I am not sure that there is any other fruit that screams summer as much as watermelon.
Maybe because no one in their right mind would allow their young children to eat it inside the house.
I don’t know if this one will ever be allowed to eat watermelon in the house. And truth be told he is so messy i wish I could feed him every meal and snack outside.
When my oldest son was 3-4 years old he became obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and all things train related. The obsession continued for several years. He had a special tiny backpack in which he would carry them. He would line them up on the table while he ate. He would line them up on his bed while he slept. He would line them up on the tv stand so they could watch themselves on tv.
At the time I couldn’t even imagine his love for those trains lessening. I’m not sure what I thought would happen. I certainly didn’t picture a teenager playing with diecast metal trains, but I couldn’t picture how it would end, when the last time it would be that he would play with them. After several years the obsession waned. They were played with less and less. And slowly they were forgotten.
Yesterday, Miles pulled out the Thomas the Tank Engine trains that belonged to his oldest brother 13 years ago.
Miles holds them up and asks the name of each one. My oldest tells him to turn the train faces toward him and he tells Miles their names. After all these years he still remembers the trains by looking at their different faces.
And I look at him, mostly grown now, needing to shave, shouting out the names of the train engines and I remember the little boy.
*****
Over at Alphamom I have a post about the sneaky way I get my older kids to do stuff around the house. It’s win-win for everyone over here at my house.
This past weekend we went to the zoo in San Antonio. It was actually less expensive for me to buy a family membership than it was for admission for one day. Surprisingly, and happily, they allow for more than 4 children to be on a family membership. Many (most?) places only allow you to have four children. I guess you are just supposed to leave the others home. Or else stop breeding so much. Sheesh, cross those legs and get a tv.
He was pointing out to me where we were on the map. Except… look at the gigantic yellow arrow in the upper left hand corner of the map that says “You Are Here.” Sadly, I am equally bad at reading maps. Once the two of us were out and lost and trying to decipher directions on my GPS, when I finally had to call a friend for help and explain that it was the blonde leading the blonde.
It was a hot day. Really, Chris? It was hot in Texas in July?
If I had to rate my favorite exhibits it would look very different than the ones that my children liked best. My favorites were air conditioned.
I carried a couple of water bottles and we refilled them almost every time we saw a drinking fountain. And then we shared the water bottles. Anyone who knows me personally knows that this is a huge deal for me and proves that it was indeed very hot. I hate anyone drinking out of my cup. Anyone. Even my own chidlren. I’d sooner tongue kiss you than allow you to have a sip from my water bottle.
The most exciting part of the zoo for the children? Not seeing the elephants, lions, zebras. Nope, it was feeding the ducks. Because Lord knows you don’t see ducks anywhere but the zoo.
Equally as exciting the bird house where we spent over an hour.
Oh and the gift shop. That was exciting.
So, Schlitterbahn, the water park, was fun. And I can’t believe I am even going to say this, but I was a little chilly there. Yes, it was 104 yesterday. But the shade coupled with the cold river water made me a wee bit chilly. I am a delicate flower.
We went to the old park that solely uses river water. The idea of taking a bus over to a different park was so unappealing that I didn’t even consider it.
I am distrustful of those waterproof cases for my iphone so I bought two disposable water cameras. My kids kept asking to see the photos I had taken and I had to remind them that the camera used film.
Film? What is film? What do you mean by get it developed?
Then they kept calling it my “old fashioned” camera. No kids, this isn’t old fashioned, back in my day we kept our cameras out of the water and our phones at home attached to the wall in our kitchen.
I took this photo right as we left the park with my phone. She looks like she had a good time, doesn’t she?
Who knows, it might be the only photo I end up with.
I took this one on the ride home, moments before we were stuck in neverending traffic.
So today we decided to have a low key day at home and do nothing. But apparently children do not understand this concept of do nothing.
We began the day by watching the final Harry Potter DVD and having popcorn, in preparation for going to see the movie. To clarify see the movie one day, like when it hits the $1 theater.
Then we went to the grocery store to kill some daylight buy neccessities like hamburgers, milk, ice cream, ice pops, ice, M&M’s. Yes, I have to buy ice because my icemaker can not keep up with our usage. I am constantly saying things like, “Do you really need so much ice?” “Don’t waste that ice!”
