Good Morning and welcome to the last weekend of August!

No, wait, that can't be right. Are we really into the last weekend of August? Is the summer just about over? Have those lazy days of reading books while the young ones splash (argue?) around in the pool over?
Thankfully, Labor Day is a week later this year (target="blank">who invented this calendar?) School, at least in my world, doesn't start for another week.
So, that means we can squeeze every bit of juice from this summer in last week. Gosh darnit, if it sends me to the loony bin, I'm going to do it.
We'll hit the beach. Ride the rides. Eat junk. Ride bikes. Sit and watch the sunset. See the sunrise (wait, I see that everyday). Play baseball. Throw a frisbee.
Doesn't matter we've been doing that virtually every day since June, it's it the end of August! Let's go. Let's do it again.
You can never have enough summer.

Good Morning and welcome to another sticky August day!

What to do in the heat?
Sure, you can stay inside and relax with the air conditioning, but something feels just wrong about that scenerio.
In the dead of winter, with cold air (not so much snow for us the last few years) blowing outside, it's an easy decision. You stay in the heat and watch dead leaves blow around the yard.
The summer, though, brings a completely different view. The sun is shining and it looks like a perfect day to head outdoors.
Then, you open the door and ... BAM. That wall of heat hits you like a ton of bricks.
That's when the brain starts to click around (or burn out in my case). Go outside and enjoy the summer or stay inside and keep cool?
What to do? What to do?
In the end, I suggest, it's better to get out in the air. Turn off the air conditioner and sit under a tree.
Let the children get all sweaty (maybe, just maybe, a little tired) and it all seems OK.
That is, until the ice melts.

Good Morning and congratulations to making it to another Friday!

While we continue to wonder about those cool nights (nah, that global warming thing is all hype), it's time to put the whole lemonade thing to rest.
There are plenty of reasons to call the cops on neighborhood children. The least of which (unless, of course, you live in Haverford) is to stop those illegal lemonade sales.
So, to finish out a few days of public service (non-court mandated), here are some reasons to call the police. Start dialing now, 9-1...
1. Those kids are riding their bikes ... in the street. That's right. Get your sirens on right now. Children are supposed to be fat and lazy, not riding bikes and getting exercise. Get the black-and-white out here and chase them back inside. Make them turn the video games back on.
2. The young ones just picked a dandelion off the lawn. Hey, one man's weed might be another's flower, but their my weeks (or flowers). Put it down little girl!
3. They're climbing trees and the parents aren't watching. Back in the day trees were much stronger. They are going to break an arm.
4. McDonald's just shortchanged me a McNugget! Sorry, that slipped in through the back door.
5. Those kids next door are just too nice. They must be planning some mischief. They always say hello and are respectful to others. Potential terrorists! Lock them up!
OK, there's a few to start. I'm sure there are plenty more (anybody from Haverford out there?). Let me know at onlinedelco@gmail.com
Then again, we can just enjoy the summer.

Good Morning and welcome back to summer!

It starts innocently enough.
"OK, guys, why don't you go outside and play. It's a nice day."
Before the second sentence is halfway done, the door has been thrown open and the little feet are running down the steps.
Moments later, the basketballs are out. The bikes are being unlocked. The baseballs are thrown onto the lawn. The dirt is starting to stir.
Great. It's time to play. Forget cleaning the rooms, get to running around.
AHHH, summer.
The sounds of a lawn being cut. The smell of the air with a touch of humidity. The gentle songs of the birds. The screams and yells.
Screams and yells? It's not Halloween.
It doesn't take long before the basketballs are taken out and the bikes are unlocked before the first crisis hits.
"WAAAHHHH!!! He took my ball. WAAAHHH!!!"
OK, there are enough balls to go around and few words later, everything is calm.
Calm for about five minutes (if lucky).
"DAAAADDD! DAAAADDD! She threw a cup at me. It really hurts."
Now, some harsher words and a louder voice seems to calm the situation down.
Then, a few minutes later, it degenerates again.
"STOP IT! STOP IT!. DAAADDD, HE'S CHASING ME. SHE'S CALLING ME NAMES. I'VE FALLEN DOWN. WE'RE THIRSTY. WE'RE HUNGRY."
Forget reality TV, this is reality reality.
You like to keep the little ones busy throughout the summer, but you also want them to have some unscheduled fun. That's where we stand now.
Sorry, have to go, somebody did something to to somebody.


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Good Morning and welcome to the heat!

