Mud fun

It was time to empty the new swimming pool… for the first time. This was the swimming pool I bought to occupy the children while their dad was out of town on business. They were a bit emotionally vulnerable with Daddy gone. Any small thing could set them off. I just didn’t want to scrape them off the floor and deal with all the hassle of it. On most days I bravely tell my children, “No.” I firmly believe that nos build character and patience and destroy selfishness. I’m a big fan of no and I’m not at all ashamed of that. But sometimes I just get creative instead. Emptying the pool can be something awesome.

Besides, I’ve always wanted to play in mud. I think it’s more my dream than theirs. Though they do really love to play in dirt. I had to practically egg them on to get muddy. It was so fun! When I saw how neatly they were creating, I told Israel to come to me and smacked my muddy hand right in the front center of his shirt. They were so shocked. But then the mud smudging on faces and appendages began. Though we never really rolled in the mud, they had loads of fun and I think I had even more than them.

We got a huge bucket of dirt and poured it near the pool and built a mud fort, decorating it with rocks and weed flowers. We gushed mud between our toes and fingers and smeared it on each other. We poured water into the fort and poked a little hole through a wall it to let the water out. We had fun plugging the hole with rocks and then unplugging it. We mixed dried weeds with the mud to strengthen it and let it bake in the sun. Then we flooded our fort by emptying the pool.

It just goes to show that some good summer fun doesn’t have to be elegant or expensive! There is absolutely hours of fun in mixing dirt and water and rocks and weeds! I love it when my kids get outside and into nature and when they get to be creative. It gives them so much confidence and awareness. Maybe next time I’ll get them to roll in the mud.