Ah... to be young again.

So we spent yesterday, the first of our quasi-vacation, at Longwood Gardens to check out the tree house exhibit "Nature's Castles." Although I grew up driving past Longwood at least 3 or 4 times a week, admittedly I'd only been inside on a few select occasions, and hadn't really much to draw upon for what was to come.

It seemed like something Harry might like, and there was also mention of an area where kids could make their own forts, which might not be bad, and if nothing else, a chance to try to get to see both the West Chester and Drexel Hill McDermott's (maybe even at once!)

Needless to say, we ended up with an absolutely gorgeous day (a little rain on the way up had me a little concerned), a bit on the hot side, but not too bad.

As it turned out, Longwood was a perfect combination of 2 of Harry's favorite places -- EPCOT Center and the National Arboretum. There were great things to see, that were just far enough away from each other to make it into a bit of a treasure hunt (Harry even got his own Kid's map of the facility), and even thought he was persistent in getting from one location to the next, took the time to appreciate the walk, the fountains, the colors, the trees, everything.

To top it off, Ainsley has always, just like her big brother, been intrigued by the blowing leaves. She loves to watch them move in the breeze on the front porch, the trees overhead in the backyard, just about anywhere. So the fact that she had tons of stuff to look at was even MORE fun.


We sat for a while just outside of tree house area #2, at the aforementioned Kid's make-your-own-fort area was spread out under a huge shade tree, with Adirondack chairs aplenty for observant parents.

It was great to watch Harry get dirty.

It's kind of surprising to hear myself say that, as I'll be the first to admit that I'm usually the one trying to keep him from just that kind of stuff. Whether it's from the sand pit at school or the sandbox in the backyard, for some reason, even if there's no good reason for him to stay clean, that for some reason, I seem to think he needs to.

He was having so much fun, and even cooler, you could see him thinking... see him imagining... see him explaining what he was thinking & imagining to the other kids (not that they were buying in, but neat anyways)... then I got to thinking.

Thinking about how now is the time that it would have been really great to still have the house in Embreeville. As great as it is to make the trip out to Chicago, to walk around West Chester, to sit around the pool at the campground, or to spend a week in the Outer Banks, I can't help but wonder what Harry could come up with after a day or two of being able to go outside by himself (or maybe even with Bailey), to wander around with a stick that's not going to poke someone, to head off at a dead sprint and run out of run before running out of room or getting to the fence, to make up stories about what lives in the woods, to see a crayfish like Franklin does on TV...

I don't really remember if Bryan used to explore around our house, I really doubt Meghan did, but I certainly did. Of course we moved there when I was in 3rd grade, so a little older, but we even did that at our 1st PA house. There was a huge colonial-ish era barn ruin behind the house that we had strict instructions not to go in, but we always looked at from the edge of the woods (and has since appeared in several recurring dreams, but that's another story).



I do remember when we first moved to "the country" that it took a while for Magoo to come up with a way to mow the field (no horses yet), and although the grass was only about 18" maybe, it seemed like a jungle to me. You could easily lose yourself , but still always be in sight of the house.

I think I appreciated where we lived, no matter how inconvenient/isolated it may have seemed as a teen, and I know it's too far out for me now (maybe not later), but it's after visits like these that do make me miss it.

Long live Roscommon Acre.