Where did imagination go?

Summer has kicked in and already I can see how the kids' brains have turned to MUSH. Not just my kids, but kids in general.

I can remember when summer kicked in and I just couldn't wait to get my butt outside and play, all day, every day! We played from the time our mom would let us out the door until the STREET LIGHTS came on. And I don't really remember coming in the house unless it was raining. You know why? You remember how Mama was! IF YOU BRING YOUR BUTT BACK IN THIS HOUSE ONE MORE TIME YOU'RE GONNA STAY IN!

And we didn't want to stay in! Okay, granted, I do live in the south now, and not in the north like when I was a child, and the sweltering heat may very well give the kiddos a heat stroke if they tried to stay out there as long as we did, but THERE IS A WATER HOSE OUT THERE! Do like we did. Everybody go to one person's house and take a swig from the hose and keep it movin'!

Kids nowadays WANT to be in the house! Sir Talks-A-Lot will go outside and comeback in the house in about 30minutes complaining of nothing to do.

Where has imagination gone? Where has Hide and Go Seek, Mother May I and Red Rover gone? We didn't need Rip Sticks and basketball goals to keep us occupied. We had this strange contraption called, get this..... IMAGINATION.

Remember that?

I guess that now that kids have Wii and Playstations, DS's and Xbox's, the imagination is gone. These games do the thinking for them.

I can't stand hearing how bored my kids are, even in the house because it tells me that they are not thinking.

But outside? There's a HUGE world of nothing but adventure when you walk out the front door. A plethora of opportunities to create whole new worlds of adventure. (can you tell I played by myself a lot?)

Would you believe they had no idea how to play RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT last summer?

I'm surely not gonna let them sit up and rot their brains,watching TV and playing video games all summer. They are going to have to learn to be creative and think of ways to entertain themselves like we did.

So Red Light Green Light is lame, you say? Well let's play FOLD THE STACK OF LAUNDRY, DUST THE TABLES, or CLEAN THE BASEBOARDS instead. How about that? We can make a day out of it, how about that? No one will be board anymore!

I'm hoping to bring back imagination this summer. Hoping the neighborhood kids will join in. Because my carpets can't take the constant in and out and my ears can't take one more whinin' I'M BORED!

Finding Free Fun is always Good!

If you know me, then you know, I'm thrifty, frugal, or just plain cheap.

So one of my biggest concerns about summer vacation coming up so fast was that I hadn't planned anything for the kids to really do throughout the summer, during those days when there just aren't any big plans going on. I mean, yeah, I'm a stay at home mom. And I know that my joy is suppose to be spending time with my kids. Yada, yada, yada! Truthfully, if I could get rid of 'em for a few weeks, I wouldn't hesitate, wouldn't bat an eye and probably wouldn't miss them... well maybe a little... at first..

I mean, I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't love the crying, the whining, the tattling, the I'M BORED HE HIT ME SHE TOOK MY TOY I'M HUNGRY CAN I HAVE A SNACK IT'S COLD HE WON'T STOP COPYING ME SHE WON'T GET OUT MY ROOM HE PUT HIS FEET ON ME HE FARTED IN MY FACE IT'S HOT I DIDN'T KNOW I DIDN'T DO IT IT WAS HIS FAULT IT WAS HER FAULT!

I think I can get over it pretty fast!

I'm not one for spending money, because, well there just isn't a whole lot of extra dollars falling off the ever green trees this year.

I looked into the Y for summer swimming. When broken down to all that can be done with the membership, it sounds really good. Swimming whenever you want, working out whenever you want, childcare while you work out. Sounds like a good deal for $55/month. But lets not forget that $100 joiner's fee THAT I DON'T HAVE! and didn't I just buy a new car and obtain a $600 car payment???

Well, that deal just wasn't sweet enough for me.


Well, on Friday, I decided that I was gonna take the kids to the library. They've started the summer reading program and the kids needed to pick up their reading packets. First, I wanted to take them to the playground that they have behind the library for a picnic. Well we get to the park and there's a surprise waiting for us. Some extremely smart people added a water feature to the playground!

The kids were ecstatic! Now how could I tell them that they had to sit back and watch the other kids get wet on this hot day because we had NO idea this was here and didn't have a change of clothes???

I couldn't!

So even though I had JUST bought my car a few days earlier and knew that Hubs would have a FIT had he known, I let then get soaked, all the while wondering how those kids were gonna get home!

They had a ball, and for a mom like me, that's all that matters. They dried in the sun just enough that I decided not to make them walk the 15miles to our house, but we never made it to the library.

So here's the deal.

FREE water play! A very cheap day out (just the price of a picnic lunch). And at the end of it all, I get to hear, "This is the most awesome day ever!"