"Yes" Mom Challenge: Day Five

Our weather today left, at the very least, a lot to be desired.


The Fourth of July is supposed to be sunny! Hot! Wonderful weather for swimming and for picnics!

For the first time in as long as I can remember, it poured on the 4th. All. Day. Long.

So, our plans were adjusted. Instead of swimming, grilling out, and fireworks, we took the boys to see Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.


This is where my first "yes" of the day comes in. I wanted to go see Up. So did Shane. But the boys love, love, love dinosaurs....and for some reason, they love those dumb characters from the Ice Age movies.


So, it was Ice Age we saw. (And, for the record, this one was actually good--by far the best of the three, in my opinion!) It was pretty funny, and we ended up being glad we had let the boys choose that particular show.


After a late lunch/early dinner, it was back home for the rest of the evening. We pulled into the driveway, and for some reason, I just knew what was coming.

"Mom, can we play in the rain again?"


Great. Now I've done it. I said "yes" to this once, and now they are going to ask me every single time it's raining if they can play in it.


Enter Shane's sarcasm/mockery here:


"Well, what are you going to say, "yes" Momma?" he said to me with a smirk.


"I'm gonna say "yes." I truthfully could not think of any reason why they shouldn't do it. We had no plans for the rest of the day....why couldn't they play for a little while?


Now, this rain was quite different than the rain from the other day. If I called that a light sprinkle, I would call this a good pour. It was coming down pretty hard and very steadily.


It was the kind of rain where, I knew, they would be drenched in minutes. Plus, at this point, it had been raining for hours and hours....and Lake Merritt was back, along with many other large puddles in the driveway.


You know. The kind of puddles that just begged to be jumped in by little boys.

Or to have bikes ridden through. I could see the question on E's face.

"Should I do this? Is this actually okay?"

"I'm going for it!"
"Mom, I love this!"
The older boys liked riding their bikes through Lake Merritt,

but had the most run running and jumping and splashing....
Like I said before.....drenched in minutes.
And loving every bit of it.


Colin's actual words were, "Dad! Do you see how wet I am?"



In the end, I had three children who required showers....
they were dirty anyway
....and whose clothes had to be immediately washed....
I had loads waiting to go in--what's a few more pieces?


....but their gratitude and smiling faces were my reward.

For sure.