Where we live it gets hot in the summer, I mean really hot. So hot that all I want to do on weekends is stay inside the house in the air conditioning stationed under a ceiling fan.

But that’s not the toddlers idea of a fun Saturday. When Saturdays come around, they want to go outside and play no matter how hot it is.

You might recall that I’ve tried to make our backyard into a toddler theme park. And the toddlers want to play in the park in our backyard regardless of the temperature outside!

It takes two forks to eat Poppy’s waffles!

Saturdays generally begin with homemade pecan waffles and bacon….made from scratch using Aunt Jemima’s instant pancake mix and Poppy’s professional waffle maker!

Sometimes they use two forks to eat the waffles. I don’t know why.

Probably so they can eat them twice as fast so we can all get outside to play in the heat a little sooner

After breakfast I try to persuade the toddlers to stay in the house a little while and sit down and watch some kids shows on television before they go outside to play in the heat.

Maybe they will watch an episode or two of Dora the Explorer, Barney, Bubble Guppies, Team Umizumi, or my personal favorite, Max and Ruby.

Whatever happened to Popeye and Bugs Bunny?

But it’s not long before they want to get their swimming attire on and get outside to the park in the backyard.

To stay cool, most of the day is spent playing in the swimming pool.

Around our house watermelon is a required victual. I can’t come home from the grocery store without a watermelon!

Have you ever noticed that if you’re having watermelon, you’re having a party?

No, you can’t just casually eat watermelon. When you cut open a watermelon, it’s a celebration!

It’s almost like making homemade ice cream.

And it can’t be Saturday without cutting open a cold watermelon to feast on and cool off.

For the toddlers, the only thing better than a eating a slice of ice cold watermelon on a hot Saturday is eating a slice of ice cold watermelon while sitting in the swimming pool.

And for me, what makes it even better is that you don’t have to clean them up after eating watermelon.

All that sticky watermelon juice just washes right off into the swimming pool!

Hey, maybe they won’t even need to take a Saturday night bath!

And what better way to end a hot Saturday playing in the park in our backyard than to wash down all that watermelon with a homemade snow cone…unless you include some classic Chicago tunes while you’re slurping your snow cone and cooling off!