So...is it hot enough for ya? (badumdum)
I read on a yankee blog that they haven't gone outside because the heat index is above 85. 85? Really? Because our heat index is above 85 all summer long. And half of fall. We go outside pretty much every day. My kids just *need* that. We go out early in the morning when it's this hot. And usually in the late afternoon we will go out again. But the late afternoon time involves *water*. Always. That's the trick. Every day. A couple of times a week we go to the city pool. The other days, we hit the back yard. I keep our bathing suits and pool towels in a pile by the back door, and I strip folks right there and suit them up. The very littlest usually just go out in a diaper...if that much. My bathing suit is there too, and I also get wet. We don't necessarily *play* in the water every day...the sprinkler is on, watering various areas, and we might or might not fill the wading pool. But we do *get wet*, thereby making the heat bearable for a while and keeping the mosquitoes at bay. And,,,you wanna know my little white trash secret? I also stash a bottle of tear free shampoo by the back door. I've been known to lather some heads and run them through the sprinkler. Because doesn't it seem silly to bring folks in from playing in water and then put them in the bathtub?
Makes for an easy evening too, when the littles are already washed up. I can just call everyone in when evening comes and throw some pajamas on them, feed them, and they're ready for bed. Worried about the neighbors? Tell them you are conserving water...being ecologically minded to make up for that carbon footprint your big ole family is stamping all over the planet. It's amazing how thin a line there is between "redneck" and "green". Me, I don't worry about the neighbors. We have a six feet high privacy fence.
