Oh, For a Backyard

What I especially enjoyed about our recent vacation was all of the time we spent outdoors. I love being outdoors, and so do the boys. After all, they're little boys. They run, jump, play, explore, and get unimaginably dirty. And I love that they love to do those things.

My parents have a fantastic backyard. I grew up on four acres in the Texas Hill Country, in an older subdivision where 4+ acres was the norm.




This makes it incredibly difficult for me to accept our current yard situation. We have no yard to speak of. Well, we have a thin strip of yard that we share with our neighbors, and it serves primarily as a toilet for their dog. The "backyard" sits at a roughly 60* angle (at least). It serves primarily as a torture mechanism for my poor husband who has to mow it. Well, weed-wack it. He gave up mowing it during our first year here after it nearly killed his back to lug a push mower up and down that hill forty-seven times to mow 15 square feet.

So, being on vacation, where I could feed my kids their breakfast and virtually turn them loose for the remainder of the morning, and again after naps in the afternoon, was really a huge blessing. It has taken us all of one day to get stir crazy back in our yard-less home. Before this turns into an all-out pity party, let me shift focus and mention all of the things that were so fun for the boys while they had full reign over (in their estimation) the entire Great Outdoors during our vacation time.

water sprinklers and swimming pools

finding creatures and critters (see posts here and here)

running, riding, and swinging

birdhouses

plants, flowers, trees, and treasures

hammocks



buckets, balls, pails, shovels, and stones

It's going to take some creativity and a whole heck of a lot of motivation to get this family outdoors the remainder of the summer. I imagine we'll be spending a lot of time at my in-laws, where we keep the blow-up baby pools and water toys (ready or not, here we come!) See, my burgeoning belly and lack of motivation to get out and up this massive hill we live on (or in the car to drive somewhere safe to play) have a linear relationship. As I grow, so does my list of excuses to stay inside. But, I suppose it just takes a little willpower and an "I think I can" attitude. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, I think I'll head on over to realtor.com......