Yesterday, I promised the boys a redo on the pool since I failed to read the directions that explicitly state to only set the pool up on grass, not on hard surfaces like driveways. So I drug the empty pool out to the backyard and started to fill it up again. (It won't drag while full, trust me I tried after the crash & burn yesterday...)
I told Matt that Henry was probably still mad at the pool, but he plopped him in anyway. Henry looks like he is trying to decide if he's going to be upset about that or not.
As a side note - the water coming out of the faucets is generally pretty cold in Alaska - even in summer. I didn't figure we had time for the sun to heat the pool up, but luckily for us the house has a faucet in the garage that has hot water. Once we got enough hoses combined to reach the backyard, we had nice warm water for the pool!
Henry was pretty excited when his dada gave him the hose to hold. What a responsibility!
Thomas was ready to go down the slide again as soon as I hooked it up!
Unfortunately he wasn't interested in going down correctly. I definitely remembered the "feet first only" part of the instruction manual and was ready to step in to stop him... He decided on his own that maybe going face first into the water wasn't the best plan. Ha!
And what's a pool party without friends? We had an already scheduled game night tonight, so I told Caitlin to make sure to bring Abby's swimsuit. It was nice having an abundance of adults around to make sure there was always someone with eyes on the kids in the pool. :)
We *may* have had the water pressure up a little high when I connected the hose to the dinosaur head. The kids were not impressed with the sudden water attack!
Henry finally discovered the slide! He got this far and wasn't sure how to get down. I helped him down and he seemed to like it, but I didn't see him attempt the slide again...
Eliza kept trying to drink out of the pool. I told her there was a high likelihood the water was not 100% clean, but she didn't seem to believe me. Or care. Who knows with Eliza?
The guys decided that in the Alaska heat, a bonfire in the fire chimney was in order. I didn't mind until I looked over and saw the massive fire that suddenly appeared. George had just added wood to the fire and I was telling him to calm down with the lighter fluid. This is George insisting that Matt had done it after he added the wood.
In George's defense, the lighter fluid bottle *is* visible to the right of Matt's chair...
It was too hot for a fire, but there were gnats all over the place. They weren't biting, but they were super annoying. The fire seemed to help.
Dinner time for the pool trio! I'm always amazed at how well they sit at this table to eat. Especially considering it's a mad house at the big table half the time when the boys are confined to high chairs. Maybe they feel with more freedom comes more responsibility? ;)
Thomas crashed as soon as we put a movie on after dinner. He and Abby are usually good for another 2 hours when they are hanging out, but the pool party really must have worn him out. Abby didn't seem too bummed about losing her movie watching buddy. She had wanted to watch a different movie than Thomas anyhow, and now she could!
Last, but not least, a birthday pound cake! Sam's birthday is next week, so I promised him a cake for game night. I took a vote on what kind of glaze to put on the pound cake and the group consensus was Lemon Cream Cheese, which Sam didn't want. I didn't want him to have to scrape the icing off his own cake, so I made sure leave him a section unglazed. I think he ended up with little bit on his piece anyhow and he said "it's not too bad".
A high compliment for a lemon hater. :)