The Great Outdoors

Before returning to the states I wondered how the boys would react. Living overseas is all that Micah has ever known and Lucas was only 18 months when we moved. I laughed the first time we went to Target and the boys ran and yelled as they marveled at all the toys. I laughed when Lucas tried to speak to the cashier in the national language (instead of English). I, however, did not laugh when he went behind the register and tried to help her scan things. That is acceptable behavior here, but not at Target. I REALLY laughed when I took the boys to Sports Authority and they were so excited they could not contain themselves. They touched everything, tried on helmets, swung bats, put on football pads, even tossed a football. Under normal circumstances I would have put a stop to it right away, but these were not normal circumstances. They had never seen some of these things and certainly never knew that they could be purchased. Though we did acquire our fair share of sporting goods, I did have to let them know that we could not purchase everything they saw.
Of all the things they enjoyed about being in the states, I think their favorite thing was having a place to roam. In each of the places we stayed they had a yard they could play in. Our home here does not have a gated space or grass - which meant that Micah could not go out unattended and playing football meant no tackling. Almost everyday we were in the states, the boys played football or baseball (usually both). Since we returned they have continued to play football, but they miss being able to tackle (but they are not ripping holes in their pants as much!). They all have aspirations of playing in the NFL and the other day Micah informed us that he was going to play football in college.