lazy day in the sun

The sun shines here all.the.time. Well, nearly. And it's hot. So, on a lazy Friday {did I mention we're on summer break? hee hee} what else can you do but make the best of it? Oh sure, you can save yourself the sweat and stay inside, but the kids need to get outside.

The other day, Heather found some skinny balloons and a balloon pump in the goodwill bag. Miss Nosey Pants demanded to know how they got there. {shoulder shrug from me} The pump lasted about two seconds before it broke, so they wanted to make water balloons.

I sat outside while they tried this and played around with Greg's camera. I was messing around with settings and practicing my steady hand with the telephoto lens.

The skinny balloons didn't work at all since they were likely destined for balloon animals. The kids found a few more balloons in the house {Where do they keep this crap?} and filled those. Greg took one look at this picture and asked them if the balloons popped. Yes, of course. He told them that the grass blades will pop the balloons and you can't fill them in the grass. Then he looked at me wondering why I didn't give them the proper balloon filling advice. {shoulder shrug again} Hey, what do I know about this?

Since they only had a few balloons, they didn't want to knot them because their fun wouldn't last very long. Their plan was to use them over and over again.

A split second after they proudly displayed their balloons for the paparazzi, Stephanie turned and dumped her balloon on Heather.

Then it was on and the screaming began. I apologize now to any neighbors who may have infants napping or swing shift occupants sleeping.

More shrieking and chasing.

The water balloons didn't last long and they moved to just playing with the hose. At one point they draped it over the swing set and twirled in and out of the water.

They pretended to be fountains as they posed and spit out water.

Good times. Good times.

I didn't last long outside. It was hot. But the kids had a ball.

Turns out that I need more practice with that camera (even though I use it all the time) because my photo session was tainted since one of the knobs on the top of the camera was inadvertently set to something funky. No wonder I was frustrated that I couldn't get any consistent shots.

I'm sure the kids will be willing to play outside again so I can practice with the settings.