Thursday, February 6, 2014

Pen Pal Fun







My love of mail began as a child patiently waiting for letters from my pen pals. I wrote to my cousin in England for years and another girl in Denmark. Receiving those letters and then writing back was so much fun. I still love sending and receiving mail, as most of you know, and when I shared with you the 52 Letter Project a few weeks ago I not only received a lot of addresses, but also a request from Rosemarie wondering if Reece would like to do the pen pal thing with her boys. Of course I said yes.

Reece's first package arrived from Vermont full of rocks. He was so excited. And there was even a little something for me. As soon as the package was opened and I explained the whole thing to Reece and he was off to pick out some rocks to send back. The next day he had the package and a little note all ready to go.

And then two days a later another package arrived from Massachusetts, more rocks and postcards from a little rock exchange we did with Shel and her girls. Of course Reece was adamant that we had to send mail back and so another pen pal relationship has been started. Reece made up some cards, and added something special and Tuesday we dropped them in the mail.

I am so happy Reece finds so much joy in sending a little note off to friends. A simple pleasure we will both enjoy this year.

25 comments:

  1. How cool is that? I too had a pen pal when I was a child and really enjoyed the experience.
    With all today's technology you would almost assume that pen pals could become a thing of the past. Really glad to see you and others keeping the tradition alive.

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    1. It is pretty cool, and, yes I thought about that, the technology bit. And you know it could really become a thing of that past, which is really too bad. This is my little bit of work to keep it alive :)

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  2. Oh Kim...I am so looking forward to receiving your note :) how fun for Reece to connect with others.. The wonders of the Web. m.

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    1. While technology and I have a bit of a hesitant relationship at times, I do love the fact it has connected me to so many wonderful, interesting, inspiring and like minded people. It is pretty darn amazing.

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  3. That is just lovely. I'm looking forward to starting this with my daughter. I remember when I was a child, there were actually groups and organizations out there that would match kids from around the world. For the longest time I had penpals from Portugal and Austria.

    Hey Kim, have you ever heard of this : http://www.littlepassports.com/

    I'm thinking about doing it for my daughter as a birthday gift next fall...

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    1. So much fun wasn't it? Thanks for the link, that looks totally awesome, and I think my little man would love it. Adding it to my list of ideas for his birthday and Christmas this year :)

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  4. Yay for mail and pen pals!
    Love how he is really getting into it!

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    1. He is loving it Dawn, both the receiving and the sending :)

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  5. This is a wonderful idea and a great sharing project for kids. I remember when I was a little girl I had a pen pal and it was always a thrill to see my name on the envelope in the mailbox!

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    1. Thanks! I remember that too, getting mail has always made me happy...well except for bills :)

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  6. Sooooo sweet!!!! I remember we did a postcard swap from around the world when we were homeschooling, that was a lot of fun and very rewarding as well!
    xoxo

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    1. Thanks MJ. That would have been really cool.

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  7. Rocks! I had to giggle. Too sweet.
    XO

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    1. They are a pretty big deal around here :) Who knew?

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  8. How fun for Reece, I love that he received rocks, all boys love them so.

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  9. How wonderful! Pen pals are the best.

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    1. They are, and these ones are special as well :)

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  10. I love this post! I always loved getting mail as a kid (and still do)! And I love that he was so excited to receive the rocks from the girls as they were to receive the ones from him! Thank you for including us in the rock exchange! Looking forward to all the Pen Pal fun! xoxo

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    1. Thanks Shel. Reece had so much fun creating little cards for your girls and deciding what else he would like to send. Hope it gets there soon! xo

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  11. how sweet! I had a french penpal for years and years when I was in High school. I loved receiving mail and hurrying up to get to my bedroom to write the next letter.

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    1. Thanks Karen. It seems a lot of us hand pen pals as kids. So happy I can bring it back and let my little man experience it :)

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  12. How fun! It's funny, I used to love writing letters to pen pals and my grandmother but somehow as I got older it has slipped away completely. Reading about all these bloggy pen pals and swaps have gotten me back on the snail mail bandwagon and I am enjoying making things for people and receiving little things in the mail as well. Such a wonderful post and I am going to continue on with my own snail mail adventures in the future!

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    1. It is nice, isn't it? Something so simple, yet so powerful. Enjoy!

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  13. Oh no worries there, Reece is so excited he wants to send another letter already :) Looking forward to the next one from your boys.

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