No pictures, but three reasons...

to not go on a walk in the south in the summer!

1. It's hot. Face it. For some reason, we take a break in the summer and work all winter when the weather is beautiful! What is up with us?

2. Humidity is the catalyst for perspiration. The south is built on humidity. In the summer we are only slightly more wet than in the winter. Our humidity level goes no lower than the highest levels in some other states.

3. Ticks. Need I say more?

Story time everyone gather around:

I have a couple neighbors who have kids. Their kids are off for summer break. Being the ogre that I am, I force my kids to school year round. However, I've learned the hard way that bending is easier than breaking. So, this week while both neighbors are home (usually they are not around during the day) I opted to lay formal lessons aside and go for life.

Yesterday we learned what it means to clothesline someone (no picture of the rope burn on anyones neck!). Today we learned what happens when two boys are overly tired. I had taken all six kids (yes, I said six) in my van to a local park. We walked a trail that is no more than 1.1 miles and it only took us an hour and a half! That's the toddler's pace. Along the way he kept fussing about his legs. I am an ogre; therefore, I ignored it after seeing what looked like just a bunch of debris on his legs.

We keep walking. I call the older boys (all 4) to come back to me. I have no trouble keeping up with the lone girl in this bunch. S is just struggling with his legs. He just can't keep his hands off them! What's up with that? We are near the end of the trail and everyone is walking the toddler pace! I pick him up onto my shoulder and we finish in fine form. Not to be outdone, we head over to the boardwalk that traverses the lake's edge. We go down, down, and down some more. Is the slope really that intense? Yes, it is. We see water and shade and others fishing off the boardwalk. It's nice, but now we've got to go back up.

We walk up, up, up, and up again. We rest at the top and S tries to climb the rail. L stops him. I'm still trying to catch my breath and explain to the kids about what we've seen and done. They are all tired and I can see it on their faces. We've had freeze pops (plastic wrapped sugar water!) twice. Now we are thristy. We head back to the car and not wanting to share germs I take the lone water bottle remove the cap and dispense it to each child sharing with them that in India they do this all the time! They enjoy their refreshment and pile into the car.

This is where S and M melt down. S is fussing about shoes (but really, he's got anxiety over the black spots all over his legs. M doesn't want to give up his seat to the lone girl (does anyone see a character training moment coming?). It's exasperating. M is disciplined and corrected and gets into his seat after two fits. S is allowed to fuss a little until Mom comes up with a plan. I just whispered to him a little and offered him some comfort (we'll be home soon!). It's not as bad looking back at it. I was more embarrassed than anything.

Fits are over and we are on our way home. We finish the Adventure in Odyssey we had begun on the way out (did it really take 45 min of driving to get there and back?). We sat in the van to finish the story and then we piled out. Neighbors are warned to to a tick check and we head inside. We pull off no less than 25 ticks from S. There were 1 or 2 on M and only 1 on L. I on the other hand had 2 or 3 on the trail and 2 at home. S must have hit a nest! I'll never know, but next time I go for a walk, it might be a whole lot cooler out!