Why we can't leave

I love our neighborhood. I mean it, I LOVE our neighborhood. Not only do we live across the street from a park, but the families that congregate there all like each other. Not just "chit chat about the weather" when we are there kind of "like each other." I mean hang-out-without-the-kids, drink-wine-and-beer-secretely-at-the-park (or not so secretely), talk-about-ten-years-from-now kind of liking each other.

And that doesn't even begin to talk about the relationships all our children are forming and shaping. These are the friendships that may not last forever, but you sure remember them forever. I am sure there are shinanigans I will hear about in ~20 years that I will only barely be able to deal with even with the time delay. So far, however, no one has kissed, died, broken a bone, carried a torch, or shown-you-mine (as far as we know).

We are still in the realm of activities that the kids proudly show off to the parents. They found that the woods at the end of the park have endless sticks and downed logs. They decided to collect them and fortify the tree fort that they play at on the other end of the park. After working as a team, ages 3-8, for ~20 minutes, they were able to get this huge piece of wood across the park and set it up as a balance beam/bench.



Yes, our house is WAY to small for us right now... but how could you even think of square footage when you would be leaving behind something so much more important?