At Long Last - the "Boathouse"

Way back in January, Darby started talking about wanting to go to Michelle's "Boathouse" and riding in her boat.  Obviously, the climate was not ideal for that then, but this weekend, at long last, her dream came true.  We got down there earlier than Michelle, splashed on a gallon of sunscreen and bug spray and played outside in the sandbox and swingset. 

On a side note - the sand in the sandbox was green and with all the suncreen they were greased up with, at one point, Dalton had quite the Incredible Hulk look about him.

Unfortunately for my poor, deprived children, I rarely give them popsicles. There are reasons:

1. Most have a lot of sugar, the injestion of which I try to keep down to a dull roar (yes, I know I can make my own out of real fruit - I have had some of those untouched in my freezer for months)
2. They're messy and because my children are unpracticed at eating them, cleanup usually requires a hose.
3. But mostly though, it's just because they have never really made it into our snack repetoire.

This weekend though, the popsicles came out front and center pretty much immediately and they became Dalton's weekend obsession.  He got it into his head and he repeated, pretty much constantly as his personal mantra, "I get 2 popsicles and Darby gets 4 popsicles". I could only assume that was due to their ages. I was never able to get a full answer as to why though. When I asked him if that meant I got 44 popsicles, my comment was met with a blank stare.

The other delicacy they got introduced to this weekend was s'mores. We had been supposed to do them on our beach trip, but that pesky Tropical Storm kind of squashed that idea. They enjoyed holding the marshmallows on sticks over the fire immensely.
 For about 30 seconds... 

Michelle and I finally ended up making them for them. Dalton wanted no part of it.  I finally convinced him to try a bite, but that was all I could get him to do. Darby made a somewhat more galant (albeit dramatic) effort, but I believe in the end it was actually Michelle and I who ended up eating them. Sometimes I don't even know who these children are...

The next morning we rose at dawn and waited about 3-4 hours for Michelle to get up at a reasonable hour. We made especially sure to make the absolute most noise and mess possible during that time frame. After Mommy tortured them by making them eat another breakfast (a first one for myself and Michelle) we were ready to head out.

Dalton DID NOT like the fact that Mommy had to stay out of the boat while Michelle cranked it up so that I could drop the cradle into the water. I guess he had recognized how cute Michelle thought he was and was afraid she was going to run away with him to International waters. Once I was in the boat though, all was well. Despite her initial death grip on the rail, Darby soon loosened up, even venturing out to the front of the boat by herself several times. The last time we actually got Dalton to go with her. They enjoyed the ride, but it was super-hot and we were starting to run out of our giant stash of snacks after being gone one hour, so we didn't last long.

After the boat ride, Michelle turned on the sprinkers, which was a rousing success. These 2 are definite water-babies. 

Michelle made the comment several times during the weekend that it was unfortunate they are such unhappy kids...