About This Blog

When I was a child, the backyard was my summer playground.

My mom turned us loose in all types of weather to fill the endless hours of summer with all kinds of creative fun.

My sister and I would make forts out of blackberry bushes and put on plays with neighborhood kids. I climbed trees and fed imaginary horses. We invented new elaborate games of tag, rode bikes in endless circles and pretended to be spies plotting the next mission from a backyard tree house.

I’m sure we must have occasionally watched TV on a rainy afternoon, but I don’t have any memories of it. Instead, I remember running freely around the yard in nothing more than shorts and a tank top, the bottoms of my feet black with dirt. It felt like our entire cul-de-sac was filled with happy kids playing outside. It was hard for our parents to get us to come inside for bed when there were always interesting games in mid-play.

Two decades later, as I've recently become a parent, I realize that kids are now spending more time inside in front of TVs and computers and much less time outside exploring their surroundings. I’ve started to think about how special childhood is and how important those unstructured outdoor experiences are for kids.

I believe it is up to us as parents to not only allow, but to also foster, these adventures. I’ve started this blog to share ideas for fun, play-filled experiences we can have with our children. My son and I will be exploring our own backyard and the greater Puget Sound region.

And I hope to recapture some of my childhood along the way.