BOYS R GROSS
Today we hosed the ubiquitous spider webs off of our property. Again. I have to do it every month. They're all over the house and yard. It's really gross. Ryan wants to let them accumulate for Halloween. Ick.
While the hose was out, I washed all the mud off of the boys' garden toys. Meaning shovels, a rake, and enough Tonka Heavy Equipment to excavate a small mine. And Zach's mini wheelbarrow. Then we watered the plants. I filled the boys' watering cans and they helped. They got lots and lots of refills before I realized they were just emptying them into the wheelbarrow. Okay, whatever. I just cleaned it, they can splash in some water and have some good, clean fun.
But next time I looked, they were splashing in MUD!!! They'd filled the rest of the wheelbarrow with dirt from the garden and were stirring it with the rake. Ugh!
Zach was having a blast. He was soaked to his armpits and elbow-deep in the mud. I was torn between ending the less-than-desirable behavior and running to get the camera. I'm sure I sent the wrong message, because of course, the camera won.
One good thing is that we now know why our plants didn't do so well in the garden. The boys' wheelbarrow brew wasn't mud so much as water and mulch. There's hardly any dirt in the garden!
After I dumped the wheelbarrow's contents back into the garden (to cries of NO!) and hosed it clean again, I turned the hose on Zach. Oh boy, he didn't like that! But with the amount of mulch stuck to him there was nothing else for it. He would have clogged the bathtub! And he nearly did, even after the outdoor hosing-off.

See those wrong-message photos here.