City Livin'

Brian and I don't know how to raise a kid in the city.  Truth be told, we don't really know how to raise a kid at all, but we're working on it.  The city thing, though, is going to be tough to figure out given that we're a couple of born and raised country bumpkins.  Telling Rhys to go outside and play will be an option, I suppose, but certainly not in the way it was for our parents.  "Go outside and play.  Be home in time for dinner."   

The first thing I said to Brian after finding out that we were having a boy was "we need a yard."  It was stereotyping, of course, but I assumed we'd have a rough and tumble little boy who needed some room to run around.  Based on what Rhys has shown us so far, I'd say I was right.  The kid is a mover and a shaker.   

We'd like a little bigger house and a much bigger yard but we're not ready to leave the city primarily because of our careers.  So, we're on the lookout for a house in the city with a relatively large yard and an affordable mortgage payment.  It's a tall order, we know, so we'd better get crackin' because Rhys is going to be ready to run around before we know it.

(Tangent: my ultimate dream is to have a house in which Brian has his own office.  Brian's job is incredibly paper intensive.  He comes home every night with huge stacks of files and paperwork and our very small house does not need the additional clutter.  It is futile to hope for the County to join the 21st century and have online recordkeeping and it is also futile to hope for Brian to not bring home work every night, so instead I dream of a home office where his files can live and I never have to see them.)   

I can see us moving to the country someday.  The thing I miss the most about country living is the silence.  The city is never quiet, ever.  There are cars and sirens and voices and lawn mowers and motorbikes and dogs and radios and airplanes and parties and cats and TV's and garbage trucks.  All. The. Time.  It really wears on an introvert like me who needs silence and solitude to recharge. 

Lucky for us we have two relatively nearby options when we need a little peace and quiet in our lives: Gramma and Grampa Wynne's and the Westby's.  We're visiting the latter tomorrow and visited the former last weekend: 

Rhys wasn't quite sure about the sensation of sitting in the grass.  We'll have to work on that, city-boy.

Butterflies make zero noise.  I love them.

A boy and his Grampa having a good ol' time.

I love this place!