Beat the Heat, Water Guns

Houston, TX - Living in Texas you know what "Texas Hot" really means. It is hot, and this summer, even for us Texans, it is super hot. According to AccuWeather.com, in just June and the first 10 days of July we have recorded temperatures at 100 and up for 8 days. Do you want to know how many days we have been above 95 degrees? This number includes the 100 temps: 28 days. That's hot.

So what's a mother to do with active, preteen boys in the house? Get out of the house. One day my kids were on the verge of tearing the house down with their rowdiness, so I decided, regardless of the heat, we were going to get out of the house and let them run some energy off. I took a medium size cooler and filled it half way with water, then I dumped all the ice we had in the freezer into the water as well as enough water guns for everybody. We drove to a nearby park with shaded benches and nice fields (Matzke Park at Jones and Grant), and let the kids run, shoot and get wet.

The kids loved the ice water for the guns. Of course, being clever boys, they decided why settle for little squirts from water guns, why not just dunk your head in the water. Then it became a contest to who could hold their breath the longest in the ice water. Eventually, that led to some splashing. The kids drained the cooler of the water and thoroughly soaked themselves. They were happy. I was happy. They had fun and I had fun watching them. Of course, I recommend towels for the ride home.

For a fun cheap way to let your preteens spend some energy all you need is a cooler, some water, some ice and maybe a water gun or two. You might even save money on the water guns by taking some plastic cups or over sized cooking spoons and ladles. Any way you do it, be prepared for wet and dirty with high chances of fun.