Summmerland!

Yes, I intentionally misspelled Summerland. But that is because I unintentionally misspelled it on our back yard fence. I'll get to that in a minute.

I wanted to do something fun for our kids that would keep them outside a lot this summer. I did not want a summer of TV, iphones, and computers. And yes, my kids are only 3 and 5. It starts that young if you let it. And it's sad today that parents have to fight so hard to win the battle against electronics, but we really do.

So Rob and I set up a surprise for the kids on their last day of pre-school. They had gymnastics right after school so Rob came home for lunch then and set up our surprise. We bought them an inflatable pool and a slip and slide and then we set up our bouncy house that had been in storage all winter. We set out sidewalk chalk and bubbles and then told them we had a surprise for them in the back yard.

You can hear for yourself that Bennett promptly named it Summerland.


And folks, Summerland has been awesome. We have a lovely screened in back porch so I can sit on it with Lainey and watch them. They go out there nearly every single day and play and play. A fun surprise and a huge hit to say the least.

 Running outside (still in her gymnastics gear to see what the big surprise was)

Less than 5 minutes later they were in the pool ready for summer to begin!

 

 How can you go wrong with a slip and slide? You can't.

 We got this bouncy house years ago on Craig's List and it remains one of our best purchases ever.

 And this is where I sit in the afternoons. In my cool little corner where I can listen to Lainey's monitor while she naps, drink a glass of lemonade, and enjoy the fact that my kids are out in the sunshine rather in front of a screen.

 Oh, and I added our plastic slide to the pool just to give it an extra rednecky flair. Why not?

 We added blankets to the bounce house and it became Bennett's library where she could read books and cool down.

Now can you see where I misspelled Summerland on the fence? Look at the bottom picture. I don't know. I'm just glad I make it through most days with my sanity mainly in tact. Everything else is just bonus. Plus Rob has a lot of fun calling it, "Summmmmerland." Whatevs.

 Bennett taking a break from the pool and reading a book. Look at her pointing out every word as she reads. Love this little thing.

 Will has no interest in reading or breaks. He is all boy and just wants to PLAY!

 But this is what he looks like post Summerland. Pretty much every day.

I know Summerland is going to make the summer of 2013 a fun and memorable one. I am already dreading Labor Day when it gets packed away for the other 3 boring seasons.