School's Out Forever...Or For Summer

In honor of the half day, early out, or a day where I wondered why I even sent the kids to school for three hours, we decided to hit one of the splash pads in a local Leander park.  I was told it was awesome, primarily because it's gated and little ones can't escape.  I was particularly impressed with the shaded area over the picnic tables.

The kids loved the water features, although they did complain that the water was cold.  Ah well.  I guess that just ensures we don't spend hours there and get sick from playing in the sun too long.

You probably can't see it very well, but the anticipation on Bekah's face is wonderful.  You can just barely start to see the water from the overhanging bucket beginning its descent on her.  It was hard to keep the kids still long enough to get a good picture.  And there were (it doesn't show from this picture) quite a few other kids playing the park too.  So you never knew who was going to run into the shot.

There were two water cannons that were John's favorite at the beginning.  He wanted someone to use the other one to fire back at him but no one was really interested.  Once the younger boys caught sight of empty buckets, that's what they wanted to play with.

A still moment.  Well, it didn't last long.  He was off like a shot to get back into the water.  We'll have lots more splash pad pictures this summer as I don't plan on staying indoors all through the hot months.  And the kids have a great time too!

First Garden Pickin's

Our garden has been a lovely treat!  Watching the greenery grow and then watching beans and tomatoes develop on the vines has been great!  If only I could keep out some of the pests (and not all of them are creepy crawlies).

The kids wanted to help with the first big batch of green bean picking.  They were so excited.  I have had to remind Joe several times that the center of our bean patch is not for his stick swords.  Several of the plants have been flattened as he's tossed branches into the middle.  The fence has at least kept him out of stomping on the rest as he's tried to retrieve the swords.

The corn is very short and already trying to tassle.  Hmm...it was an experiment to put it so close to the house.  I thought it'd be fun to try it and had no other place to plant corn.  The zucchini in the middle is a bit of a puzzle to me.  I think the animals/insects are eating the blooms off of the plants.  Could be a possibility as there are ants everywhere.  We're still battling fire ants after the bug company said they sprayed for them.

I'm hoping those beautiful tomato plants will produce a TON of fat, red tomatoes for our canning jars.  I can't stand canned tomatoes from the store and "fresh" tomatoes at the grocery store is almost just as bad.  So here's to praying that lil doggie of our can keep the squirrels, raccoons, and other pests away from the fruit.

Anyway, thought we'd share our little bit of success.  Here's to hoping we can show some quart jars of canning later too!