Adventures Outdoors

It is amazing how having a back yard has been such a wonderful part of our family life and our kids' growth and play. I had a back yard growing up, but I don't remember being out there this much! I think what's so great about it is the combination of the wide, grassy spaces to run and chase each other with the wide-ranging variety of plants all the way around it.

There are citrus trees to wander under, to gaze up at the smooth brown branches and see the spaces of sky between the leaves. There are slightly higher grasses (and weeds!) to swish through to stand on a bit of dirt and make your own path along the back fence so you can stand behind the apple tree and peer through the fence down to the arroyo and the cactus and trees that populate it. There are bees humming busily in the bottlebrush bushes that reach all the way up to the telephone wires. There's plumeria blooming a bright blue along the fence behind the playset (the swings and slide are in daily use), and roses where we can find ladybugs on occasion.

There are two heavily frequented plots of dirt by the back door - one of dirt and several toy trucks, bulldozers, shovels, pails and the other of stones that the bulldozers and trucks like to push around. There is a sidewalk that goes by the kitchen window and to one of the garden gates that is perfect for pushing babies in strollers or getting used to riding a tricycle or a scooter.

Two days ago we saw a praying mantis walking on the grass, slowly, slowly, slowly. A lizard ran up to catch it, and quick as a wink, the mantis flared up and made itself look big and scary. It worked! The mantis made it all the way across the yard without another threat from the lizard or even from a bird.

A squirrel has taken up residence in our yard and comes to fill his cheeks at the birdfeeder. Adam has named him Coconut.

Every morning at breakfast, Norah points urgently outside, then at her clothes and bare feet so that I know that she needs to get dressed ASAP so that she can run out there.

We are so grateful for our home!