Marco Polo

Okay, this is rather embarrassing. I learned how to play Marco Polo this summer.
I don't know how I missed that in my childhood but I never got it. This summer at the beach Travis taught Jake and Max how to play in the frigid pool at the house. It was incredibly diverting. Two shivering boys giggling their way around the pool with a "blind" Travis telling them they were making it waaaaay too easy on him. The poor boys would stay in the water until they were shivering and their lips turned blue then they would make a dash for the hot tub. They spent a large portion of their pool time in the hot tub. From which they would toastily bask in the jeers of the adults gathered and could not be enticed back into the pool. At other times, they enjoyed lobbing freezing, water-filled balls from the pool at their unsuspecting sisters lounging in the hot tub with their pool noodles.

Julia now feels that no beach house is complete without a hot tub and Jacob will not even look at a beach house that doesn't include a pool table. Jo, well, Jo found a way to make her preference known as well.


Jo, my ever intrepid, was fascinated by the pool. She took more than one header from the stairs and was utterly unconcerned about consequences. She played until her Mom finally made her go dry off and warm up and at one point she shivered for a good 30 minutes after being dry and in her fleece pj's. Mom wised up after that and consigned her to the hot tub though she was mightily suspicious of all the bubbles.

Jo happily played in the ocean and in the pool but could've done without the hot tub or the pool table. Jo must also have a sand hole to sit in to have a complete holiday.

Wow, am I on a roll, or what?

Okay, so, here is the background story.

Allen walks Jacob to school every morning at 7:50 am. Julia loves to walk with them and then, on the way back, pepper Allen with questions like "when do I get to go to school?'' "Where is my school?" and she tells me that Dad told her she is BIG enough to go to school just not OLD enough. This was just in the first two days of Jacob's school. So, last Saturday, I am talking to Angie and telling her that she must convince Mayci not to tell Julia she is going to school. I don't have to hear about it. Angie says "You have to come check out this pre-school".

So we do.

Julia cries and doesn't want to leave (the classroom) and I think "WHATEVER" it's only 2 1/2 hours a day four times a week and it's FREE.

Today was Julia's first day and it was like, there's the door Mom, don't let it hit you on your way out!

She loved it, loved it, loved it AND was appropriately pleased at my return 2.5 hours later.

So what does a former homeschooling mother do with 2.5 hours and one child?
I actually scrubbed screen doors, vacuumed out my car and put clean sheets on my bed all while engaging my number 3 child (she dutifully washed with her washcloth, played with the steering wheel and jumped on my bed, and talked a lot about "ulia" and Jacob, mostly asking where). I might have to stop calling her "three" and give her a real name, now that I have 2.5 hours to think about it.