Not What I Had in Mind

A couple of weeks ago I packed up our inflatable pool. We played with it for a while but then the kids seemed to lose interest and we had to change the water every few days, so I was tired of fooling with it. The past couple of days have been kind of toasty, and Wyatt really wanted to play in the pool again. Today, trying to be a "fun mom," I re-inflated the pool. Then on my hands and knees with towels and cleaner, I cleaned the dried-on gunk off the bottom of sides of the pool. Once filled with water, the pool looked so shiny and inviting.

I should have known the kids would have a completely different idea of fun. My first sign of trouble should have been when they threw the bucket in the water. Wyatt, the brainchild of the day's events, then oversaw the making of clay. Oh joy.

Here they are at work. Wyatt was in charge of procuring the dirt. Callie's task was filling the purple bucket with fresh, clean, crisp, cool pool water, so she is running off to get said water. Sadie was in charge of guarding the mixing station.

Once there was water and dirt, the mixing began. In the back of Callie's tricycle.

Sadie took a break long enough to pose for a picture. This was prior to tasting the clay.

Wyatt was busy but he generously let me take a picture. Callie, on the other hand, got bored and started playing on the swing and wouldn't cooperate for a picture.

The clay turned into a wonderful mud pie that Wyatt was very proud of.

Wyatt even let Sadie work on it with her stick.

It wasn't what I had in mind but they had fun. And no, I did not let them rinse off in the pool. They had to be clean before getting in the pool. Maybe I didn't earn the maximum number of "cool mom" points today. Oh well.