Yes, it looks like summer may finally be arriving. The temperatures are pushing into the 90s and the humidity is going up, up, up.
So, now what do you do? You want to enjoy the nice weather, but, when the heat is turned on, it makes it tough to spend a lot of time outside.
Staying inside? Did that all winter. Enough of looking at the walls and counting the number of stitches on the couch.
Besides, sitting around with the air conditioner running all day only makes PECO happy.
Here are some other ideas:
Go to the movies: Now, I know the prices are out of hand, but there are ways around it. Matinees are a great deal (if you can swing the time). Hit the dollar store before and bring your own snacks. Enjoy.
Go to the library: Once again, it's a great place to get lost. There are a lot of programs running in local libraries to keep the little ones busy. So, grab a new book, start reading and let everything fade away.
Head to the park: OK, now that doesn't necessarily clear up the heat idea. The key here is finding a park with a couple of trees and a playground. You can sit under the tree, sip some cold water and let everybody else get their energy out.
Window shop: Leave the wallet at home and hit the malls. It's always cool to check out new stuff. Walk around. Get some exercise. Enjoy somebody's air conditioning.
Play: Hey, it's hot. Deal with it. We've been looking forward to summer all year long. Get out and sweat. You can always take along some water.
Sleep: When all else fails, put the head down on a pillow. Then again, what's the chances of that?


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Good Morning and welcome to another dry day!

You would think after all these years, you would have things figured out. You look back through time and remember things certain ways.
I look back and remember my early summers as being a time of freedom. We could do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted.
Go outside and play all day. Run around. Ride bikes. No more cumbersome days of school. Hey, School's Out for Summer!
Well, now, as three pre-teens are running around tearing up the house (and yelling and fighting and yelling some more), I've come to realize that free-for-all needs to be scheduled.
I need to plan out more activities during the day. It's not quite like school, but there is a method to that madness.
Keep them busy. Keep them moving.
Now, here's hoping I can keep up.


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Good Morning and welcome to the first day of the week!

Did you ever notice that taking a week off only makes you want to take another week off? Sure, there is something nice about structure, but there's something a lot nicer about playing baseball/basketball/riding bikes all day. Then again, being so far away from 10-years old, maybe it's just so much nostalgia.
One thing you never realize until you are way past that 10 mark is how good you have it. You go along day-by-day only to have your parent's put limits on your 'freedom.' Then, you become a parent and realize you never had more freedom. Of course, the argument is lost on the 10-year old (or 7-year old or 4-year old) when you tell them it's time for bed or to come inside.
That's even more evident during the summer. The temperature is nice. The sun is shining bright and there are a lot of noises coming through the window.
Where do you draw the line? When is it time to put the foot down firmly?
Well, I guess it's all an internal battle. Of course, when your alarm goes off at 3:15 a.m., well, that battle at least has a time limit.
Then, you have to fight through the sandman to fill the next day and the day after and the day after.
You just have to make it fun not only for those who would bounce off the walls, but for yourself.
So, what happened to my sneakers?


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Good Morning and welcome back to another week!

For nine months of the year, it's not even a thought. Then, June comes along and boom, the begging starts: 'Can we play miniature golf? Can We play miniature golf? CAN WE PLAY MINIATURE GOLF!?!?'
Now, it's a game that can be fun, but, while there are a few around the area, nothing beats the miniature golf down the shore.
Maybe it's the hot sun. Maybe it's the calling of the seagulls. Maybe it's just that there are so darn many. You can drive past a miniature golf place around here, but, get down the shore, and it calls.
Hitting a brightly colored ball through a windmill makes us all seven years old.
The funny thing is, though, when you really are 7-years old (or 9 or 4), miniature golf is 'real golf.' So, having the opportunity to get down the shore for a day this weekend, the request started before even packing the car.
By the time the smell of the sea salt hit the nose, it was constant.
Finally, the course was picked out and everybody had the right colored ball.
Then, boom. It was time to hit drives. The swings from the putters could have put out an eye.
Then the rules start to change. Forget where the ball actually rolled to, pick it up and put it close to the hole. Knock it in for a two.
Wouldn't have it any other way.


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Good Morning and welcome to another Thursday in a long line of Thursdays!

Sometimes (OK, most of the time), it appears teachers are giving students busy work between tests. For instance, last night a fourth-grader came home with a little bit more homework than usual.
By the way, thanks for that as the school year is winding down and the sunlight is stretching longer.
So, part of the homework was using Roman Numerals. This fourth-grade class had to change 'regular' numbers into Roman Numerals and vice versa.
Now, I understand the multiplication and division homework. I understand the word problem homework. I understand the spelling homework.
But, Roman Numerals? What, are we going to get a re-incarnation of Julius Caesar and change back?
Really, what use is Roman Numerals anymore. Unless they need to find out how many Super Bowls there have been or you have one of those goofy, over sized clocks, there's no need for this.
Or, as we used to say in school, 'The teachers are bored at the end of the year and just want to keep everybody from looking out the window.'
How about some practical learning?


