queen of the handball court

i befriended 2 little kids from the neighborhood this morning, nate and orlando. they always play handball next to my house. and, as they confessed to me, also break bottles in the handball court. why is this fun for little kids to do??? i was out in front of my house pulling weeds out of the sidewalk and then started focusing my energy on the handball court. surprisingly, the boys were super eager to help me. we were pulling weeds, cleaning up glass and getting to know each other. and orlando kept showing me how he could ride his bike with no hands. we came back to my house to get a broom and dustpan and that is when they discovered my handball stash. you would think those balls were worth a million dollars or something. they went nuts. i gave them each a ball to thank them for helping me. they are really so cute.

i am going to have to figure out some rules about wanting to come over because they have knocked on my door 4 times already since our morning cleanup! zach joked that soon i would be taking these kids on field trips across the country, like his mom does with kids from the reservation in SD (check out prairie horizions), which honestly wouldn't be such a bad thing.

what totally made my morning was when nate was sweeping up the broken glass he said to orlando "ok, so no more breaking glass anymore..." we'll see if this really sticks. but i hope that by showing some interest in the park and cleaning it, the kids will take on some kind of ownership and not trash the place. i can dream, can't i?