I don't know if anyone will find my sweet little stories as funny as I did, but I'm writing them down anyways.......................

Preface. We are lucky enough to have some wonderful neighbors a few doors down that let us take advantage of their awesome pool during the hot months. Yes, we take full advantage of this gracious offer. It is so much fun to throw your suit on and walk a few yards down the sidewalk and jump in! They are a family of three-Doug(owns an electrical company and I think secretly enjoys watching us enjoy what probably took him many hours of hard work to payoff. Oh yeah, he also rides a Harley), Stephanie(works at a pharmacy), and Marsha(Coronado cheerleader, Go Mustangs). Doug maybe swims twice per summer, so he claims, though I've never witnessed it with my own eyes. Stephanie doesn't get out in the sun because of her sensitive skin therefore the pool is not on her agenda-ever. Marsha is all about the tan, lounge chair, radio blaring, and bottle of water. Don't you miss those days when you just worked really hard to look good and that was your only mission in life? So, you see the Smart fam is definitely in the water much more than the owner's family. I mean, who wants a perfectly good pool to go to waste-not on our watch! So we do lots of swimming. Now that you have met the neighbors, I have a Slade and a Finley story. Not much, but worth a chuckle.

Story One. See above photo. This is Doug's yard and you see the school sign and megaphone that indicate that Marsha is a Coronado cheerleader. My picture doesn't show all the colors on the megaphone, but it is red, white, and then yellow at the bottom. This megaphone has been up since this past football season, so we've seen it day after day for months. Long about February, we were walking home from school one day. It was Slade, the girls, and I. We pass Doug's house and Slade shakes his head and says, "I don't know why Doug hasn't taken down that candy corn from Halloween!" I was in stitches! Yep, it is certainly similar to candy corn-shape and all. I had to explain to Slade that is wasn't a Halloween decoration in the window, but a cheerleader's megaphone that showed that a Coronado cheerleader lived there. I'm thinking that when Slade is grown and owns his own home, you will not ever find the Christmas lights left up past January. This Halloween decoration really wore on his nerves at age 6! PRICELESS!!!

Story 2. The kids are both swimming in the pool tonight. The family is gone to Vegas, so we are making sure all is well with the pool and plants and such. I'm sitting there just watching them play and relaxing in the new rockers Doug bought for the poolside. Out of the blue, Finley looks up from the water with her sweet little face and asks, "What is Doug's favorite color?" I told her I'm just not sure and we would ask him when they came home. Wonder what her little mind was thinking about? As far as the favorite color-I'm betting orange and black-kinda like the Harley colors. We'll see.