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Good Morning and welcome to another Wednesday!

The good thing about Wednesday is you can almost see the end of the week, but you know there's still some work to be done. Plow through it and you'll be rewarded. Well, at least you have to have hope.
Speaking of hope, after a long winter of sitting inside, the last thing a child wants to do in April is look out the window at rain falling.
They want to get out. They want to run around. There's a little clock in their hearts that goes off once May rolls around. Enough of playing board games, we want the bikes. We want the balls. We want the Frisbees. We want the ... ice cream?
That's right, why wait for the heat of the summer, it's spring, which is close enough, so it's time for ice cream.
Now, none of that low-fat stuff. No, it has to be real ice cream. It has to be full of fat and milk and chocolate and goodness.
Since the frozen banana ice cream just won't cut it this week, it's time to head to the store.
That's where the fun begins. Now, not being a huge ice cream fan, I usually by-pass that aisle in the store. This trip, there was no stopping (after all, it was a trip primarily for ice cream).
So, the orders came in: I want mint. I want cookie dough. I want peanut butter chocolate. I want candy and ice cream and whipped cream and chocolate sauce and more candy.
So, with two small ones to help, we stopped at the ice cream aisle. I want that one and that one and that one and that one.
OK, just one. There's not enough room in the freezer (not to mention the bank account) for one of each.
With so many choices, it was information overload. It takes an adult to step in. Well, here's chocolate peanut butter and, look, there's a baseball one. It's baseball season let's get that.
NOOOO. I want the football one.
NOOOOO. Get the baseball one.
NOOOOOOOO! Football! NOOOOOOOOO. Baseball!
Executive decisions don't work when a little girl wants ice cream with little chocolate footballs inside.
Or, maybe I'm not the executive anyway. That's why we end up with too much ice cream jamming up the freezer.


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Good Morning weekend warriors and all the ships at sea!

Well, we made it through another week. Sometimes, a week seems like it's going to stretch on forever, then, suddenly, it's Friday. Hey, at least the heat's been turned down this week. We have that.

By the way, today is also the start of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Check out our Olympic page here. You can get all the latest stories, medal count and everything else Olympics.
Sometimes I wonder if these big events hold any meaning any more. Sure, there are lot of exciting moments. There are great stories. Not so great stories and stories in between.
You have amazing feats of athletic prowess and major failure that tugs at our heart strings.
Still, with the oversaturation of events, maybe the Olympics are being pushed into the background. For the next few weeks, some of us will watch and others will ignore everything.
I think the best things about the Olympics is how much we can learn about other cultures. Even though most of us will be watching everything on television, we will get a glimpse of China. We will see the food, the people and the views. That's where we can learn. A lot of us don't know much about the Far East. We know what we hear and the Americanized version of the food, but we don't really know what it's like.
Maybe the Olympics aren't about sports, but about opening our eyes to a larger world. More exists outside a small bubble.
Or maybe not:

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

GOOD MORNING, DELAWARE COUNTY!

Well, as we get down to the end of another school year, it's time to think about what to do during the summer.
Way back when, parents maybe went on a vacation for a week during the summer, did a couple of day trips, then let the children fend for themselves the rest of the summer.
It was fun to go away, but it was maybe more fun to spend the entire day with friends. Even if it was just sitting around in the shade, there was a simplicity to it that just seemed right.
Maybe there'd be a quick baseball game or football game. There was a lot of bike riding and running around.
You would eat breakfast, come back for lunch, then be back again at dinnertime. After dinner, there was more outside time until it got too dark to see.
Now, you can't let the children play outside, even on your front lawn, without keeping an Eagle eye on them.
There are too many dangers out there. The question is, are the dangers more now or are we just more conscious of them?
Well, I think the dangers have exploded as the years have gone along. Sure, there were plenty of predators out there in the 1970s, but maybe they weren't so out in the open.
We didn't have to worry about cars pulling up with somebody looking to hurt children. We didn't have to worry about so many people running around with weapons. We, and I mean both parents and children, didn't have to worry about such serious things.
Now, we have to have camps and planned activities for children. They miss out a lot now. We need to get back to simpler times.


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com