Summer Fun

As the temperatures soared towards 90 degrees each day this week, it may easily have been the warmest week of summer so far. And despite my loathing of the heat, we found ourselves outside in it everyday......for fun.

On the hottest and most humid day, with air so thick that you had to swim through it to move forward, the kids decided to exercise their entrepreneur skills and have a Kool-aid stand. Not JUST a Kool-aid stand, but one that also had slushies available. And homemade gatorade. They wanted to include baked goods too, but I had to draw the line at stopping the mess somewhere (and it was way too hot to turn on the oven).

Jonny shaved the ice, put it into cups, and I packed it into a small cooler with all the ice packs I could find, certain that the ice would melt before they even made it to the bottom of the hill. They loaded the wagon with chairs,umbrellas, and tables, and made their way to a spot by the park, eager to make some cash (for what, I do not know). My final instruction to them was to keep drinking their own products so they would not suffer heat stroke....it was SOOO hot. Fearing it was much too hot for anyone to pass by, I sent the big kids and their friends down to visit the stand. Turns out I needn't have worried because after two hours, they made over $4 ! Not bad at 25 cents a glass! The most amazing thing was that the remaining shaved ice was still frozen upon their return home. I guess coolers really do work even under the most strenuous conditions. The kids, on the other hand, did not fare as well, as they each came stumbling back up the hill one by one(beginning with the girls), faces as red as lobsters, collapsing on the floor in the comfort of air conditioning. Upon recovery, they all talked about how much fun they had had.

Another evening we found ourselves going to the Minnetonka Regional Park beach with some friends. The evening was warm, but quite comfortable under the large area of shade provided by the beach umbrellas, and the water was perfect....as a sandy bottomed bath. Melissa and Crispy enjoyed practicing their swimming skills in a lake, and Laura was getting comfortable blowing bubbles in the water. Tubby continues to have no fear, and would walk straight in over his head if we didn't stop him. Falling face first several times into the water does not slow him down in the least....I help him get up, he sputters a bit, and then keeps right on going, barely missing a step. He is going to give me a heart attack up at the cabin in a few weeks!

Between the water, building sand castles, and eating snacks, the kids, both little and big, were plenty occupied. I appreciated the thin evening crowd, as I could not imagine trying to keep track of all those little people in the massive crowds of mid-day. And when the beach closed, we went over to the gigantic park where the kids could run freely, with only about 6 other kids around. The kids got some good unexpected exercise (goodness knows that I would never venture to a beach on my own initiative), and I got to have some adult contact which seems to be a rare thing this busy summer.