Summertime
July 13th, 2008
Isn’t it a nice day to play…CROQUET!? When I look at these pictures, I feel like I’m writing a parody post for stuff white people like. I’m sure you can play this game in the inner city too (if you can find some grass to stick your little hoopty-hoop thingys in) but whenever I think of croquet, I always think of stuffy white people wearing summer sweaters and sipping lemonade on the lawn.
Which is why we were playing it at Whoorl’s house!
Just kidding! Whoorl is a hoot, as I’m sure you know. There is nothing stuffy about her. I want to move to her street. There are three or four houses that have lush green lawns butting up to each other and when the sun starts going down, everybody comes out of their houses and just hangs out outside. They talk and joke and their kids play together on the lawn. People bring you cocktails just because you are sitting there. It’s like the American dream come true over there. Sometimes music even comes out of the sky and the credits of your life start rolling down from the horizon.
Meanwhile, back at my house, we have no yard and cement to play on. Maybe that gives us street cred or something but between you and me it is boring in the summertime. Patios are great and all but there is nothing like running around outside in bare feet and not having to worry about stepping on bottle caps and broken pieces of glass. So we like to go to Whoorl’s. Especially when she has new toys to play with.
The kids had so much fun with this snake sprinkler thing. I think Whoorl is going to write about it on Parent Dish soon. She’ll give you the full scoop. I will just add my two cents and say that it was super fun and very toddler-friendly. If I had a lawn, I would buy one of these things. I would have the greenest lawn ever. I might even have a swamp.
After the sprinkler session, and a good nap for two tuckered-out kids, we dressed them up like little JCrew models and let them have at it with wooden mallets. Then we sipped some cocktails and took photos—which may or may not have a lot to do with how much fun the whole evening was.
Cheers to long summer days and friends who live close by and serve refreshments!
July 13th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
It looks and sounds like the perfect weekend.
I love Baby Bug’s dress.
Happy Birthday.
July 13th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Baby Bug and Wito would make excellent models for J. Crew Kids.
July 13th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Fun! Can I come over too! That sounds and looks like like SO MUCH fun!
I think I might want to move to Whoorls neighborhood too! Sounds fun!
July 13th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
This whole adventure, photos and all should fin some sort of award. Pure summertime.
July 13th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
That first picture truly is a J. Crew ad come to life. They are so dang cute together. The “Stuff White People Like” link just sent me over the edge. Jeremy is getting mad at me for laughing so loud while he’s trying to enjoy the chase scene in Bullitt.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:00 am
It sounds wonderful SAJ. I am impressed with the smashing kid friendly croquet hoops, as with the orginal metal ones there’s always one left out in the long grass which takes you by surprise months later and trips you over. Each and every time. Not that I spent my entire childhood play stuffy croquet or anything like that, we were more of badminton/tennis family. Pims anyone? :)
July 14th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Life Is Good.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Looks like everyone had a fun time. My almost 5 year old son asked my parents for a croquet set for his birthday. I asked him what he was talking about since I did not believe my ears. Sure enough he had seen it being played on Maggie and the Beast on Noggin. Silly me, I thought he was saying crochet incorrectly ;)
July 14th, 2008 at 5:23 am
They look like pictures from a magazine about the American Dream. So cute!
July 14th, 2008 at 6:02 am
Okay, that looked like a magazine ad for those toys.
Too cute.
July 14th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Cheers to a blog post that I can link to instead of writing myself! WOO!
July 14th, 2008 at 6:44 am
I love all of these shots! The one of Baby Bug looking through the hoopty-hoop is fantastic. The grass in that one looks like astro turf.
July 14th, 2008 at 6:51 am
OK. The whole “music coming out of the sky” part got me giggling. I cannot wait to meet you this week, my friend.
The kids? TOTALLY look like models in an ad.
July 14th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Those pictures are SO cute!
July 14th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Such a refreshing post. I love it!
July 14th, 2008 at 8:18 am
The “Stuff white people like” reference slayed me.
And? Could those little ones be any cuter?
I think not.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Laughing my butt off at Gingermog’s “Pims anyone?”
July 14th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Yahoo and amen!
July 14th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
They are so cute.
On another front….I just got my ABC and the Rainbow bakery recipe books you recommended a while back. Kids cooking, yea.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Mmm…what’s in the glass? That looks like the perfect play date.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I love the classic outfits while playing croquet! Yesterday we saw a family with four kids, three boys and a little girl. The boys were all wearing oxford shirts and chino shorts, and the little girl had a bow at the temple and was wearing a loose short-sleeved dress with smocking at the collar. The whole family looked so classic - no logos or screenprints or anything. I loved it!
July 14th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
The popped collar on the polo shirt makes me giggle.
I love croquet. I grew up playing it with my parents and grandparents. I hope someday to have a lawn just big enough for a croquet course… though right now I’d settle for an end to subflooring and construction debris.
Lovely pictures, I especially like the one of BB peaking through the wicket.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
awww!
July 14th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Your photos are so great! Baby Bug is such a doll and the croquet set is just way too cute. It has been way too long since I’ve been by here…
July 15th, 2008 at 6:05 am
The kids look great in these pictures! You should send some of these pictures into Ralph Lauren for their ads!
July 15th, 2008 at 6:20 am
I love this post, it represents a lot of what Summertime means to me. Great fun in the grass with your kids and drinks with your friends. Lovely.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Sometimes summer is so magical that I get morose. Perverse isn’t it? I start thinking about how damn lucky we all are, and how many kids are suffering, and I worry about whether I am really grateful enough for how incredible my life is. Then I get worried that around the next corner, some tragedy awaits.
I think the lesson for me is to enjoy every moment. Really pay attention, really appreciate, really work and play hard, and give something back.
Katrin
co-author, Mothers Need Time Outs, Too
http://www.momstimeouts.com
July 15th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Every day should be so vibrantly colorful! With water snakes! The plastic kind, of course!
July 16th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
I want to know who Whoorl’s gardner is, and I’d love to know what the white flowering plants are in the background. Peonies? Phlox? Some west coast plant I’m not familiar with… If I find out that she potted and planted all those plants herself, I’m through. I don’t deserve the luxury of looking in on the two of you and your beautiful children and your lives that somehow you find the time to create, photograph AND write about!! You’re like the cool, hip blogger version of Martha Stewart and I’m Jabba the Hut!
July 16th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Love the croquet set! I just found a cool monkey one at target (and it was 75% off!) and I am now inspired to take some fun pictures of my little girls having fun in the sun. Wonderful color looks like a blast