Spring Fling Oasis in the Backyard

Here in Southern California, it’s warm enough to enjoy Summer weather in Spring!  It’s time to spruce up the backyard by picking weeds, shape the bushes, and get the cushions out for our chairs!  The kids have been looking forward to swimming in our pool, but because of the variant weather, we’ve resisted warming it up.  But the days are getting warmer and the timing is right.

Our daughter just turned 11 and has been asking if her friends can come over more and more.  Besides cleaning up the backyard, we want to make our pool even more fun for our daughter and her friends.  We went to our local Walmart to pick out a few inexpensive items to add a little more “atmosphere” in creating an oasis in the backyard.

First off, what’s fun in the sun without music?  Although my daughter enjoys our iTunes music inside the house, she doesn’t have an iPod Touch to take it out to the backyard.  In fact, she has a number of CD’s, and earlier this month received the Imagine Dragons Night Visions CD for her birthday.  The only problem is that she doesn’t have a CD player to play it on!

We found a GPX CD/Radio Boombox for only $29.99.  We haven’t had a boombox in the house for years, so it was kinda fun to buy.  This way, my daughter can play her CD’s and change them out or control the songs played as she desires.  Although the Boombox is not waterproof, the control buttons are situated vertically pretty self-contained, so drops of water will roll down away from the controls.  And with the built-in radio, she can listen to our favorite Christian station as well.

THE GPX CD/Radio Boombox also contains a 3.5 mm audio input, so when she does eventually get an iPod Touch or Android device, she can attach it and listen to her tunes directly.  We use the Boombox with it’s enclosed plug, but you do have the option to insert 6 C batteries for wireless play too, which is great for the beach!

For some added outside enhancements, we also bought a Bubble Hurricane made by Gazillion Bubbles.  What kid doesn’t like bubbles!  Blowing bubbles is fun, but it can be tedious sometimes.  With the Gazillion Bubbles Bubble Hurricane, the only work the kids will need to do is pop the bubbles!  And what’s more fun than jumping up and popping bubbles while in the pool!  The Bubbles Hurricane takes 6 AA batteries, so I’m expecting the motor to churn for quite a while!  A 4 oz. bottle of Gazillion Bubbles comes with the machine, but with an early start on Summer, I already know I’ll need to go out and buy more.

We are having a lot of fun already with the Bubble Hurricane!

Oh, and did I mention it’s a great activity for the younger brothers too!

Oasis in the backyard complete!

The GPX CD/Radio Boombox sells for $29.88 and the Gazillion Bubbles Bubble Hurricane are $9.88 at Walmart.

A Mom’s Perspective

After a little more cleanup in the backyard, we’ll be ready to invite my daughter’s friends over for a pool party.  Once the backyard is ready, all I’ll need to do is cut up plenty of fresh fruit, make some pink lemonade, and buy some popsicles!  Oh yeah, I can’t forget the sunscreen!

My husband and my goal has always been to make our house as inviting as possible to our kids’ friends.  The more time their friends spend here, the better we get to know them and can support them, as well as gauge their influence on our children.  With our oasis in the backyard ready, I can hardly wait for Summer!