The one about splash pads

It's summer in Phoenix.  It's been summer for at least 4 weeks.  This seriously sends me into mourning... I mean, April wasn't so bad, but what does it say about the rest of the summer when it's already in the 90's in April?!  Not good.  May has been regularly in the 100's.  LAME.  I know I have many friends who love the triple digits.  I am not in that group.  Add to that a complete lack of rain (which I love and yes I'm totally aware that I'm weird), and this is just my least favorite time of year.

The good news is that we've discovered the joys of Splash Pads!!!  They are basically giant sprinklers where small kids run around.  The water never accumulates above an inch, so you don't have to stress about little ones drowning, and they have some fun public ones at the various nice malls around Phoenix and Scottsdale, totally free!  For the last 3 weeks we've been going about twice a week for an hour.  When I start getting too warm, I just walk out for a second to cool my feet, and I find I can even tolerate 90 degree weather (while pregnant!).  It DOES wipe me out the rest of the day.  I always have to take an afternoon nap after we go, and it takes me hours to feel cool again.

(Brief history: I found while I was pregnant with Clara that I have a very low tolerance for heat while pregnant.  When I stay outside in above 80 degree weather for too long, I get headaches, feel very weak, and I seriously spend the rest of the day trying to cool off.  It usually takes me several hours of sitting beside an air conditioning fan).

Clara is totally un-phased by the heat, which makes me really nervous.  She would go play out in 100 degree weather all day, without any water to cool off.  I'm just not used to dealing with this!  I totally know what to do with kids when it's -30 degrees out.  But 100s?  I don't know... heat stroke really freaks me out (while I could totally deal with frost-bite).

The good news is we have another two weeks in Phoenix, where it shouldn't get to CRAZY temperatures (above 110 degrees), so we can keep going to splash pads and swimming pools.  Then we head to Utah for a week, then back to Phoenix for three days, and then to Fairbanks for 6 1/2 weeks!  And in Fairbanks, we can have the most perfect, most beauiful summer EVER!  But more on that later...