Bits of Summer

Yesterday was my "official" first day of being a stay at home mom. If I was teaching again, I would have gone back to work. The day wasn't so bad, but I had constant thoughts of, "What was I thinking leaving such a great job!?" and that thought was followed by, "I'm so glad to be home right now!" I'm sure thoughts of school will become less frequent, but right now I'm missing it a little - and missing my co-workers a lot!

We've had a great summer with lots of little outings and play dates with friends. One of our favorite new places is Union Park's splash pad in Des Moines. It's on the east side, which is close for us and they serve free lunch for the kids from Des Moines public schools.

 This is Brianna's first "pool" experience - she loved it! I took all three kids to the aquatic center in Newton and it was a disaster. Rebecca did fine, but I can't hang on to Brianna very well while trying to keep Blake from drowning himself or running away from me and going home with a stranger. So the splash pad is perfect size and depth for us.

 The picture below is a great visual of much of our summer - Rebecca tormenting Blake. They love each other, sure, but she constantly makes him squeal and scream. Maybe it's because of their age difference that they don't play well together - I still don't quite know. They do occasionally get along so I cherish the times when I hear them laughing and giggling together! 

On a side note, Blake does not like the feel of wet shorts and refuses to wear his swim trunks. Is he a little old to be wearing just a swim diaper, yes, but I pick my battles.

Being on the east side of Des Moines, there is a bit of diversity at the park. One day when we were getting ready to get our lunch, two grown women started fighting. Something about one of them looking at the other one wrong - real mature, I know. Anyway, they proceeded to get in each others' faces and fight with LOTS of profanity. I tried my best to steer the kids the other way and ignore what we were witnessing. As we settled down with our lunch, Rebecca turned to me said, "Mom, you know those women who were fighting, they were speaking Spanish." I love her innocence!