Two Legs and a Flashlight=Fun

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends and family.  There is so much to be thankful for....starting with this taste of summer in early October.  Hard to argue with a long weekend where the leaves are changing and creating striking scenery all around AND you get to hike through it in shorts and flip flops.  Perfect.  We had a wonderful weekend together--out enjoying the sun and spending time with friends and family.  

Last evening we had some good friends over and all five of the kids went out in the dark with flashlights, called on a few neighbours, and started a huge game of hide and seek.  They were out for hours, appearing every so often for water (running and screaming through the neighbourhood is thirsty work), snacks (my kids sensed there was chocolate in the house from half a block away), and skipping ropes (I didn't even ask on that one).  It brought back so many happy memories of living in Waterloo, growing up in a young neighbourhood with at least 10 kids around my age.  Every summer evening at dusk we'd gather at the light post by our driveway, do a little "my mother and your mother were hanging out the clothes..." to see who'd be it first, and then spend the next few hours hiding and seeking all over the block.  Yes, there were some neighbours not too happy to see us but that was likely because of the warm up game of "nicky nicky nine doors" we sometimes played. 

I am not sure if the kids annoyed the neighbours last night but frankly I don't really care.  It's about time the kids got to experience some of the fun to be had without anxious parents, over-cautious safety equipment or video screens.  (And don't even get me started on my love of "unsafe" and "dangerous" playground equipment--long live the metal spinny thing with no dicernable purpose save to spin quickly and fly off.  love it)  Maybe next time I'll join them.  I've got my eye on a good hiding spot.