Or as it’s commonly known, Houghton’s Pond. 

I love Houghton’s Pond, but the first time I was there, I saw a dirty Band-Aid floating in it and stepped in gum in the water in my bare feet. In case you wondered, it’s extremely difficult to remove gum from skin, even when it’s wet. We’ve been back since (this is our third time, in fact), and today I carefully scooped out a piece of chewing gum and drew the line at picking up a dirty Band-Aid. Way not to disappoint, Houghton’s Pond!

Irregahdless, it’s still a great place with picturesque views, shallow wading water, showers, a playground and free parking. We spent the day playing in the water (tag, Simon Says, and Red Light/Green Light) and building a sand recreation of the opening credits of Game Of Thrones.

As promised, here is my secret for sandcastle building: use wet sand from about 2 inches below the surface of the sand and periodically apply pressure to the sand to remove any air pockets and ensure a tightly packed pail.

While George napped, Hazy and I played Store. I thought Store would be really boring, but turns out it’s super fun to play with the Barbie Cash Register. I take back calling it the Mouthpiece of Satan. There’s something really thrilling about making announcements on the microphone and scanning imaginary UPC codes on toys in the top pit.

After naps, our beloved friends, Dee, Nina & Jack came over for dinner. (Ariane, you will be glad to know that I washed our seat cushions since yesterday, so no one would have to cry about sitting on the dirty bench cushion.) George is going through a very sensitive “no one will play with me” phase, so I let him have some solo bubble machine time, which he appreciated, to say the least.