It was an unseasonably cold afternoon in the Twin Cities, so we bundled the kids up and walked down the street to the parade route. The parade included this year's homecoming royalty, the high school and middle school bands (seriously the cutest thing seeing little kids marching with giant brass instruments - adorable!), high school clubs and groups of local elementary school children. Our own kiddos cleaned house with treats and candy handed out during the parade. Snowpeas' little girl Allie was a candy magnet and the back pocket of the stroller was bursting full of her loot. Tory wasn't sure what to think of all the excitement. She didn't make a peep the entire time.
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| Tory, Allie, Jake and Raising Snowpeas watching the parade |
Before I became a parent, I rejected suburb life so hard; I didn't want anything to do with quaint neighborhood gatherings, far removed from the heart of city. Now, the sounds of a high school band practicing their instruments or the roar of a crowd at Friday night football games fills my heart with so much happiness. It's awesome to be a part of a community who embraces their school and it's traditions. It reminds me of my own hometown and gives me hope my children experience all the best parts of growing up in a small place inside their big city life.
You're so lucky to have found a good community within the suburbs! Growing up in 2 different suburbs, I never experienced that at all - but I totally think it depends on the parents to get involved, my parents never did. I did myself in high school, but just in school things.
ReplyDeleteHaving a neighborhood community is actually one of the main reasons I love living in the city versus the suburbs - I feel like I have it so much more here than I EVER did growing up! Totally depends on the neighborhood, city or suburbs, I'm guessing!
Totally agree with Erin, the sense of community is the most important part of where we end up settling down and raising our children. When we bought our house we NEVER would have guessed that we would fall in love with the neighborhood and community as much as we have. It was totally our 5 year plan, after which we would buy a similar house somewhere like the East Harriet neighborhood where we could get the same house for $100K more. ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, then the housing market tanked, but thank goodness regardless of the market, moving doesn't seem necessary anymore. I think we're here to stay, if not this house, this neighborhood. Love it so much. SO GLAD you have also found that!
I love so many of you Minnesota bloggers...I'm totally crashing the next blogger gathering. Or just moving up there - you guys all sound like you live in THE BEST neighborhoods ever. But if the northeast Ohio winters are too cold and snowy for me, I'm guessing Minnesota is out.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had fun!
Erin, AliRose - I think you're totally right, it completely depends on the neighborhood and the community that makes it. I guess I'm basing my "city neighborhood" experience on our old house in Highland Park where no one interacted with one another. In fairness, I didn't really seek out neighborhood involvement either until we moved here and started a family.
ReplyDeleteWherever it is, it's SO COMFORTING to have a strong neighborhood support system and I'm glad we've all found that in our neck of the woods!
Diniwilks - You're welcome anytime at my house! In fact, I'm emailing you this week ... we ARE organizing a summer get together. We have to! :)