First Day of Summer

"Is this the first day of summer?" Anna asked me as we drove to the pool. I explained to her this is a funny time - it's not officially summer until the middle of June, but it's hot enough and school is out so it kinda is summertime. We sure spent the day as if it were summer.

The kids have been bugging me to go swimming since school got out, but it was either been threatening rain or (more likely) pouring all Memorial Day weekend here, so we didn't go. This morning we got up, packed a picnic lunch, and headed for the pool.

We have a fantastic pool in our neighborhood with lots of slides and sprays; it's a mini-waterpark with a large shallow end. The kids leaped and slid and swam and climbed from 10:30 - 3:30. We did break for lunch, and then again for Fudge Bombsicles - those enormous frozen pops that were so cold when we first got them, but were soon dripping down their chins onto their thighs. "Just eat the black part of mine," Colin told me, thrusting his in my face, "I want the yellow part." They were a mess, but it didn't matter; we were soon back in the water.

I finally dragged them out of there after 5 hours, my skin feeling all that UV exposure, even though we applied and re-applied sunblock. Colin and I have sun-kissed pink cheeks, but Anna is just more olive skinned.

On the way home, my kids remembered that their dad bought them a new kiddie pool with an inflatable slide, and begged me to set it up when we got home. I tried to explain delayed gratification to them, and advised waiting until tomorrow when they'll be with the babysitter. They protested, but I held firm and made them take a bath and eat dinner.

Colin is so tired, but he doesn't want to go to bed, he just wants to go out and play in that new pool. I'm sure now that he has been still in bed for more than 5 seconds, he'll fall asleep. I'm sure we'll all sleep well tonight...