Family Friday: Oct 4

After Cameron eats dinner and we get everything cleaned up, we all head outside to play on the driveway.  Cameron will actually pound on the door to let me know she is ready.  We put up the garage doors and bring out some chairs and toys.  Cameron plays, Dulce lays in the sun, and I sit relaxing with a glass of vino.  It is everyone's favorite time of day.  We stay outside until the sun sets and then we go inside for a bath and final bottle.

We have some beach buckets and shovels that I'll fill with water and a few rocks.  Cameron will sit for a long time putting rocks in and out of the water, stirring the water with the shovels, sometimes dumping the water out, and sometimes tasting the rocks.

Most days, the neighbor kids come over to say hi and interact with Cameron.  She loves playing with the big kids!





Cameron points at every airplane that she sees fly overhead (we are very close to the Honolulu airport so we see a lot).  She also gets excited when she sees people riding bicycles and walking their dogs.



Cameron is too little to ride bicycles or scooters like the other kids but she loves pushing things around the driveway!  I think it makes her feel included :)




The most fun we've had outside lately was with a bag of ice that was leftover from Cameron's birthday party.  It was taking up room in our freezer and we didn't need it so we put it outside to thaw.  This was a great experience for Cameron.  I put ice in her bucket of water and left the bag of ice open so that she could explore it in different ways.

The ice drew the biggest crowd of neighborhood kids yet!  Our driveway was full of kids "drawing" with ice on the cement, smashing big chunks of ice apart, pouring it into the buckets, etc.  This was cheap and easy fun :)



Cameron loved tasting the ice and sat doing so for a long time!  She was shaking because it was so cold but she loved every minute of it!



*******
"Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity."
~Kay Redfield Jamison


Posted by Angela on 10/04/2013
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3 comments:

  1. KellyOctober 5, 2013 at 8:43:00 AM PDT

    Hi Angela! Beautiful photos as usual! She's a cutie. Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you stick to playing on the driveway and not in the yard as well?

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    1. AngelaOctober 5, 2013 at 9:12:00 PM PDT

      Thanks, Kelly! There are actually a couple of reasons that we don't play in the yard. The primary reason is that we live on a military base and our housing village was built on the old flight line. Unfortunately because of this, the soil in our neighborhood is contaminated with petroleum and we have been advised not to dig in or even touch the soil (yikes, right?!) Our backyard has spots of exposed soil so we don't play back there. Another reason is that the grass in both our front and back yards is very rough and has hidden thorny weeds. Playing on the driveway and sidewalks keeps us out of the contaminated soil and away from the jaggy grass. It has also helped us to get to know many of our neighbors who also play in their driveways :)

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  2. KellyOctober 6, 2013 at 10:20:00 AM PDT

    WOW! That's all kinda crazy to think about. Definitely good call staying on the driveway! I figured there had to be a reason, and contaminated soil and thorny weeds are definitely good ones! Such a neat way to meet neighbors and make friends. :)

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