Number NINE!

I can't believe I failed to post on Connor's  birthday. But then, things were busy, and I guess I just never got around to it. In any case, Connor turned nine and is now on the brink of double digits. It's almost more than I can bear to think about. He's still perfectly snugly, but he's also developing a bit of an edge - often deployed on Ed.

Last year, Connor had a sleepover birthday party. We started with a Nerf gun fight, followed by a pinata and a treasure hunt, and then the boys proceeded to nearly drive Ed completely nuts by barely being willing to contemplate sleep.

Connor had a ball.

He wanted to do it all over again.

Ed and I decided we'd buy him out of that dream. The price? An evening rental of the Game Truck. When the website says "mom's love Game Truck because it's easy", they are not lying. It was super easy. I met the boys after school, paraded them down the street to our home, offered them a snack which they ignored, and then shut them in the dark playing video games for the next two hours. Ed and I remarked that there's a pretty good chance we actually made the world a worse place.

But...the boys had a ton of fun, and we tried to ease our conscience by having them eat pizza on our deck and then they ran around the backyard, playing a round of Nerf guns. By the time the parents arrived to retrieve their children, all of them had acclimated to natural light again, and were at least reasonably tired out from running around the backyard.

We have a huge array of Nerf guns at this point - but the Vortex Revonix always gets chosen as the house favorite. Because the guns have different ranges, the boys come up with various house rules and a few kids always run around trying to be the referee. They are ignored, of course. I always like to see which boys dig their heels in and insist on getting to use a particular gun, which ones run around like crazy people, whether they are armed or not, which ones try and develop teams, and which ones get tired and start swinging on the tree swing (which, after about 6 years, is finally reaching the point it might need to be replaced).

At the end of the party, Connor's closest friend asked if Connor was going to have another sleepover. Um...no...but come back and run around our backyard anytime you want!

Elaine

Nerf Water Play - Or How to Cool Down on a Hot Afternoon

A package with three of Nerf's new water blasters showed up in the mail - followed by a day that felt like it was at least a 100 degrees - or 80. Is there even a difference?

Connor and his friend went straight to soaking each other and Helen was thrilled to join for a while.

Connor's friend chose the Nerf Super Soaker Tri Strike Crossbow Soaker, Connor opted for the Nerf Super Soaker Barrage Soaker and Helen was left with the Nerf Rebelle Dolphina Bow Soaker. The boys were not impressed with the Rebelle, and at first Helen thought she wanted one of the other soakers - but it turns out, they're pretty heavy! So about 1 minute after trading with Connor, she went back to her first water weapon.

The Tri Stike Crossbow and the Barrage Soaker can shoot far - not quite across our yard, but over a third of the way. The crossbow allows for some sneak attacks, if the bow is extended. It can also be set to just shoot straight.

Even with the smaller weapon, Helen got a few good shots on Helen - and was cause for the "no aiming at the face rule".

We have big plans to take these water guns on our annual tubing trip - which might happen this weekend. Beware friends who come with us!

Elaine

I received the three super soakers from Nerf to test out. I'm not required to write about them. The kids had a blast with them, and they held up well during their play. I suspect these will be popular in the neighborhood this year as we settle into hot summer days.

Nerf N-Sports Foam Soccer - Win for Summer!

Connor plays soccer. He is, by no means, a star - but he has learned to kick the ball pretty hard. Helen played soccer very briefly, but basically thought it was just too much running. And of course, it's perfectly fine for Helen not to play soccer - but I think part of the reason she doesn't want to play is not just because of the running, but because she's been beaned by the ball enough times, that she fears getting hit with the dumb thing. That, and she can't kick the ball as far as Connor, so it's frustrating. Those last couple of reasons are not good reasons to avoid soccer.

Enter...the Nerf N-Sports Pro Foam Soccer Ball. Possibly the luckiest blogging day of my life was when I got to attend a luncheon sponsored by Nerf, because Connor is Mr. Nerf. And he thinks I'm a super cool Mom when I acquire new Nerf products. And, because of my participation in the lucky lunch, I occasionally get a sneak preview of some toys.

The latest item we got to test was the Nerf soccer ball.

It's fantastic.

It's MUCH softer than a regular soccer ball, but it's not like a foam ball that you take to the pool which would be impossible to kick. Instead, it's a ball that about the same size as a smaller soccer ball - and when kicked, it's likely to go flying across the backyard, even if Helen is the only one kicking it. So now, rather than ducking the call to play soccer, she's willing to humor us and run around in the backyard for a while. And, because it's foam, it doesn't hurt when it flies into some flailing part of one's body, which means Helen doesn't quit as soon as there's a close call.

Yay for soccer!

Yay for outdoor playtime!

No photographers were harmed in the shooting of this photo.

But yikes! Have I mentioned we might be spending all our time playing outside, but Connor has A MONTH of school left. A MONTH! We need school to end so we can increase our backyard playtime dramatically!

Elaine

This toy is not only durable, fun, and perfect for playing a game of pick-up kick ball or soccer with, it's cheap! For less than $10, you can have your own. As mentioned in the post, I received the ball for review purposes. I was not required to write about it; all opinion are my (and Connor and Helen's) own.