City Mouse, Country Mouse

We live in a large city. G1 and G2's grandparents live in the country. What our city lacks their 'country' makes up for and vice-versa. In our big city the G's will be exposed to lots of things they wouldn't see in their grandparents 'country'; big buildings, city buses, city sounds, Starbucks galore, crowded streets, and more.

I say all of this to say that I hope we've chosen the right place to raise our kids. I was raised in cities. We moved a lot but every time it was to a real city. So I don't know much else. In fact if I don't see a fast food restaurant or a convenient grocery store then I feel like I'm in the boonies.

But what the city lacks that the boonies has is huge goldfish, garter snakes, loud jumpy toads.

This past weekend we spent some time at A's parents house, in the boonies. In a mere two hours of roaming around their property with her cousin, D, G1 came back to report that she had seen Goldie, the resident goldfish. She told me that Goldie was uuuummmmooonnnngous! She also told me that she had seen a snake, which freaked me out a little, not because I am scared of snakes but that she had seen one on her own without me nearby to protect her. She was, of course, fine but still this is what the country will give her. I am thankful that we have both at our fingertips. That we don't have to travel more than a couple hours away to allow her to roam. I imagine G1 taking G2 by the hand and showing him what her cousin showed her this weekend and frankly I cannot wait!

It brings me back to our city. Yesterday we went to the local zoo, it's also big like our city. A friend of G1's saw a spider scurrying away and freaked out where G1 wanted to run after it, pick it up, give it a kiss, name it. I'm happy to be raising our daughter this way. The girl who doesn't want a princess or fairy birthday party but a robot one. The girl who will, when bribed, not allow me to put a hairclip in her hair. The girl who has grabbed onto one girly thing...painted toe and finger nails. I'll take it!

I love our little city/country mouse.