Our Neighborhood

I love our neighborhood! We have so many children for the girls to play with...including my girls, there are 10 kids that play together daily! Luke and Andy live right next door. Andy is in kindergarten this year, just like Katelyn. Our other next-door neighbor has 5 kids! Tommy is in Katelyn's kindergarten class and their twin girls, Annie and Ella, are in Kennedy's preschool class this year. Their older two children, Claire and Kevin, are in 2nd and 3rd grade and are great playmates for Katelyn too! Then, we have Eric, who is two houses down. He is like the "neighborhood teacher." He is the oldest boy in the neighborhood (9 years old) and all of the kids look up to him. He is such a good kid and a great role model for them.

I must say that one of the best characteristics of our neighborhood is that we are a "No Fence" neighborhood. As the name implies, none of the yards have fences around them. It is not that we can't have fences, it is that we don't want fences. The kids are all free to run back and forth between the yards. Since all four of the houses with kids are right next door to one another, the kids have four backyards to play in! You wouldn't believe the fun these kiddos have. There are three large play systems, a butterfly house, sandboxes, playhouses, a soccer net, and now a tree house! This doesn't even begin to touch on the abundance of bikes, cars, scooters, basketball courts, balance beams, and everything else these kids share from their garages. There is an understanding around here that all of the kids are welcome in all of the backyards, even if one of the families isn't home. Everyone is so great at sharing and welcoming the kids!

One of the favorite activities this summer has been catching butterflies. All of the kids have butterfly nets and bug houses. Eric set up a large butterfly house this year where all of the kids could release their catches. There were several chairs in this butterfly house. The kids would just hang out in there talking and playing while butterflies fly all around them...so clever!

Here are a few pictures of the kids playing together and just hanging out.

We are truly blessed to live in such a nice neighborhood with wonderful friends!