Racing the Ducks

Today we woke up to rain and wind and rain and wind. It is supposed to be June but it honestly felt like March. The monkeys and I spent the morning inside sleeping and wrestling on my bed. But before long, the rain and wind beckoned too loudly and my 2 boys threw open the door, donned their snow boots and rain jackets and raced out in to the elements. Little H., who does NOT believe in being left behind, raced through the house frantically yelling, "Help, Mom. Where is my rain jacket? Where are my boots? Hurry Mom!" and raced out to find her brothers. They had rescued all the yellow rubber duckies from the bathtub and were racing them down the street in the gutter. I sat from the safety of my front porch watching them. I didn't want to get wet. I didn't want to get cold...and I was still wearing my strawberry print pajamas. But before too long, the rubber duckies and rain racing down the street got the better of me and I threw on my coat and headed out in to the street.

We had a glorious time!

It poured down rain and we got deliciously wet chasing those rubber duckies. We had races to see whose duck was the fastest, whose duck was the slowest, and whose duck did the most somersaults. We made bridges with our legs and yelled "Ducks ahoy" at the top of our lungs to each other so we would know to catch the ducks before they hit the storm grate. We splashed each other in big puddles and jumped to see who made the biggest "splash" and sat on the sidewalk to empty our boots when they became too heavy with water. We giggled and laughed until my stomach hurt and I loved my kids so fiercely I thought I would never be able to stand it when this moment was over.

When all our noses were running and our hands were frozen, we came inside and each had a mug of our favorite flavor of hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows floating on top.

It was a perfect time...a moment I will savor for a long, long time to come.