Block Party

Coen doing the bean bag toss

Lucy's friend Rain helping her put on her Parade hat

Block Party

I love my neighborhood.  We lend and borrow cups of sugar, cooking supplies and children's items.  Right now my husband is delivering a taped soccer game to our neighbor across the street who always comes over and helps us when we have a household issue.  We trade babysitting hours, skilled labor, and recipes. We watch each other's children, get each other's mail and shovel each other's walkways. 

One thing, beyond all that, that I love about my neighborhood is our annual block party.  The permit to close the street is free.  So at 3:00, we barricade either end of 55th Street and drag chairs, tables, food and games out to the middle of the road.  This year we had a kids parade (organized by me).  The kids wore hats and necklaces and blew whistles, horns and noisemakers and threw candy at their parents. Each piece of candy had a note taped to it with things that parents would like: a nap, a bottle of wine, a few hours off, a night out, and so on.  Then our neighbors hosted a bean bag toss game complete with prizes.  After dark, our other neighbors brought out a projector and showed a movie on their garage for all the kids. 

We had a great time.  It is free and fun and wonderfully cohesive.  I recommend it to anyone who likes their neighborhood!