One of the things that I love about our house is its location. We live in a small city and it almost seems silly to refer to it as having a 'downtown' and 'suburbs', but really, it does. We live midway between the two, in an old neighbourhood. This means that we are a 20-minute walk from downtown, and on any given day we might head out with the stroller to go to the bank, the mall, the library, the scrapbook store... you name it.
We are also just two blocks away from a commercial district that is a great destination in itself. There is a walk-in hair salon where I take Liam for haircuts. There's a McDonald's with a Playland. There's a Blockbuster, a drugstore (for impromptu magazine and deodorant purchases) and a grocery store for last-minute dinner items. There's a pet store, where we went last week and whiled away some time petting the puppies and trying to get the cockatoo to talk to us.
This morning we headed through the commercial area, picked up a snack at Tim Horton's and continued on to the park. We live within walking distance of at least a half dozen parks, but Kingston Park is best; it's huge and has a large range of play equipment - lots of it brand-new. We spent a good couple of hours there, running from play area to play area. Vans kept pulling into the parking lot and more and more kids kept piling out. I liked the fact that we could just walk over.
After the playground, we circled around through a residential area that backs onto a greenbelt to look for ducks. There's a family living there who keeps the brush cleared from the bank of the creek and feeds the ducks, so they are always around. This leg of the journey was at Liam's request.
After all that, it was just another 20 minute walk to get home. Although I get to keep our nicer, newer, more-fun-to-drive family vehicle home with me on account of it having the kids' carseats... the truth is that it rarely makes it out of the driveway when the weather is nice, unless it's Monday (grocery day) or Tuesday (when I take Liam to Cindy's). Yep, our house sometimes feels like it is bursting at the seams, and there is always something to do, maintenance-wise, when you live in an old house. But the neighbourhood we live in is wonderful. Now, if only we could do something about the noisy teenagers across the street...
2 comments:
I think Mallory may be craving a wee bit more fiber in her diet! :o)
You should do a day in the life of the Cook's on your next foot adventure, a photo documentary. I would love to see the sights where you live, it sounds wonderful.
Oh Dawn, you have no idea... there is no Gap, no Old Navy, no Costco here. I would trade up in a minute.
Don't worry Carrie, like my noisy teenagers across the street yours will eventually go off to University (like mine did this week) and you will peace and quiet for 9 months.
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