My kids are so wonderful, I love them so much. My favorite thing is to watch them use their imaginations and create play. I love it when they come up with new ways to play all on their own. No amount of nagging, or ideas from me would have produced this. Kids don't need nintendo Wii's or DS's or playstations, or expensive anything. They just need to be kicked out of doors every so often and told to go play.
Last week I took this picture after hearing an immense amount of popping in the garage, something akin to machine guns going off. I went to take a look and found them riding their scooters over a huge sheet of bubble wrap. I'd given it to them after it came in a box that arrived from UPS (Kenna had stayed with us the night before and she proudly explained that the box was from her dad's work!) I thought they'd take the bubble wrap outside and stomp on it, to pop the bubbles, because of course that's what I would have done. But Sam and the girls took it a step further; run the wheels of the scooter over it and it makes an even cooler noise.
My heavens, we loved playing outside when I was a kid. I remember pretending to be pioneers coming across the plains and hiding in a grove of trees for warmth and shelter. (It was really windy and there was this little grove of scrub oak right above our house. Rosie, Kit, Char, Mandi, and I used it for a clubhouse and many other hide-outs of sorts.)
Then there are the times when we set up town in Kit's basement. Someone was the store owner (Dotti's food storage), there was a postal worker (Kit's Dad's huge desk that had really cool cubbyholes for mail slots), the librarian (wall to wall bookshelves), which were just a few of the really cool jobs. (I think Dotti must have had the patience of Job to let us play town down there because I swear we'd keep it like that for weeks!)
I remember setting up a a little Italian restaurant in our unfinished basement. Mom bought us those little tiny mini pizza's and she'd cook them and let us serve them to our friends.
Then there was always riding big wheels down the hill past Kit's house, and then into our front lawn. It's amazing that I only remember one kid going through the lawn to the other side and falling over the edge.
I am thankful for my kids because they help me to remember what fun I had as a kid. I'm trying not to take their little-ness for granted. Mary wishes every day that she would stay little. Me too, Mary, I wish you'd stay little forever.
4 comments:
i didnt know you played italian restaurant in the basement! i have no memory of the basement being unfinished. i vaguely remember when they finished the bathroom. that was a fun little trip down memory lane!
What a great post! I remember having the best times playing as a child. We didn't have many toys and definitely no video games. I'm always telling my kids to go outside and use their imagination. I can't stand it when they are always telling me how bored they are and what should they do. I don't ever remember telling my mom that I was bored. As soon as we were home from school we were out the door and ready for a day of fun.
Oh i loved playing pioneers as kids too. We'd load everything in our litttle red wagon :-)
My favorite was concoctions. We would go down to Kit's parent's food storage and grab a bunch of random ingredients and mix them all together. They always had the BEST food. Who knew you could mix chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, and Pop Tarts together. OK so I didn't say it tasted very good...
But I do remember the scrub oak huts. I remember I would take the clippers and clip and clip the branches in my 'room' until there was nothing left and then want to change rooms because I had clipped too much..
Remember the Winter Olympics up at the Dead End? Now those were the days...
--Char
Post a Comment