of summer and having fun

I live in a neighborhood where there are a number of young people. There are a couple of toddlers, some elementary school kids, a few middle school kids and some high schoolers. These kids play soccer, swim on the summer swim team and belong to scouts. They have very organized, busy schedules. So I was really pleased the other day when I discovered that they aren't so programmed that they don't know how to be creative, original thinking, adventurous kids. I don't know how they came up with the idea. I do know that sometimes they climb up on the hillside behind our house looking for lost rockets. Whoever it was, one of them got the idea of rigging up a zip line between two oak trees on the hillside. Now, when they got the idea, the hillside hadn't been plowed or weed whacked. So they hoed and whacked the weeds themselves until they had a clear run. I'm not entirely sure how they convinced one of the parents to get the right weight and length of line at the hardware store but they did. Another parent and uncle helped them figure out how to rig it up. But the kids did the work. After trial and error the zip line was finished. And now on YouTube you can see the results. Because not only did they make a 200 foot zip line that can carry up to 165 lbs. but one of these young people is an accomplished film maker and he posted a film of the kids enjoying the zip line. It looks like so much fun. And every day when they use it, they set it up, make sure that it is used properly with the user wearing a helmet and back support and when they are done they take everything down so no one gets injured using it unsafely. I am so impressed. Kids still can be kids around here. And it was not just one age group involved. All the kids seemed to have a part in it.It is just one more reason why I love this neighborhood so much. People on this court enjoy doing fun things together and they look out for one another. The kids see the adults acting this way and they emulate what they see. What a wonderful place to live!