Memorial Day Fun

Yesterday I reported on the birthday party but I didn't talk about the rest of Memorial Day weekend. What a fantastic weekend it was. The weather was sunny but mild. It was a perfect time to be outside.

Grammy was in town for the weekend, which made everything extra special. We often go to museums, parks, etc. when grandparents are in town, but this weekend found us just enjoying being in our yard or close by.

Clare spent a great deal of time on the back porch working with her various art supplies she received for her birthday. She concentrated very hard while painting her garden fairy and perfected each detail.

Memorial Day itself was so much fun in one of those "we never planned this" sort of ways. Walking out the door on Monday morning to take a walk, we discovered our neighbors had set up a baby pool with a little slide. Soon all the kids in our row of houses were in the pool--initially jumping in fully clothed, though we changed them into swimsuits quickly. The kids spent the entire day playing. There was an actual swimming pool just a few blocks away and numerous other adventures to be had. But the kids just wanted to splash in the water, slip down the slide, play with bubbles and run around the yard with a little parachute. It was perfect kid fun.

During all of this, the adults sat in lawn chairs and on picnic blankets talking and snacking on chips and guacamole. Being neighborly is taken to a whole new level when you have kids of similar ages. There was a point in my life when I would have only smiled and said the occasional hello to our neighbors. Now we are all instantaneous friends. They come over for birthday parties, they invite our kids to their homes to decorate cookies, we take turns watching the kids as they play while we are trying to get dinner ready. It is such an enjoyable way to live. We'll be saying goodbye to a couple of our neighbors in the next month and we will miss them very much. I do hope we will have just as many happy memories with our new neighbors.