Thursday, July 21, 2011

How to Survive a Hot Day

I don't know about what the weather is like near you but in our area, today was incredibly hot. I don't know whether we actually broke the record but I know that we were close. I heard something like 37 degree celsius with a humidex over 48. I believe that is somewhere in the range of 120 degree farenheit. It was intense. We are spoiled in that we have central air conditioning so really, we didn't suffer that much but since I knew we were going to be stuck inside for most of the day, I wanted to come up with some real summer activities.

We started the day in a bit of a rush. Pk is doing a two week intensive swimming lesson session and we have to be up at the pool by 8:45. That may not sound like a huge accomplishment but given that I run, we both shower and the kids have to be dressed and fed, it's a bit of a crunch. Today was no exception, especially when we had to add in a photo session to get pics of LB in his new jammies (a gift from Dh's aunt in England - we always do thank you cards with photos).

Upon returning home, I had one job that I was determined to get done - cut some hydrangeas to go on the table. I love having fresh flowers in the house and they seem so summery. The plant is in a hidden corner of the property and gets missed every year - this year, I was determined to not miss the blossoms. Pk wanted some for her room, too, so we cut some for her to go in a little vase.
I tried to convince her to wear her shorts and blouse but she insisted on wearing "a princess dress". At first, I said no since everything was either double-layered or cotton-poly blends but then I remember this dress I had bought for $1 at Goodwill ages ago. It fit the fill perfectly.
When LB went down for his nap, Pk and I settled down to read in my room. We got through about 4 books before we both dozed off. There's nothing better than a nap on a hot afternoon.
When Pk got up, we did something that we have been talking about. She desperately wanted to do a lemonade stand. I don't know where she got the idea but she has been talking about it a lot so we planned it starting the other day. We mentioned to a few friends who said that they would swing by. I love our town, we had several very, very kind adults stop for lemonade and a chat. People are so supportive of other peoples' kids, it really gave me a smile.

Finally, we rounded out the day with the most delicious pudding pops. I got the idea from Laura at Heavenly Homemakers, who has some of the yummiest healthy recipes, including these fantastic healthy puddings. The pudding we made here was the vanilla one, sweetened with maple syrup. I can't tell you how delicious these are! Both kids (and our guests' children) LOVED them!

I had meant to buy some watermelon, too (yet another perfect summer day treat) but we just ran out of steam.

I hope you managed to stay cool today!

4 comments:

  1. I don't envy the very hot temperatures, but we barely reached 65 F today - not summer in my book. It's been so mild here this summer - only a couple days that really felt like summer.

    We are traveling to the midwest next week, so I imagine we'll get a taste of the heat then.

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  2. Jill, I had heard that in the west, the summer has been terribly cool. What kind of temperatures do you prefer? I'm not a big fan of EXTREME heat but I do like summer to be hot enough to feel summery.
    Madeleine, thank you so much for stopping by!

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  3. My favorite temperature is about 70-75 F. You don't feel hot, you don't feel cool - you just feel normal. But I also like to feel the need to cool off in summer, so 75-80 F is nice, too.

    What i don't like is opening the front door and sweating : )

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