They tell me that it rained quite a bit while I was out of town last weekend :) (when I took off for San Francisco on Friday it was nice out and when I landed back in Chicago on Sunday, the rain was gone). However, we got such a downpour that our local river flooded it's banks, surrounding suburbs had severe flooding that caused evacuations and school closings, many of our friends had basement flooding and our sub division email chain was full of messages about failing sump pumps. Also, while I was gone, everyone in my house started getting sick (as in throwing up). I even got sick once while I was away (but I digress). Our basement was not unscathed, but we were so much better off than a lot of our friends and neighbors. We had a little water right in the middle and, since we didn't finish our basement yet, we didn't have carpet or dry wall damage. What we do have in our basement is a lot of big toys for the boys. Brian painted the floor and the walls, installed a bunch of canned lights and we bought TONS of these large plastic, cushy squares that fit together like puzzle pieces to make a soft little area for playing. We have a 10-by-10-foot inflatable "bounce house" down there, a climbing thing that is supposed to go outside, a slide, bikes, bats, balls, tennis rackets, large building blocks and a couch for me to "sit on and drink coffee while I watch the boys play" <--- when does that happen exactly?? So....the little water that we got ended up seeping under all of the cushy puzzle piece things (we'll call them smushy tiles) so that I had to pull them all up this week, drag them to various places in the basement to dry and vacuum up the small puddles of water. Brian said we have to wash the floor down there with bleach so I thought....well....what better time than now to get these tiles nice and clean. I told Brian about my plan of attack (see pictorial documentation below) and he just laughed saying "you're like Huck Finn convincing all the neighborhood kids that white washing the fence is fun!" And to that I say....if you can't make something like cleaning 50+ cushy tiles fun, you're just not trying hard enough. Unfortunately, our activity was time-boxed by a class that Logan had to attend so we only had about 50 minutes (plus 10 for changing out of soaking wet cloths) to get everything done.

Recipe for fun step 1: enthusiastically announce that we're going to play "clean the tiles" on the driveway. Assemble the following: 2 boys who love anything associated with water, a bucket of warm soapy water, rags, a couple spray bottles filled with sudsy bubbles and 1 hose attachment that looks and functions like a fire-fighter spray nozzle (so lucky we had that last one on hand!)

Step 2: lay tiles out on drive way (here they are, gray and boring sides up, ready to wash)
Step 3: encourage boys to make "soapy rain" on all the tiles...follow said boys crouched down, actually scrubbing the tiles yourself (sorry...only the children get to have ALL the fun)
Step 4: let them rinse it off....
...and remember to take turns!
Step 5: When the "real rinsing" needs to happen (by, say, a mommy figure), convince youngins that "it's time to jump in the soapy puddles!!!"
Step 6: flip and repeat
Here, Logan continues rinsing the tiles. He told me (when I forced him to let me have a turn) that he "really really like(s) spraying the tiles mommy!"
Aiden conquers one of the spray bottles....I'm scared of that face....I think he was actually coming to get me at this point (click the camera and run!)
We could NOT have asked for a more perfect day for this project. When we did the cleaning, it was nice and cool outside, but by the time we returned from Logan's class, the sun had come out and it was starting to get hot. The tiles were almost all dry. I had the boys "flip them like pancakes" and put them in dry spots. Here, the gray spots are actually water from where the tiles were previously sitting. We started putting them on the grass to dry the back sides. Aiden kept laughing at my instructions "flip them like pancakes" (which I had to shout over and over). He said "dey like pancakes...dey smell yummy....we get syrup"
Brady waits patiently on a blanket while we flip the tiles....such a sweet baby!! We did our thing & headed in for lunch. After lunch, I ran out and stacked all 50-some tiles in the garage. Mission accomplished before it was even 1 pm (self high five!)
So here is the main, but not only, reason I went to San Fran last weekend - BABY RYAN! Isn't he schweeet?!

Of course I had to have my traditional San-Fran visit pedi (here Denay and Anne finish up while I sit with my tootsies under a dryer). The only thing I changed this time? After the pedicure, Anne and Den accompanied me to the hair salon where I let Den's stylist cut 5 inches off of my hair!!! (then we wandered around, stopping into stores that I don't usually frequent these days...furniture, jewelry...you know...places where you can just waste a little time looking....ahhhhhh) The proud mommy and her adorable son. Nice work there D&T!
Back at home, I deliver goodies from Auntie Denna and Uncle Tom. D picked up Small Paul lunch boxes for the boys. They had such a great time packing them with cars, toys and, in Aiden's case "an icky, yucky old candy cane that I borrowed from Christmas" <-- we don't clean out the pantry as much as we should! Here we are on a walk...Aiden tows along his lunch box and sippy cup.

And a final note...Brady is not very fond of the "wall seat" that I thought was so convenient in the park district bathroom (how else are you supposed to wash your hands after a diaper change?) This seat is literally at my eye level...and he wanted out NOW :)