The Good, the Bad, and the Really Wet...

My girls love to play outside. Rain or shine, snow or even sleet, they play outside. Sending them outside is good for at least an hour. An hour of quiet for me to catch up on chores, talk on the phone, grade papers, etc.

My girls play like boys do. They wear out their friends, family members, shoes, and the knees of their pants. They get dirty, wet, muddy, and my personal favorite, hairy. They bring me flowers, pretty rocks, long blades of grass, and my personal favorite, bugs--lots and lots of bugs.

But sometimes the quiet becomes scary. When my girls are quiet, it generally means that they are up to no good. Like drawing on the siding with chalk, or tying the dog to the wagon, or sweeping the barn and completely covering themselves in filth, or rearranging Daddy's tackroom, or climbing up the ladder on the bulk tank, etc, etc, etc.

On this particular day, they were playing quietly and peacefully together, so I went inside to put some dishes in the dishwasher. (Note--I can see them--most of the time--through the kitchen window--and I leave the door open so I can hear screaming...) But then, the quiet became too quiet. And as I turned off the water in the kitchen sink, I realized that the outdoor water faucet was running. And much to my dismay, this is what I saw...

Rhian, the instigator. She always has the idea--and then lets the younger girls take the blame... She didn't get wet...

So what do I do, rather than get on to them for playing in the water fully clothed--I laugh and run to get my camera...



Such laughter, such joy--who could be mad at that?

After watching the big girls drinking from the hose, Baby Jack decided that she could too. Of course, since she is big too, ya know...

Trying, trying, trying, getting wetter, and wetter, in the eyes, in the nose...

Ah! Got it!

Getting some help from Sister Liz...

Its when they started licking water from the sidewalk that I made them stop...

Ah, summer afternoons with nothing to do but get wet in the waterhose (and drip water throughout the house and leave muddy footprints...)