City folk... not so much.

Moving from the country to the city changed a lot of things for us...

We traded crickets for sirens and lightning bugs for city lights.
I no longer wear my PJs proudly for all dropping kids at school/ grocery shopping activities.
I at least take shoes with me everywhere, just in case I have to wear them.
I carry make-up, a brush and an electric razor in my purse for if I have to go inside anywhere.
The boys have learned cable TV and Video games instead of riding bikes, lightening bugs and frogs.

But there are a few things I refuse to give up. My boys need to know their roots and I swear, even if we never see a sky full of stars again, if we never again see a black night or hear the crickets in the silence, the hooting of an owl, the song of a whip-poor-will they will surely never forget what it means to play country-style. Mama's not going to let that happen, and neither is my brother. and we will pass it on to any kid that comes our way.

We play in the rain

We dance like fools in the kitchen

We make mud puddles.
On purpose.
so we can play in them.

We rebel against footwear

We play in dirt.
*some* of us with worms.

We crawl around and get grass stained/mud saturated.

We hang out on the back porch after dark.
Together.

We play with sticks as swords.
(also power ranger swords disguised as whistling straws)

We splash in the creek and swim in the river.

We stay up late and watch movies then crash together in a pile.

We go fishing and don't actually fish because we're too busy poking things with sticks and running wild.

We play freeze tag and hide-n-seek in the back yard after dark.
We pitch a tent and camp out there too.
We build a fire and sit up laughing and chatting well after the kids are in bed.
We spend our spring and summer being turbulent, wild, and untameable.
We get messy and loud and rambunctious.
and we like it.