Summer Thunderstorms

I absolutely love thunderstorms. As a child, I used to sit on our back porch swing and watch the thunderstorms roll in with my mom and dad. Those are some of my fondest childhood memories. So this time of year is extra dear to me, because I love a good summer thunderstorm. There is one heading our way right now. As I type I can see the lightning lighting up the sky out of my back doors. Who needs a white noise machine when you can fall asleep to the sound of rolling thunder and falling rain? Summer naps during an afternoon thunderstorm just can't be beat. 

My kids are not afraid of thunderstorms. Sometimes they are intimidated if the thunder is really loud, but we love to sit and watch the rain and count the seconds between lightning and thunder to tell how far away the lightning is. This summer, one of our favorite parts about afternoon thunderstorms is playing in the water in our backyard before it soaks into the ground. We stick on our boots and head out for a quick inspection of the garden, because that wonderful rain is doing so much for it.

Then we head behind the garden in the back of our yard, which is where the water all collects and slowly but surely runs out of the drainage pipe. Not before we get a good bit of running and kicking in, though.

Of course, eventually the boots come off, because they are absolutely filled with water.

On this particular day, before the rain water drained away, the kids decided they would be rice farmers, and got out their rakes and hoes to take care of their rice paddy. If only we could put in a rice paddy in the backyard. Rice being the only grain Bella can have, we go through enough.

They worked diligently to remove all of the weeds from their rice paddy. And I enjoyed some time in amazement at my childrens' imaginations. Now these will be some of my fondest memories of thunderstorms when I'm old. And hopefully they'll sit around reminiscing about when Mama let them play in the rain water after thunderstorms, telling their kids as they count seconds between lightning and thunder and get their rain boots ready for some summer fun.