We came home and the kids made themselves snowcones.
Then the day was half over.
Thankfully my daughter wrote a list to remind me what to pack.
I am sure I will need those whips (baby) to corral my children.
There is only so much swimming you can do before you long for some time relaxing in the airconditioning. Even the kids have said they want to do something that doesn’t involve water. Too bad for them we are going to Schlitterbahn tommorrow. Something I am equal parts excited about and dreading. (If you local people have any advice about going, lay it on me.)
I bought some hemp thread, intent on teaching the kids how to make friendship bracelets. I remember making them when I was a kid.
During this process I have discovered some things:
1) I must have had a lot more patience when I was a kid than I do now.
2) I am not very good at it. So either I have lost some skills as I have aged, or I care more now about the details. I hope it is the latter, though I suspect the former.
3) My kids’ idea of learning to make friendship bracelets is picking out the colors they like, handing them to me, and then skipping off while calling over their shoulder, “Tell me when you are done!”
As a result above of the we all have bracelets now that look like this instead:
And yes, that is my wrist. 40-something isn’t too old to have a string bracelet is it? Don’t answer that.
And speaking of camp related activities… What? Didn’t you make these things at camp?
I have a new post over at AlphaMom about sending kids away to summer camp. Are your kids ready for sleep away camp? Are you? I’d love for you to weigh in with your camp experiences.
A couple weeks ago on Groupon (at Groupon? or is it a synonym for coupon, like I have a groupon? I have no idea how to use the word in context) I saw tickets for the glass bottom boats at the Aquarena. It seemed kind of cool, like something the kids would enjoy.
When we first arrived I was worried that it was a little small and sort of run down looking. But we were all pleasantly surprised. The kids LOVED the glass bottom boat ride. It last about a half hour and the tour driver did a great job engaging the kids, telling the history of the lake, and pointing out various things under the water. (Don’t you love how technical I am? Things! In the water!)
Look ghostly children floating in the water….
Just as exciting, the water cooler with the little pointy paper cups! That is the thing about traveling with children, you just never know what will excite them the most. The most mundane ordinary things suddenly are new.
Then we went on a walk around the Wetlands Boardwalk. Where we saw more things in the water, like plants and fish and turtles. And birds. It was much more fun than it probably sounds. My only advice, in the summer make sure you go early in the day because it gets hot out there.
Aquarena Springs was an amusement park until 1996 when Texas State University purchsed it. There are still remnents of its heyday 1960’s -1970’s amusement park days. All of the old things are slated for demolition.
This used to be the Alpine Swiss Sky Ride. There is something appealing to me about the Jetson’s like feel of the structures. It makes me a little sad that it will all soon be gone.
There is also a glass submarine which served as an underwater theater where people would go and watch underwater shows, most notably Ralph the swimming pig and mermaids having tea parties. The submarine is still there, but sunken and inaccessible. It too will be removed.
Then we went into the small aquarium which is home to various endangered species.
It is very small, but thoroughly entertained the kids for 30-40 minutes. Everything is free of charge except for the glass bottom boat ride, so we weren’t expecting much. But once again I was surprised by how entertained the kids were. Sometimes I worry that they are so over stimulated that nothing which isn’t loud, bright and flashy will hold their attention.
My son called to me, “Mom, mom, look at the dinosaur in here!” I go in the room to find… shadow puppets. I had no idea that this would excite them as much as it did.
Not that this was part of the aquarium tour, it was not. Just a classroom area with the door open and the projector left on. And children with big imaginations who still have the ability to have fun where ever they are.
That has been the best part about this summer. Doing the unexpected. Deciding that we will have fun wherever we go.
I brought the boys to a skate shop in downtown Austin this weekend.
My 15 year old’s longboard was run over by the mother of one of his friends. She was generous enough to give him a check to replace it and came then to my house to apologize.
This skate shop is the equivalent of the American Girl store for boys. Miles tested out every skateboard he could get his hands on, doing all of his "tricks," fantasizing about bringing every single skateboard home with him.
In the end he was content to leave with a fist full of stickers. And a sizeable list for Santa.
