Yard work or play

Trying to keep up with the rate at which my yard is growing has been running me raw. Like, literally, my hands are raw from pulling weeds everyday only for them to pop their little grassy leaves right back up the next day. Some of them aren't even grasses but have stalks that are as tough as trees and roots growing possibly deeper than a red wood's. Then there are the patches of clover engulfing everything Ev.ry.thing. Their cute little round leaves are about shoulder height on my three-year-old at their tallest. The jungle next door is our jungle right outside the door. With the flora comes the fauna. You can find little green frogs hopping around, grubby green caterpillars, and the birds that eat them. There are also the hairy jumping spiders, graceful and thin praying mantis and the one thing I wish I wouldn't ever come across but find nearly every time I dig in the dirt, baby centipedes. Because I don't ever want to find an adult one, I strategically placed centipede repellant all over which seems to help, But really this forest needs a trim if only to help control the bug population. So that is exactly what we did. Just before the heatwave last week, when it was a perfect temperature to spend an evening outside, my children and I took ourselves out into the jungles and started to hack it down. 

It was probably the most rewarding and productive playtime we have had in the new house.

Most Japanese don't own a lawn mower unless they have a ton of land. Who needs one when you have three children who can have fun while doing some yard work? My youngest had just had his birthday so he made himself a grass cake that then became a grass car.

It isn't a permanent solution to our grassy woes but it was a fun day in the yard. I am still so thankful we have one. But seriously, we need a mower.