I looked out the window that afternoon and noticed a set of neighbor kids jumping on our fallen fence and jumping on the small trampoline that was several feet into the yard. I got annoyed and asked Brett to tell those kids to get out of our yard and to stop jumping on our fence, then I went upstairs to watch and listen through the window. Well, Brett has a really really good heart, so I watched and listened as he told the kids that we'd like for them to not jump on the fence because we want to put it back up but that they could definitely be in our yard as much as they wanted. Brett turned around and walked back inside, I kept watching through the window. The kids grouped together (4 in total at this point) talked it over, and about as soon as Brett shut the door went running as fast as they could into our yard and especially into the sandbox. We laughed a little as we watched them, and I tried not to be worried. I eventually went out and asked if their parents knew they were here and they said yes very quickly, almost as soon as I went inside, they left. We're pretty sure the parents didn't know.
Later, I went out to sit on our deck to soak up some sun and do some studying, not 10 minutes after I got out there 4 little girls (completely different than the first group) ran into our backyard and said "we already asked to play." They asked me to help them move the trampoline and they played in the sandbox. They asked me why my dad had let them play in the backyard. They asked if my little brothers and sisters could come play. When I explained I live here with my husband-no kids, they asked why I don't have any kids. They told me that they would "for sure come and play the next day" They told me their names and most ended up sitting with me on my blanket, telling stories. Then the other kids returned, I told them they could play and I went back inside. We had 8 kids playing in our backyard.
Although I started out quite grumpy about all the kids in our yard, it ended up being quite a pleasant experience, and I'm almost grateful for the broken fence that became an open invitation to all our neighborhood kids.
