2 Major Signs That Summer is Here To Stay
1. Bryan put in the window air conditioning unit this weekend.
Yes, we are poor souls without whole house air conditioning. Our house was built in 1930 and has steam heat. Thus, no vents. Thus, no A/C. But luckily, the house is brick solid and really doesn’t get all that hot – until it gets over 100… like it did this weekend. Then I do my best impression of a slug… a slug with sad puppy dog eyes, until Bryan takes pity on me and puts the A/C unit in. Luckily our bedrooms are on the same side of the house and my office is in between, so all three rooms can be cooled by one unit. And that unit hangs out the window on the side of the house that no one can see from the street – so we don’t suffer from “fugly air conditioning box hanging out the window of the house disease,” like every other old house in the old downtown Denver neighborhoods. Ahhhh, the bliss of sleeping in cooled air rather than taking a cold shower and going to bed with a wet head.
2. Water World, baby!
We got our season passes a few weeks ago and today, being the awesome wife I am, I simply could not let Bryan face yard work before a quick trip to Water World to cool off. That’s the beauty of season passes, being able to bolt in there for a few hours and not feeling any financial pressure to stay the whole day. And Water World is always such a kaleidoscope of personalities, the people watching alone is worth the trip. And apparently ALL the people were there today. And I do mean ALL.
On a semi-serious note (and putting on my health education hat from work – remember, one of our specialties is skin cancer prevention), it has been cool to see the increase of sun-safe swim suits popping up at Water World and pools over the past few years. However, I have also noticed a ton of people wearing simple t-shirts. And while a t-shirt *is* better than bare skin… the problem is people tend to think it is impervious to the sun (and thus skip the sunscreen) – and it’s not. Especially a white t-shirt when it gets wet and stretched out. Your safest bet is a rash guard or swim shirt that has a UPF rating, or at the very least is made from a tightly-woven nylon/spandexey type material. (Which also makes them quick-drying too!)…
Here are some companies that have great rash guards for kids (and adults! …I *love* my rash guard. The less sunscreen I have to put on, the better!)…
TUGA SUNWEAR (beware, in my experience, their kids sizes run small)
SOLAR ECLIPSE
SKIN-SAVERS
So, OK. Off my soapbox now. Happy summer, y’all!
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Funny about the AC unit! And thanks for the swimsuit links!
how fun!! since emerson learned to swim while we were in florida, i’m ready to take her to waterworld now!
and CWD kids has good swimsuits as well!
Thanks for the links! And congrats on the AC.
Never get off that soapbox!!! 🙂 (Although I think people shoot daggers at me when I’m on mine just because I have darker skin. More importantly, I have wrinkle and cancer-free skin!)
But here’s a question for you. Do you know of any hand creams that have spf in them? I tan sitting in my car driving and I just know that it won’t be long before my hands start to look their age – or older. I put my face moisturizer on my hands in the morning (it has SPF 55) but don’t have anything during the day. Just a thought…
Thank you for this! I make my very fair kids put on t-shirts at the pool for the mid-day rays. I had no idea the sun was getting through. Oh, and I want to go to that water park!
teri, I will ask at work!
Nutmeg – tshirts are obviously fine out of the water… just hold them up to the sun, though. If you can see the sun through the shirt, then they need sunscreen on underneath it. But when they are swimming, sun suits really are the best way to go. Declan is so used to his, he refused to take his swimming lessons at an indoor poor without it! LOL!
And Alpha, that is HILARIOUS! How cold is it really, there?
We have a down quilt on our bed.
Even in the summer.
Our neighbours moved here from somewhere south and brought a window AC unit with them. They installed it for the first summer, and then realized: WE ARE IN NORTHERN CANADA WE DON’T NEED AIR CONDITIONNING!! But not before all the neighbours had a good laugh at their expense.