another day, another splash pad

To those who don't live in Texas and ask me what we do "keep cool" all summer, this is pretty much it--we wear ourselves out at pools and splash pads all afternoon and then return to our air-conditioned home for dinner, story time and bed. It generally works out quite nicely if you can avoid late afternoon naps in the car (on the way home from the pool) and dinner temper tantrums caused by too much fun in the sun...I said if.

girls' day out

It's only been two days, but Catcher is having such a "Dino-Mite" time at his prehistorically-themed camp at the Austin Nature and Science Center that I think he's forgotten all about the fun he experienced last week during Mom Camp. The girls haven't forgotten, though, and begged me to keep the energy surging this afternoon with another trip to the pool. This time we opted for the YMCA Southwest Branch because there is a miniature water slide in one foot of water--perfect for this daredevil duo. I was surprised at how quickly the time flew by and how easy it was to keep my eyes on them. Seriously...when you're used to three, two is a piece of cake. This should have been the week of Mom Camp.

father's day behind the scenes

Since Alex was out of town yesterday (Father's Day), and I was sitting around on Facebook feeling guilty for not being that wife telling the world (or at least her world of Facebook) how awesome my husband is and that he's the best dad in the world, which by the way is pretty impossible. Like there isn't some other amazing dad out there who's just slightly better than your husband (although I'm sure your husband is great, too)? Nelson Mandela was probably a pretty awesome father. I can name more. Sorry...sometimes Facebook gets me fired up like that. Where was I?

So yesterday I wasn't really sitting around on Facebook feeling guilty. My cynical side was checking Facebook simply to see all the ridiculous aforementioned posts concerning Father's Day when I decided, in a momentary lapse of romanticism, to show that my husband is really the best there is (except for maybe Nelson Mandela...or Ghandi). Here was the plan: get the kids to hold handmade signs reading "Happy Father's Day;" take a picture and post-it. Cute, right? I was also going to include some yada yada yada sentimental note about how the world wouldn't exist without Alex...and then these were the photos I was left to work with:

Catcher directing.

Tillie frowning.

Scout stargazing.

Catcher plotting; Scout plotting.

Tillie cheering for herself.

I turns out that my perfect idea wasn't so perfect in execution (at least not from a look-at-how-cute-my-well-behaved-little-angels are standpoint). But posting something like that would not have been me anyway. I relish actual life moments because it isn't all vacations and date nights and good hair days as Facebook would have us believe. My husband isn't the best father in the world, and I'm not the best mother in the world. Not by a long shot. More importantly, we're in this together and figuring it out as we go. We're doing the best that we can, and that gives me faith. Faith that everything will turn out perfectly in the end.

i love it when you call me big poppa

We're almost six years into this whole thing. I wonder when we'll have it all figured out...in the meantime, Happy Father's Day!

mom camp: pros and cons

Today we celebrated the end of Mom Camp. These are not the faces of three children sorry to see Mom Camp come to a close; these are the faces of three exhausted children halfway into Mom Camp on Wednesday evening. It turns out that Mom Camp wasn't all splash pads and fancy lunches. There were a few tears and more than one breakdown by more than one child (and often more than one child at one time). Last night while Tillie was screaming herself to sleep I thought that perhaps I had taken on too much with this whole Mom Camp idea. My suspicions were further confirmed this morning when both Catcher and Scout were crying as we left the YMCA. Yet I powered through and insisted on one last explosion of fun this afternoon. These are the faces of three children ready (or not) for their last adventure:

Only one child left the splash pad in tears, but I think I learned a few things from my overly ambitious attempt at hosting my own summer camp for a week (even if only three children were enrolled). The pros and cons:

Pro: Spending time with your children.

Con: Spending time with your children.

Pro: Wearing out your children.

Con: Wearing out your self.

Pro: New Austin adventures.

Con: Seeking out new Austin adventures that will perfectly satisfy ages 5, 3, and 2.

Pro: Breezing through the first week of summer vacation.

Con: Eleven weeks of summer vacation to go...

Next year I'm doubling my rate.

the faces of tired (and catcher)

It was the fourth day of Mom Camp, and the littlest two of the little three were hanging on by an eyelash at Deep Eddy Pool this afternoon. I have to admire the grit of those girls, though--they have both been battling colds all week, and we stayed over at a friend's house until 10:00pm last night (wild ones in tow). Yet they were still up for another Mom Camp adventure.

It was Scout's turn to pick. She changed her mind four times this morning before we even made it through breakfast, but she finally settled on Deep Eddy (albeit through a little persuasion on my end). When we arrived the crowd was manageable and the water was freezing! The kids didn't mind, of course, but I hung back with just my toes in the shallow end. After two hours of splashing, the ladies were spent. Following a mandatory pool break issued by the lifeguards, the girls' words were saying they wanted to get back in the water, but their actions--the wining, the rolling around on the grass, the fussing over the towel not being laid out perfectly--were saying we better get the heck out of dodge before we had a "situation" on our hands. Unfortunately, I think I escalated "the situation" by dragging things out a few minutes to "capture the moment." On the other hand, I guess it's okay that I had to leave with two screaming girls trailing behind me because otherwise you wouldn't have seen the look on Scout's face when she threw herself down on the stairs and threw her towel at me.

Catcher had a great time, though. He sported (and modeled for us) his new Brasil swimming trunks in honor of the World Cup and kept himself busy in the revolving turnstile while Tillie fretted over her flip-flops (I hate flip-flops!) and Scout kicked around her water bottle. Any ideas on what we should do tomorrow? It's "Mom's Choice."