1. Watch our 19 four-week-old chicks explore the yard and raise a ruckus with each other (there are some roosters, for sure). We smell them too. Until the coop is built, they are in our dining room. Stink-a-rama.
2. Look outside of our house East, West, South and North and see no one, no house, no evidence of any other humans except ourselves. It's so private!
3. Walk down our loooooong driveway--because it's too muddy to drive! I tell Matt, "It's like we live in a campground! It's like we're camping!" On Sunday morning when we're hurrying to church and our shoes and socks cannot escape the mud, it's still fun!
4. Hear and watch the frogs mating all day long. They are so small but they are so loud! We found the ones in our upside-down backyard pool and I told the kids, "Don't pick them up! They're mating." Kian asked, "What will happen if you pick them up while they're mating?" I replied, "I'm not sure. But we should just leave them alone and they'll make baby frogs."
5. Walk down the middle of the "street" with the kids and never worry about them being run over.
6. Not check e-mail for a month. Well, maybe this is good, maybe this is bad. It gives me a lot of free time, that's for sure.
7. Explore creeks and fields and forests, right outside our doorway.
8. Battle beetles. Why are there dozens of Japanese beetles that get into our bedrooms? How do they get in? Where are the holes?!
9. Burn our garbage. We just throw it in a pile and set it on fire. Instant bonfire. Really, that's what we do! No trash pickup here.
10. Watch the kids build forts in the trees, jump in the mud puddles and revel in their new life outdoors.
11. The Stars! Who knew there were so many up there?
12. Go for a drive in the country every time you get in the car to go somewhere!
13. Having a valid reason for owning a truck (and not just a truck but a 4x4).
(Okay, so maybe you can do some of those things and live in the city, but it was a fun list to write).
