Tax Payer Dollars

The morning of the 4th of July started out with Diving for Dollars where the city throws tax payer dollars into the pool for children to dive down and grab.  I don't know how I feel about it, but I know how my children feel about it!  THEY LOVE IT!  And I love to see them so happy.

Elinor was our Little Miss Money Bags-- she collected $4.10.  I believe that is a record for our family.  And if I might just brag a little bit, she spent all that and then some on a birthday present for Clark today.  What a sweetheart.

That is Bethany in the blue goggles.  They divided up the kids by age group and put the big kids where it was a little deeper.

This boy melts my heart.

Faith quickly headed over to the snack bar and spent $.25 on a pack of fruit snacks.  I think it was a good choice.

Allison (in the middle) joined us for swimming in the morning and then Barbara and Bill and Brig and her kids joined us for a BBQ for lunch at our house.  It's hard to beat a good cookout on the 4th of July.  I don't know if the food was really that great for ours, but the company was wonderful.

May I just take a moment to say how much I love Abe and how grateful I am that he helps organize us and takes so many pictures.  I don't think I would blog so much and it wouldn't be nearly as much fun if he didn't manage the camera so well.

Popsicle tongue-- one of the true joys of summer.

Later that same day...
If you thought diving for dollars was an interesting use of tax dollars, this one really got me.  We'd never participated in the afternoon "Haystack Dive" over at the city park.  The kids got quite a bit of loot at the city's Easter egg hunt, so we decided to give this a go.
Very interesting.
Here's how it works.  Once again, by age group, the kids get a chance to run at top speed onto a giant tarp covered in hay to search for candy and trinkets and such.  This is Bethany's (bottom right) age group right as the siren went off signally the start of the feeding frenzy.

Does anyone else think this is kind of a strange activity?  Once one age group had collected all the goodies, they would put out a bunch more for the next group. 

Because they didn't get enough candy at the parade the night before...

 I wish I could walk away from this post right now and not make the next comment I'm about to make.  But I can't.

To the parents of the 3-6 year old group:  You should give your kids a little more credit.  They are more than capable of picking candy out of straw by themselves.  They don't need your help and you're probably already damaging their self-esteem by not letting them do things for themselves.  Oh, and if they are too young to pick candy out of straw by themselves, then they don't really care about the activity so why bother.  

My apologies.  See, I should have left well enough alone.