How to Catch Children (yum!)

Yesterday we went out to Krueger's Farm on Sauvie Island with Phil, Vanessa and family. This is a really cool place and unfortunately, their Thursday events end next week. The farm has a moderately sized grass field, a beer and wine stand and a place to buy produce and cooked food. A stage was set up in the grass fields and a couple of bands played throughout the evening. This, for only a five dollar donation - excellent! (o - and hay rides too!)

One thing that is distinctive about the Thursday events is the hordes of children that move throughout the blankets and chairs. I was told to expect lots of kids, but what I forgot about was child-likeness. It was a hot, sunny day and so we thought that Avi might like to play in a pop-up house that we have. It's not huge, but it's a good size, doesn't have a floor and has a big door and a smaller "tunnel door". As soon as I erected the house, three children (none of them mine!) were immediately inside it. Throughout the night, dozens of children must have played in this house climbing inside, rolling around, going in and out.

What a fantastic sense of community! Children, unabashed, playing together, coming over to a stranger's play area and generally having fun. One child was even "lost" in the house. The one and half year old had escaped her mother somehow and made her way over to the structure. After the band made an announcement, her mother quickly found her.

Flocking around the house (but rarely in it) were also the children's parents. Once again, the little children will lead us. I talked to a few people that I never would have ever met had we not brought this simple toy. From now on, it's going to be a traveling companion, wherever appropriate.

Forget gingerbread - if you want to catch children, a nylon pop-up house does the trick every time.