wet is wet

It always amazes me how complicated I make my life.  Mind you, I don't realize at the time that I'm doing it, though I'm not certain I'd stop even if I did...  In any case, the kids have seemed to make it their responsibility to help me find simplicity or at least joy in simple things.  Ah yes and to stop and smell the roses...
A few days ago we found ourselves blessed with a beautiful warm, sunny day.  The kind of day that screams "walk!" to me, but which the kids want to spend just playing outside.  I've learned to give in to that request as pushing a walk generally ends poorly.  While my daughter and I worked on school on the deck, the boys asked to paint.  Large spools of white paper provided by my father served the purpose of a back drop beautifully.  This was spread on the lawn below and a plate of paints, cup of water and brushes were set down beside it.  The boys quickly went to work on their masterpieces.  Thankfully this time did not involve the lovely roller sponges that turned into clubs, leaving my boys teary and covered in paint...
After a time, they wanted to wash up.  There was no way I was letting those creatures into my house with their hands and feet covered!  I brought out a tub of warm soapy water and left them to it.
One boy washed up and went inside to play with cars.  The other did not reappear, but no worries... he loves the water.   After about 10 minutes of spelling work, my daughter and I took a break and looked up.  My youngest was sitting nude in the tub.  His knobby knees reached his chin and he barely fit, but there was an enormous grin upon his face.
This prompted a school break; and two more tubs of water were placed on the deck.  Swimsuits and bath toys appeared seemingly out of nowhere, along with several beach towels.  I now had 3 children playing in the tubs (though clothed in swimsuits now!)  Upon seeing this, I raced downstairs in search of our kiddie pool.  No avail.  I looked upstairs, back down again, in the garage, on the porch, one more time downstairs.  This whole time I was panicking because I could make this moment better... if only I could find the darn pool!
I then began searching on craigslist thinking that I could quickly find a pool, pick it up and then my kids could really have some fun outside.  I lost the precious moments of play during my rush.  Finally, my daughter told me to stop and come back outside.  The wanted to show me something.  Watching them play happily for over an hour in their little black tubs made me realize that I didn't need something bigger or better.  Afterall, wet is wet.