Just trying to beat the heat

It has been hot, hot, hot and so we have just been hanging close to home.  Frankly, if I don't have to leave the house, then I don't leave the house.  This is working out just fine for me, but the kids are starting to get a little batty.  Since it was just too darn hot last week and I wasn't willing to go to the pool, I pulled out the sprinkler.  It's not a fun sprinkler, but luckily my kids aren't picky.  For them, water is water and they don't care where it comes from, they just want to be in it.

 Running through the sprinkler is dangerous business.  You might actually get some water in your eyes!  That would be a tragedy.  Thankfully Tiger had his goggles on hand.

 Here's Sparky leaping through the water with great finesse.

 Finally, what sprinkler play would this be if the boys didn't pretend that the water droplets were machine gun bullets?  Here's Sparky being "shot" in his typical dramatic fashion.

It was touch and go, but thankfully everyone survived to play in the water another day.

Thoughts in my head

- I am sitting on my couch, ignoring the nagging reminders of all that I really need to be doing and wondering what I could do to make this house of mine more inviting and homey, especially my front room.

- My hair desperately needs to be done but I am having a hard time actually picking up the phone to make the call.  I really dislike making phone calls. 

- Humidity in the air is the difference between being able to stand the heat and not being able to breathe in the heat.  I will take dry heat any day.

- I spent a wee bit of time blog surfing today.  It was a little mesmerizing.  It was like peeking into a stranger's home and checking out what they're doing and how they have decorated because their blinds are open as you just happen to be walking by, not that I have been known to do that or anything.

- The temperature just hit 100 degrees and I am thinking about my sweet girl who is at girl scout's day camp this week.  Even though she is a hearty girl I still worry about her.  I am glad that their camp site is in the shade.

- I need new bedding for my bed and I can't decide what I want.  Black, white, and grey?  White with a pop of color?  Doug says that I will know when I see it.  I am not so sure because I have been looking for a few years now and I can never settle on anything.  However the increasing number of rips and holes may help facilitate the decision.

- Finally, a conversation with Sparky this morning:
Me:  Come and brush your teeth.
Sparky:  But I have a friend over.  You're going to make me brush my teeth when I have a friend over? (Spoken with great indignance.)
Me:  Seriously? (Followed by the evil eye so that he knew just how ridiculous he was being).
Sparky:  Fine! 

I love it when my boy's pre-teeness rears it's head.

Way back on the 4th . . .

We decided that this year we were going to be fun parents and so we packed up a picnic and headed off to watch some fireworks.  My kids have seen fireworks before, but we have never been this close-up to the actual show.  Actually, I think that this may have been Tiger's first year, but that is because he really, really does not like loud sounds.  Fortunately he did great and he didn't even freak out at all.  In fact, he was cracking everyone up with how excited he was by the whole show. 

 Kids playing

 Cute kids

 Waiting and waiting for it to get dark

 Doug was the official sparkler lighter.

Captain Jack loves sparklers, especially when he can pretend that they are a sword. 

 Overall the night was a success, although trying to get out of the parking lot afterwards was a total nightmare.  Hopefully we can do this again next year. 

A mysterious illness with a simple cure

Me:  Come on Tiger, let's go to the grocery store.
Tiger:  Sorry, I can't go anywhere today.  I'm sick.
Me:  Where are you sick?
Tiger:  Here in my belly.
Me:  Why are you sick?
Tiger:  Because I ate playdough and peanut butter.
Me:  Well, what should we do then?
Tiger:  Play Wii.  Playing Wii makes me better.

Grandpa brought out the water slide

A few days before the 4th we gathered at the Grandparents' house for a bit of holiday fun.  The water slide was brought out which is always a crowd pleaser, but first the kids had some frog catching to do.

Next up, bring on the water!

 

I had to drag the kids off the slide when their lips were blue and they were shivering uncontrollably with cries of "What do you mean we're done? I'm not even cold."

At this moment

It is 7:59 pm.  The children are in a mass of blankets, giggling hysterically in a heap on the floor in front of me.  There may be some licking of each other's faces involved but frankly that is something that I would rather remain in the dark about.  I am desperately wishing that I could put them all to be at this very moment but all of our body clocks are completely messed up due to the glory of summer.  Doug is gone and I am exhausted to my very bones.  It is now 8:04.  Can they go to bed now?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Tiger speaking to Sparky:  Are you cute?

Sparky:  No!!!

KK:  You will be when you grow a mustache.

What is creeking you ask?

Creeking is when you go into a body of water, say a creek or stream or a river for instance, and you explore and find creatures and shells and exoskeletons and slimy things and gross your mother out.

 Really mom, I can go into that nasty water and get as dirty and slimy as I want and you won't even get mad at me?  Score!!

 Creeking girl.

 Sparky must be an expert creeker.  He is able to do his work with his eyes closed.

 Apparently you are supposed to wear tie-dye whilst creeking.  I guess Tiger didn't get the memo.  Also missing in this picture is our friend Nathan. 

 Excellent taunting of the boy on the girls' part.  Here he is asking for the net in a very exasperated tone while the girls say, "What net?  Oh, you mean this net.  Come and get it if you want it."  Actually, I have no idea if that is what is happening here, but that's what it looks like.

 I think Tiger rather likes this creeking business.  He especially liked messing with the creatures that were captured in the bucket.  Fortunately only a few minnows died by his hands, although the jury is still out on a couple of the tadpoles.

 These two girls are just sweet and fun and aren't at all afraid of a little slime.  The best quote of the day was by Ruby, "Mommy, mommy, I found a crayfish exoskeleton".  And she did.  She showed it to us.  I thought it was gross.  The kids all thought it was cool.

 The necessary creeking instruments:  a net and a bucket. 

 This is just one of many tadpoles found, placed in the bucket, and thoroughly examined.  Scientific jargon and explanations were abundant throughout the day.  It made my head hurt.

 At one point, this little man had enough of the water bit and resorted to his favorite past time, throwing rocks into the water.

Look mom, I found a little snail.  I am so proud.

By the end they were all soaked to the bones and forced to ride home sitting on plastic bags so as to prevent my car from becoming totally gross.  All except for the little man, he was stripped to his skivvies.  They were all then rushed home and immediately showered and disinfected.  A successful day of creeking for sure.

The last of the reunion pictures - in random order

 On one of the days we drove around one of Ohio's many Amish communities.  Outside of one of the stores we saw the world's largest wooden horse and buggy.  Is there a second largest?  We may never know.

 We also had ourselves a little "baseball" game.

 Sweet little Mary blowing bubbles.  She and Tiger were good little buddies this week.

 Goofy kid

 Wearing grandpa's hat, the ensemble is complete.  He is now officially Indiana Jones.

 My grandmother and my girl.

My grandma enjoying the great-grandkids.

We don't have a lot of relatives who come out to visit and so it was absolutely wonderful to be able to see all who came.  Thanks so much for making the effort to come out.  We had a wonderful time!  Oh, and Amanda, if you are reading this, KK still talks about you all the time.  You and your sisters have earned a special place in her little heart.

Fishining

On one of the days during our reunion everyone took a day trip to Niagara Falls.  We, however, did not go due to some car issues. While everyone was gone we had ourselves a blast.  We fished (or fishining as Tiger calls it), we toured the town, we swam (a lot!) and we ate at some tasty restaurants.  It was a good old Seymour family fun day.

On our way to the fishing spot we found this really cool old tree, so KK gladly posed in front of it for me.

Now for fishing.  My boys just love to fish.