The canopy of summer’s radiance is in full swing. From golden mornings to foliage bursting with life, we are surrounded by majesty and flanked by the abundance of opportunity. A time of such easy joy that it’s no wonder summer is held in high regard. After all, warm memories are often easier to find in warmer times.
I mean I found a butterfly in the flowerbed I planted last weekend. You can’t get a better rating than that when it comes to gardening. Unless you’re doing it to get onto the cover of Better Homes and Gardens, but then I think you’re kind of missing the point.
Anyways, I digress—warm memories! I’ve got them building up a plenty this summer, and, if you’d be so kind, I’d love to share one of them with you. Maybe you can use it as a springboard for your own joy?
So, without further ado, water slides! Who doesn’t love playing in the water?
About a couple of weekends ago, my wife brought home one of those plastic cheap-o slides from Walmart and I groaned internally when she showed it to me.
Now, I have to blow up some god-awful plastic monstrosity only for it to leak all over my yard and kill all my grass?
I know, epitome of a joy-filled person, right? Well, after I got over my initial curmudgeon-level reaction, I realized that this could be a ticket to some easy fun. Especially as we waited for the pools to open.
So, I broke open the box, scanned over the directions (that are always seemingly 10 pages too long), and realized that it was ALL water based. Lucky me. So, I took Sophia (her sisters were off shopping with mom) and got to work in the backyard. By the way, it’s always easier to stay motivated when your helper is more enthused to finish the project than you are 😊. After a few minutes of filling up the appropriate water ‘cushions,’ (IDK what their official name was, but their cushions—with water—what else would you call ‘em?) we stretched out our creation. After plugging the hose into the appropriate slot, the whole slide spurted water along its length. Pretty impressive for a ‘cheap-o’ product.
Problem was? We were in the backyard. The backyard is flat. I think you can see the dilemma. Still, I tried. Pull Sophia by the arms? No dice. Put her on a snow sled and then push her? No bueno. Tell her to leap onto it arms first? Eh, risky at best. So, we decided on a different approach. This whole operation? It needed to move to the front yard. Neighbors be damned!
You see, the front yard has a slope on it. Like it was meant for a water slide! And, after some strange finagling of a half-filled water slide and some clean up on aisle ‘living room,’ we managed to get the project redeployed. And boy, was that the right call!
Headlong dives into this bad boy led into penguin-level slides that brought you nearly skidding over the sidewalk. Giving Sophia a little boost, turned a mediocre water experience into a child’s squealing laughter. Truly, it couldn’t have gone better. Well, it could, and it did, because me and Sophia had to get ice cream after all this ‘exercise.’
It’s only proper.
And then of course we had to repeat this experience (not the setup—thankfully!) with Bella the next day. It wouldn’t be right for her to miss out on the slide … and the ice cream. Of course, dad had to be there (Ya know? To supervise).
Thanks for reading this little story, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, or even if you didn’t (I mean why wouldn’t I ask?), perhaps you’d consider supporting me?
I wrote a couple of books in the tune of a high fantasy adventure. Both of them inspired by my daughters (two of which made an appearance in the story above). If you’re into slower burn fantasy that harkens back to a simpler time, you’ll love it!
Have a great start to your summer, and wish me luck, I just got elected as vice president of my eldest daughter’s cheerleading team booster club. Oh boy…
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