Tonight was a perfect summer evening.

As we were sitting down to dinner, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see three boys our kids have become friends with, asking if S, H & P could come out and play. My kids began to shovel food into their mouths, and it wasn’t long before they were sprinting out the door to meet their friends.

Now in a mostly kid-free house, I moved into the living room to feed W. A moment later I heard the front door open, and H called out, “Mom, can we have a water fight?” In a whirlwind they changed into their swim suits, grabbed their super soakers and headed back out. As I sat and rocked W, I could hear their shrieks of laughter and delight as they ran up and down the street.

W ate and was happily playing on his mat, so I decided to leave him with M and go out and spend 10 minutes weeding my front walkway.

Well, “10 minutes” turned into two hours as it seemed like my whole street came out. Crossing the street to say hello turned into a driveway chat, which then turned into a backyard hangout with another friend, which then led to a lovely conversation with our next door neighbours as we left to come home. M came out with the baby, and it just felt like no one wanted to be cooped up in their houses, even with all this heat. All the while the kids ran up and down the street with their water guns, bath time and bedtimes forgotten. We finally dragged ourselves in by 8:30–with three happy tired big kids and W already asleep in my arms.

It was so, so nice. I love that we live in an area with kids. I love that we live on a street where people love to come out and chat, and everyone is so friendly. I love that it reminds me so much of my childhood home on Connaught Hill.

I love where we live. I’m a lucky hot dog.