Toys, treats and the last days of summer

Toys
When I was a kid things like Slip N Slide were luxuries. We ran around in the backyard with the lawn sprinklers going. My friends and I didn't have in-ground sprinkler systems either. We had those metal propeller looking things that screwed on to the end of a garden hose. These days they sell special sprinklers just for play. Things made out of plastic so you don't rip your foot open if you accidentally step on it. They feature popular kid's TV characters. (I'm having visions of Mel Brooks in Space Balls. "It's all about the moi-chandising!") When someone did have an actual Slip N Slide, it was simply a sheet of plastic. You put a hose on it, ran and then threw yourself on the ground and slid across the thing. We usually got banged up launching ourselves on the ground like that.

We currently live in a condo. So we don't have a backyard to set up a Slip N Slide or yard toys. This afternoon we had a play date with one of Little Man's preschool classmates and her siblings. We knew we would be playing in their backyard. I spoke to the other mom and their sprayer/sprinkler toys were shot. So I decided to treat the kids to a genuine Slip N Slide. It's the perfect time to buy something like that too, because all the stores are completely clearing out their summer stock.

I got the COOLEST Slip and Slide! It was normally $30; I got it marked down, then slashed 50% off. I walked out of the store with this baby for less than $8 after tax! It features a giant shark whose mouth opens and closes simply by water pressure. You actually slide right into the sharks mouth! The entire length of the slide sprays water. Why didn't they make cool toys like that when I was a kid?!

Treats
A smart voice inside my head advised picking up a box of popsicles on the way to the play-date. As it happened, more kids were at the play-date than were expected. There were 10 kids total. Us moms sat on the sidelines calmly chatting while our kids tried to kill each other. After they had been running around the yard like half crazed lunatics for about an hour and a half I asked, "Who wants popsicles?" I'm not quite sure what I was thinking by doing something stupid like that. I hadn't even retrieved the box from the freezer yet and it was around 95 degrees. Um...a word to the wise, NEVER shout out those words to a bunch of kids, on a blazing hot, summer day...after they've been running around like half crazed lunatics!

All of them stopped whatever they were doing and froze. All eyes turned to me. Did I say there were 10 kids? It seemed like there were 20 or 30 running at me all at once, screaming unintelligible strings of words. They attacked me! It was like being in the middle of a group of sharks having a feeding frenzy. I don't know how I got away from them, but I am quite certain if I had not returned immediately brandishing a new box of frozen fruit pops it would have turned ugly.

They all go back to school in a few days. My classes start up a week later. I don't know why it took us the whole summer to decide to have a play-date. Unfortunately once school starts up play-dates will be few and far between. And yet Little Man is starting pre-k! It's always weird to me how the end of summer is always sad and yet exciting at the same time.