A leisurely Friday afternoon

Rachel and I had a wonderful Friday together, after a hard week at work -- I worked six days straight, had to deal with allergies and all-around leftover crumminess from the bronchitis, so I ended up not walking her to school a couple of days. I was determined to make that up to her.

So, after parent-teacher conferences on Friday (more on that later), Drew went to work and I picked up Rachel from the school library. She whined a little about going on a bike ride -- she would much rather have spent the day reading, but it was going to be rainy and I was dying to get out and exercise, and I wanted to give her more practice on her bike.

When I was firm about leaving, Rachel did the most extraordinary thing: She announced that SHE WAS GOING TO MAKE US LUNCH TO BRING WITH US "so you won't have take your wallet." When I pointed out that the jelly was on the side of the refrigerator, she looked a little chagrined but then set right to making herself a sandwich, packing us each a granola bar and some milano cookies. I grabbed half of a roast-beef sandwich I had bought on Thursday, and we headed out. Her resourcefulness so impressed me.

On our way out the door, we ran into Ivy, Liam and their babysitter, Lindsey, and agreed to meet them back at their house at 2 to walk to Toby's to get ice cream. It was the most beautiful day -- low 70s, warm, shorts-and-T-shirt weather. So we headed towards Alexandria (I was half-hoping she'd agree to ride all the way there), stopped at a playground pretty far along the way, and I pretended to be a monster while I chased her around, which felt so good to do after all my foot problems. Then we hopped on our bikes and almost got as far as Shirlington when I told her we needed to turn back; it had started drizzling, but lightly.

On the way back we were very hot and tired, and she said, "Mommy, do you think I deserve a milkshake?" "We've exercised a lot today, sweetie," I said. "But do you think I deserve a milkshake even if we hadn't exercised?" she said. "I think we BOTH deserve ice cream," I answered, and that seemed to satisfy her.

We got back at 1:30 and met Ivy, Liam and Lindsey and walked to Toby's -- it's about a half-mile from our house. I estimate that we probably biked about 6 miles total, which seemed to impress Lindsey. Rachel had a milkshake that was a combination of pumpkin spice ice cream and chocolate (meh) and I had a scoop of peanut butter cup with hot fudge. Then we walked back, Rachel went to Ivy's for a playdate and I started making challah and matzo-ball soup, and then collapsed on the couch for an hour because I was exhausted. A bit later Ivy's mom walked Rachel back, and she insisted on braiding the challah (and doing a darn good job of it, too) and then set the table. We had a lovely Shabbat dinner, and then Drew went to the gym while I cleaned the house a bit and sorted through some mail.

Really, it was a most excellent day. I was so relaxed, and I realized it was because I got to spend uninterrupted time with my daughter.