In The Street

This week has been just perfect weather. Our neighborhood has two hot spots for kids - the cul-de-sac (good spot for hockey games) and our dead end. The dead end here is especially popular for it's gentle slope - perfect for riding bikes, scooters, skateboards, or mattresses! If any one wants to speed up faster, they can down our driveway for a race. Owen and Daniel really like riding bikes and their cars in the front yard. Last night I joined them outside, and it was such a lovely evening. The sky was so blue and clear! Even with the Neff's Canyon fire that is kinda close by. This morning we went outside again before Owen left for kindergarten. He tried to help Peter learn how to ride the wiggle car. It was cute, cause Peter kept alternating his feet as he pushed, like he was taking steps walking with a car between his legs. That didn't quite work to make the car drive forward smoothly, but Peter will get the hang of it. 

Peter said he was done letting Owen help him. He wanted to do it himself! Then he pulled the car onto the grass...

And was frustrated when it wouldn't go when he pushed it

Complaining to me (I helped him) as Owen scooted by.

A neighbor across the street has a fun webbed nest swing that is the usual gathering place for the kids when they are in the front yards. Today I pushed Peter and neighbor Niam on the swing, and then would distract them with a wagon ride when the other kids wanted a turn. 

Natalie had a friend from school come over to a playdate - Sophi joined them climbing trees in another neighbor's yard.

We live in a little corner of heaven. A neighbor shared last week on her facebook the view from their side of our street: "Other than moderate air quality from all the fires in other western states, this i s atypical summer night outside my house!"

You can see Daniel driving his Go-Kart there in that photo, he loves that car (thanks Jersh!) and the neighbor kids like it too - Daniel is getting better at letting them all have a turn. 

So, with the street in front of our house being so fun, it's easy to see why Owen and Daniel prefer that over the trampoline in the back yard. They have a new trick where they will tell me they are going on the trampoline, but then will sneak out the gate into the the front yard. I shall now confess that last Friday, Sep 25th, they snuck out into the front yard. And the give away for that is that the house will be too quiet and we won't hear them fighting. So I was doing some family history stuff last Friday, didn't hear them, figured they were probably out in the front, and I tried to finish as I called for older kids to go check. No one went though, then I realized Peter hadn't been at my feet either. "Where's Peter?" We looked around inside for them real quick, then Abi and I went out side, where I saw my baby literally sitting in the middle of the road with my toddler. 

I was shaking my head at myself with shame. If I was a babysitter I would be so fired. I was really glad that we found them before Corey came home, which was about 10 minutes after this. That would have been really bad. I imagined the conversation as Corey came in the house. "Hey Tiff! Do you know where the kids have been? Cause I just drove down the street and saw some very little kids sitting in the middle of the road... and realized they were our children..." 

I was grateful they were safe. Abi helped me bring them inside and they went straight into the tub. We do live in a safe neighborhood and there is no traffic outlet, so there are minimal cars passing by, but still... I am fully in agreement that my 5, 4, and 1 year olds should not be outside without parental or older sibling supervision. I have not yet told Corey about this, but might be ready to confess to him. (I will find out soon if he reads the blog...) I am also ready to confess my transgression to any of my neighbors that walked or drove by and shook their heads at me, but I don't know if anyone did see. I will not let this happen again, which is why I've been in the front yard for hours the past two days watching them. I do love where we live and feel very grateful.