Winter Water Fun

Well, who'd have guessed that doing taxes was such a drag? No wonder we've farmed it out in the past. Even with the snappy tax program Ed bought at Walmart, which I really thought would make the job a breeze, if not a blast, we still didn't finish the thing on Saturday. Or Sunday. Or today. We also learned that doing taxes together is not as romantic as it sounds. Live and learn, eh?

I Did get make sushi on Saturday, though, and it wasn't difficult, and it was delicious. Ed says it is better than the stuff we used to buy from the grocery store (in Florida), which, while not exactly high praise, is nice to hear. After all, they had a Japanese guy with a sushi chef hat making theirs.

We had planned on a playdate at our house this afternoon, but our friends called early and asked if we wouldn't like to go to a park and see their favorite swimming hole instead. I figured we could call it "nature study," so off we went. The park turned out to be quite nice, with a playground, walking trail, sandy creek (very shallow, fortunately), and a river. I told the kids not to get wet, since it is Winter and All, but T. managed to slip on a log, dangle precariously upside down over the creek, howling to be rescued, and finally tumble down into a foot of Very Cold water. I know the water was cold because, after a fearful moral struggle over whether to take pictures for the blog or try to rescue to big goofball, I did try to help him. Unfortunately, my sneakers have no treads and I slipped in the mud and lurched into the creek just as T. lost his grip and fell. I couldn't stop laughing, and the only sad part, aside from my frozen feet, was that I didn't take a picture before I tried to do the "good mommy" thing. T. was sorry too, once he decided he wasn't damaged, and offered to reenact the thing for me, but I declined. Having already gotten wet, however, there was no restraining the kid when we got to the river. He "slipped" into the water again and again, and had a wonderful time making mudballs. The girls made mudballs too, and they all threw mudballs, and, by the time we were ready to go home, they all looked like mudballs. I'm not sure my friend Stacey is going to invite us on any more outdoor expeditions again, at least not until the weather warms up.