When the kids were really small, we relied on the kiddie pool in the backyard to keep them entertained and cooled when it was really hot.  Last summer, I could see that the kiddie pool had become boring, only serving as a place to fill water guns and buckets of water.  Which were good things, but it no longer provided the hours of entertainment I was looking for.  One hot day last summer I bought a slip and slide, and so far, the entertainment value is holding up just as strong as the orange and blue plastic.

Just recently I discovered that on Wednesday nights our local Elks Club serves up buck burgers and buck fries.  We checked it out, and not only were they delicious, but they had a great patio and it was a kid friendly place.  If you're looking for me on a Wednesday this summer, I think you know where to find me.

We've been too busy this week to keep up with all the new things we've been doing.  Vacation, you know, it takes away the time you'd normally spend on regular life.  Which is AWESOME.

But last week, before we started living a life of leisure, we focused on games.




Here we are playing Zingo, which is a picture/Bingo game.  It's fast, easy, and my kids both love it.


Also important to note, Sophie has started making "snack trays" for us each time we sit down to play a game.  She loads a variety of snack foods into bowls then arranges them onto a plate or tray.  It's pretty fancy.

A few weeks ago as I was driving through our downtown, I spied a hot dog stand set up on the corner near the rock falls.  I was so surprised by the new venue that I practically got whiplash as I tried to get a better look before crashing into something.  A few days later, on a day just starting to get warm, I talked my friend Nicole and her daughter Sage into joining me and Sophie at the hot dog stand.  I use the phrase "talked into" pretty loosely because it was more like "Hey, want to go to the hot dog stand?" and her response was something like "Okay."

Sage and Sophie enjoyed their hats even more than the actual hot dogs.

For five minutes after we left his first lesson, all Martin could talk about was how soft the grass was on the green.  How they probably mow it every day, and wouldn't that be a great job to mow the lawn every single day.  How cool it would be to have grass that was so short.  "How was the golf part?" I asked.  "Oh, fine," he told me.  "I did pretty good, and I did NOT wreck the grass."

After a long dry stretch of weather, it feels like we've had quite a few rainy days in a row.  As each consecutive day passes without being able to while away our hours outside, the kids become more restless and we all head a bit toward the crabby side.  Trying to come up with some new inside entertainment, Martin challenged me and Sophie to a Monster Truck race. 


I'll admit, we're not too good at any of the Monster Truck games, but there is some satisfaction in smashing into each other, even if only on the TV.

The day after school let out, we invited our neighbors over to celebrate the end of the school year and mark the beginning of summer.  We ate dinner, ran around with the kids, then loaded them up with sugar. 

This much sugar within hands reach can only spell trouble.  Well, either TROUBLE or SUMMER.

It's been a long time since I posted regularly.  In fact, the last good stretch I had was in December when I gave myself the assignment that turned into Dude, it's December.  Which either means that I work well under pressure, or I really am the boss of myself.  Either way, I guess that as the boss of myself I'm going to have to give myself another assignment in order to start posting again.  And after much deliberation and brainstorming with my creative team (that would be Martin and Sophie), we've come up with a title for our new series.


We've taken on the task of doing something new every day of this summer.  Some of the things will be bigger than others, but regardless of the size of the task, we're on a mission to experience something new each day.  On occasion, I may have a guest writer from my creative team.  For example, I just conducted this small interview:

Me: What do you like about Dude, it's Summer?
Martin: I want to play battleship.
Me: Yes, we could do that.  But what do you like about our new series?
Martin: Battleship.

And just like that, our series is kicked off.

Today, on the last day of assessment testing, Martin decided to bring flowers to his teacher.

After having a nagging cough for awhile, it occurred to me tonight that perhaps its moving into some sort of sinus thing.  All plugged up with little relief in sight, I started thinking about the Neti Pot I saw on sale last week, wondering if it would do me any good.  Not knowing what exactly one does with a Neti Pot, I turned to the source of all things demo - YouTube.  In seconds, I was watching THIS.

Next, I checked out my other favorite source, Wikipedia.  There I learned that it was part of a yogic cleansing process.  And underneath the description of the Neti Pot, was a photo of Sutra Neti - which is the process of dragging a wet string through the nasal passage (or whatever, I'm clearly not an ENT specialist).

And while I'm certain that this all very interesting to you, the thing that isn't mentioned on YouTube or on Wikipedia, is the phenomenon I experienced myself many, many years ago:

Sleepover Neti
A charm is removed from an inexpensive gold necklace, then the necklace is carefully inserted through the nose.  Tipping the head back and forth, somewhat like a braying (but silent) donkey, the end is then pulled out of the mouth.  With one end of the necklace hanging out the mouth and the other dangling out of the nose, the bathroom door is opened where a dozen pre-teen aged girls stand and scream in horror.  The necklace is removed, the girls trade places, and the steps are repeated until The Dad or The Mom come in and tell the girls to KNOCK IT OFF.

I figure its only a matter of time before this process is documented somewhere.  Other than in therapy, anyway.