works.  From there we carpooled to a nearby Park n Ride.  Then we all rode light rail to downtown.  Once downtown we weren't quite to our destination yet so we hopped a free shuttle bus. The boys were ecstatic. Carpooling, trains, buses, city life is great!  We hopped off the shuttle and met up with Rob and Mollie, parents of Rush and nifty people, and walked over to the park.  

It was almost overwhelming.  I should have gone with an emptier stomach and more cash.  Street tacos, gyros, BBQ, Cubans, kabobs, thai sandwiches, burgers, sausages, nearly two dozen choices in all.  I passed by the arepas becase the line was so long, and I'm wishing I had just waited.  My Cuban was divine, and FFM's street tacos were sublime, but I really wanted to try the arepas.  For dessert, red velvet ice cream with real red velvet cake in it.  Yum.

There were a couple non-profits hanging about at the park during the lunch hour and one was a charity for disabled athletes.  They brought along some of their gear and one of the staff kept riding a modified bike around the plaza.  FFM boldly and of his own volition started chatting with the woman who then offered him a ride (if it was OK with Mom) and after he scurried over to secure permission he was off.  

Now, we're sitting on a semicircle of steps along with about 70 or so professionally dressed downtown worker bees all out for a nice summer lunch.  FFM and his pal are the ONLY kids to be seen anywhere.  My mom and I are the only ones not in professional work clothes.  FFM takes off on this bike and is a total menace, flying all over the place, and I'm terrified he's going to 1) run over someone talking on their iPhone while they are wandering through the plaza in the middle of a really important deal or 2)just generally annoy those who are in their midday kid free zone.  I am so wrong.  People just start cracking up and hooting and hollering and cheering at him - telling him when to turn and when to brake.

his feet barely reached the leg supports but boy could he crank

 But wait, there's more!  Those volunteers are gluttons for punishment.  FFM and Rush were happy taking turns on the bike, but the volunteers thought it would be fun to bring out more toys.  Bike and kayak nearly colliding all over the place suddenly became the lunchtime entertainment de jour.  As an added bonus the volunteers got a great workout chasing wheeled things all over the place.

a near miss - follow their trajectory and imagine full speed.
Note Mr. Blue shirt reaching out to grab the kayak.

After full bellies and plenty of exercise we started our adventure home.  While waiting for the shuttle we found one of a series of outdoor pianos currently strewn about the 16th Street mall, all artsy and painted and free to play.  FFM plopped down and serenaded us with a couple rounds of "Little River" while the waning lunchtime crowds milled about.  No, he's not shy.  Not one little bit.