Boys, girl, stick

Doug and I used to live in Dupont Circle, in Washington, DC.  We loved it there.  You can walk for hours and always see new things.  There are trees and little parks and a big park close by, lots of really great ethnic food, funky coffee houses, bookstores, there is a farmer's market on Saturdays (or was it on Sundays?), three or so movie theaters in close vicinity, the metro station around the corner, museums, stores, supermarkets, a Whole Foods...

Why did we leave again?

Right, we lived in a tiny studio apartment, expected our first child, and Doug got offered this strange job in Belgrade in barely-post-war Serbia.

Fast forward 12 years and we live in Fladungen.  You can walk for hours and see new things.  There are trees but no parks. No ethnic food besides the pizza restaurant one town over. No funky coffee houses or any coffee houses, really, no bookstores, no market, the next movie theater is a half hour drive away.  The next metro station is in, um, Frankfurt. There are two museums, though, one or two remaining stores, a supermarket, definitely no Whole Foods...  We grow our own food, have six or so apple trees, three plum trees, one pear tree, blackberry bushes, a walnut tree... 

It's definitely different.

Doug and I miss the big city life.  We enjoyed our one month stay in Bethesda last year so very much - a bookstore right around the corner! Funky food! Cute coffeehouses! Cupcake bakeries! The metro station...

You get the gist.

We went to museums a lot, to the bookstore, we ate cupcakes and fries from Five Guys, to the UU church on River Road, went to more musums, spent afternoons at the library, scouted out about every playground in town.  We spent our weekends in interesting city ways.  I have a good friend who lives in DC with her husband and three kids.  She also has a daily photo project going on.  Every weekend, and many weekdays, they go to museums, art exhibitions, the aquarium, the zoo, funky restaurants... I miss this so very much.

So, how do we spend our weekends, here in the quiet countryside?

Here's how:  We go for walks.  Or to the pool but Alan has an ear infection at the moment and cannot go to the pool right now.  So, walks.  Here's what they look like.

We leave the house.  The pent-up energy makes the boys wrestle instantly, a mere steps from home, on the empty lot next door.

Next:  The museum train station - climb, jump, hop.

Climb the dirt hill:

Chase a tractor, back and forth, and back, and forth:

Cross the bridge over troubled waters:

Whittle some random branches:

Jump over random ditches:

Build bridges over ditches:

Gather wood for a better bridge:

Voila!  Better bridge!

Find feathers and be goofy:

Repeat.

Balance on logs:

See the very first signs of spring:

Cross another bridge and spit into the water:

Until... until they are really, really tired.

The end.

Comments

[The New Diplomat's Wife]

love the train photo! (well love all of them but that one stands out!) walk with sticks are a good thing, we need more of them here in DC!

[Rachel]

These are the moments of childhood imprinted... they will never be lost for your lovely children... they are imprinting the smells, the tastes, the sights, every dried leaf crunching under foot, the delight in early spring of finding the first pussy-willow or those starter forsythia blooms... after a good walk in the woods or along the tracks on a cold grey day, the smells of hot chocolate or tomato soup or whatever beckons from the kitchen to warm the belly... these are the imprints of childhood - a childhood WELL SPENT...

They will all have time as grown teens or adults to revel in the coffeehouses and neighborhoods like Adams Morgan or Dupont Circle, or the 5th Arrondissement or Las Ramblas or Miraflores or whatever neighborhoods they discover in Bangkok, Baku, or Brasilia... the world will be their oyster largely because they were children in places where they were imprinted with such goodness, such outdoors, such foods, and travels, and books... and so much play and laughter!

I have said it before and I will repeat it... I revel in watching your family bloom and grow, I live vicariously (as a childless middle-aged woman) through their scrapes and victories. Please keep writing, photographing and sharing your worlds with us.

[neurondoc]

Your other friends in Bethesda who have only one child live such a boring life that they don't even get a mention. ;-)