Something Bugging You?

Emily and her pet bug . . .

So it's been months since my last post here. Not really sure how to explain it . . . other than perhaps the combination of giving up cable/internet in the favor of using my cellphone as a hotspot (not really the best idea - more on that later), and the fact that Renton and Emily spent the remainder of the summer down at my parents' in NC leaving me with little but the "woes of raising a two-year-old" as a subject to write about. Even I knew that was just down right, way too depressing for a repetitive topic all summer.

So my friends, I apologize for the long silence and I promise to have more "Expeditions" soon! I will start with a post on bugs . . . if you follow me on Facebook, you have an idea of what I'm talking about. If not, stay tuned . . . It will make you laugh, cry and proably want to puke.

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Not on the grass . . .

I'll never forget how my mom would make us dump the pool at the end of each day so that we didn't "burn the grass."  It would annoy me - I can admit that today (well, I probably made that pretty clear back then, too) and I didn't understand what the big deal was about grass.  It's GRASS!  You walk on it, you pull it, it dies, it grows back. . . .

This weekend I found myself becoming my mom (something I find happening more and more lately) as I spent 30 minutes filling the inflatable pool with water, watching the kids have a blast in it for an hour or two, and then making them dump it so we could "store the pool til next weekend." (I couldn't bear to actually say, "so we don't kill the grass.")  *As a side note: it has taken me TWO YEARS to get anything that even resembles grass to grow in the back yard!  So maybe now I'm starting to get it Mom - yes, now I'm starting to get it.

But it's been sooooo incredibly hot this week and I just wanted the kids to be able to dip in the pool for a few minutes at the end of each day, cool off, burn off some energy, have some fun.  So I had the great idea of putting the pool up on the deck (yes, I know I'm not the inventor of this idea, but it was great for me) and being able to leave it there at least for longer than a few hours at a time.

Fantastic!  Aside from the part where the pool floor is now super slippery (no soft ground underneath for friction) and the "cannonballing" and "diving" has become somewhat perilous, it's been wonderful. 

Last night I brought all our dinner out to the deck and the kids were able to eat and play and eat and play and I was able to sit back and just relax and watch them having fun - I even sprayed them a few times under the guise of "getting the wasps away".  All the giggles and smiles and love and none of the worry about killed grass.  I have to admit it was a truly wonderful experience (different from my usual harried running around trying to "get things done" in the hour and a half between coming home from work and before the kids head up to bed.)

Pool on the Porch = Ahhhhhhhhhh
(that's "ahhh" as in I am relaxed, not "ahhhh" as in I am screaming ;)

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Friday's on the Front Porch - Summer 2010

Wish I could remember the name of this band - they were a lot of fun!

This is the first in a series of "Back-Blogging" I'm going to do to add some meat to this blog to start.  I'm posting up some things the kids and I did from a few years back that were fun, or crazy or just plain blog-worthy.

This is a really fun program held at the Carolina Inn on UNC Campus Friday Nights in the spring and summer.  It is family friendly and culturally explosive!  =)  The kids absolutely love the freedom to run around and dance and be silly on the lawn.  You can bring your own seating or just throw a blanket down, sit back and enjoy.  It's free to get in and you can purchase fried chicken meals, drinks and beer.

HINTS: 

Bring snacks, drinks, blankets for the kids.  You can bring your own food in and the kids will love it!

Might want to consider bug spray.  Poor little Emily did get a lot of chigger or mosquitto bites from sitting in the grass.  

My kids loved the Mashups - Squeezable Fruit PERFECT for little kids on the go! 

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