Crazy Animals

Oh wait… those are my children. I don’t know why it always seems like such a great idea to take kids to places where they can run around like crazy people while the adults have to tear ass to keep up with them… argh. We continue to do it over and over I guess because they love it and we have fond memories filtering out all the crumby stuff. That’s my theory at least. This morning we took the little ones to the zoo quick so they could see all the animals including the giraffes (that you can feed) and the albino (you know… white) alligator. It was hot. Super hot. I must sound like a complainer but I am a firm believer that you should participate in activities that are appropriate to the weather. Walking around a sticky hot ass zoo in the middle of July in Wisconsin seems like a bad idea… where’s the beach?! I decided on the drive home that those silly air-conditioned seats everyone has been talking about sounded like pure genius right about now. Oh well. We made it through though drinking lots of water and taking breaks when we needed to. We got the kids to listen for the most part and they didn’t get all that far. However, the thought of having to chase after four kids of my own made me relatively nauseous. I have no idea how people do it.

Speaking of four children, my mother-in-law and father-in-law (who had four boys-yikes!) hosted a fourth of July BBQ on this fine Saturday afternoon. And there it was--- the water I was looking for, albeit a kiddy pool. But hey, wet is wet. Little piggies prepare to be submerged. We got over to Tim’s parents a little after 230 and stayed until about 930 or so and except for a trip here and there to the bathroom or to sneak another taste of Andy’s fabulous taco dip- I sat my happy buns on the front lawn and visited with family and friends. When it got dark we decided to set off the few snakes and fountain fireworks they had gotten for the girls. Now—for those of you not well versed in firework terminology: a fountain is a sedentary firework that does not leave the ground and is most times silent. Those are legal and you don’t need a permit or license to set them off. Well it seems that Andy and Sharon picked the one type of fountain that is oober loud and within five minutes there was a Bellevue police officer creeping up to the house. He was all cop-like and said “Do you have a permit for those?” Tim’s response “For Fountains?” The officer then with his head tipped to the side “I got called out here for snakes and fountains?” “And sparkers!” I interjected (silly Trina) after an exasperated policeman drove off we found out that there was a neighbor that called in a complaint about someone disturbing the peace and setting off “booming” fireworks. Come on, really? We were in their front yard. There was no mistaking what we were doing. Who would call the cops for that??? There is a party pooper for Christmas (Scrooge) but is there one for the 4th? There is now --- Andy and Sharon’s neighbor lol.