The Dog Days of Summer

Well, here we are once again in the midst of summer here in the southwest. It not only gets hotter. It's as if the Earth moves a few hundred thousand miles closer to the sun. This, of course means that Annika and Trevor don't feel like going outside unless there is a pool involved. So, the other day Cindy arrived on the scene with a few backyard hydrologic novelty items. That's water toys to you and me. A Slip n' Slide by WHAMO! and something else that can only be described as a neon water snake. (I guess?) A contraption which, when hooked up to the garden hose, emits water in a sprinkler type fashion. Well, the thrill of this "water eel" wore off quickly and I was asked, no commanded to retrieve the Slip n' Slide from its box. I could feel their anticipation growing as we plugged in the hose and completed our final setup. Not knowing if my kids had ever used one before, I gave some quick instructions that were lost in the excitement. Annika was first. She didn' t run very fast and therefore didn't get very far. But the giggles were there and that's all that mattered. Trevor preferred the knee slide technique as if he were some rock star. Both had a blast and by the end of the session, were proficient sliders. Of course Dad figured he'd give it a shot. I, like any other Dad in the whole world, wanted to show the kids how we old timers used to do it "back in the day". "Old School", if you will. So I got up the nerve and dove onto this flimsy piece of 2 millimeter plastic and flew straight to the end. Only once I came to the end it wasn't the end. My jelly-like mass hurled itself over the bumper and into the grass to the delight of my two young spectators. I am glad they got a laugh out of it. I, on the other hand have found out that throwing myself chest first onto the ground is not like it was when I was ten. I think I'll leave it to the professionals from now on. Go Annika and Trevor!