Neighborhood

When I sat down last night after tucking the kids to bed, I was thinking how lucky we were when we bought our house. We were searching for our house in 2005, right at the peak of the crazy house buying. Everything was super expensive, and when something went on the market, it would sell that weekend, and sometimes for more than it was listed. Aaron and I looked a loads of houses, had a few fall through, and it was February when we found this house. I will admit, we didn't do huge amount of research. We have family in our town, but mostly we were looking for HOUSE we wanted. We were more worried about the number of bedrooms, and if it had a fireplace or not. I cared about the school system and the crime rate, but I hadn't thought much about the actual neighborhood.


We moved in and didn't really meet anyone until the spring. But when we finally did? I saw that we moved into a real neighborhood. I found that people in our town wait for houses on our street to go up for sale because of how great the neighborhood is. The kids run in and out of different houses, playing tag and hide and seek and catch until the sun goes down, and the women in the neighborhood plan holiday parties and I quickly made a bunch of friends. We get together to knit, I've started a book club, and this year will be the third year of our block party. I love where we live.

This weekend was so enjoyable, and it's in huge part due to the people in my neighborhood. We had toyed with different ideas for the weekend, maybe going to Nantucket or my mom's cabin - and then realized that Cam had tee-ball and we couldn't go anywhere until Saturday afternoon late, so opted to stay home.

Saturday, we kept to ourselves. Got little things done around the house, I went swimming and we went to see Epic (good kids movie! Totally recommend). Sunday I invited our friends over for breakfast, and they stayed until mid-afternoon. Then other friends came over on their bikes and we all played outside until dinner. Monday, I decided to take the kids to Drumlin Farm (a place I would have never gone to but for several friends giving a recommendation) while Aaron did some work around the house, and then we rode our bikes to the town parade. The whole town was out at the parade, which my kids thought was AWESOME (total classic small town parade. The veterans walked at the beginning, the high school marching band, the Girl and Boy Scouts, and finally the Stow Minutemen. Then everyone follows behind to the town cemetery. Cam and Maggie were THRILLED to be in the parade and walking on the main road). Afterwards, Cam rode in the car with his good friend to the ice cream stand, while I rode with Maggie (Aaron was helping his Aunt, we picked him up on our way). Then we pedaled home, played in the backyard, hung out at our next door neighbor’s pool, and ended the night having gin and tonics with another neighbor while their 'big kids' (11 and 9) played with Cam and Maggie.

To me, we live in such a special place. Within easy walking distance (like 1/3 of a mile), there are 6 families that we enjoy spending time with and that our kids love playing with. We have impromptu cookouts and play dates all the time. I'm so excited that my kids get to grow up in a place like this. To me, it's almost magical. I love it.