bread ends

one of my favorite memories from my childhood years is going to feed the ducks with my grandma and grandpa. they would save their bread for weeks and then when my sister tammy and i arrived, we would take those bread crumbs and go feed the ducks. like most favorite childhood memories, i want to pass them onto my children, so i figure start young.
after a big morning of biking and hiking, we arrive home wanting to relax. just as ben slouches down on the couch, i notice the bread ends in the pantry and happily suggest "let's go feed the ducks!" ben is always very kind about my suggestions, he never groans or complains, just asks "where?" in the kind of voice, like i really don't want to right now, but i will.  i pull up colorado springs on google, find a park with a lake, and announce that is our place. it didn't look far from our home, and truthfully it wasn't that far. but driving in town here, stinks. and by the time we arrived we were more tired then when we began.
the lake wasn't quite the quaint pond in my memories, it was more a massive lake, with lots of people. the kind of people who like to hang out at big, kind of nasty inner city parks. but we had these two bread ends with a blanket, an excited dog and a baby who needed to start feeding ducks at an early age. we get out of the car to the beat of mexican rap playing in the background (not quite the sounds i recall from my childhood duck feeding years). and ben begins to groan, while i can't help but burst out laughing as i silently observe the situation.
the sun was extra hot this day, and i quickly noticed there were no trees along the lake to lounge under as we tossed bread to the hungry birds. ben just wanting to throw the ends at the ducks and head home, suggested we not take the blanket, but i insist that we do. eventually we find a tree, very far from the lake, but still a tree, with some shade, to take a break before venturing into the sunlight and feeding the ducks their food.
considering how ornery and tired we all were. we actually had a great time hanging out in this shade. observing the guy on his rollerblades, the two people on the metal swing (whom i'm still unsure if they knew each other or not) watching the ice cream guy push his cart around the park, and finally being run off by the inevitable smokers in every ghetto park. then it was time to feed the ducks. the ducks were scared of canberra and ben (i guess when you consider canberra's love for chasing small animals, i would be to if i were a duck) but they swarmed around rivers and i.
even though the day didn't quite turn out as planned we had a good enough time to "try it again sometime" (in ben's words). of course, before that time, i will be doing some serious searching into the best park to feed ducks. until then, i guess we will have to eat those dumb bread ends ourselves.