Bubbles!

In our increasingly high tech world, there's something wonderfully refreshing about the simple joy my kids get from bubbles.

Simple. Cheap. Bubbles. Making them. Catching them before they pop or float away. Or enticing the dog to jump and chase them. It's all good.

And if those bubbles happen to be super big, even better!

There's also something wonderful about seeing a smiling expression on your daughter's face on her birthday... a birthday marked with way too much rain and flooding, which led to Daddy having to work through most of what should have been her special day, and kept Mommy from getting to the store to pick up as many presents as she'd have liked.

But as luck would have it, one of the gifts Mommy had picked up ahead of time was a bottle of bubbles with two oversized wands. And that was enough to make this the best birthday ever, according to Sydney.

AJ initially was far too cool to join in the fun. Until he saw the size of the giant bubbles. Then he had to prove that he could make bubbles that were as impressive as his sister's.

And then he forgot about being competitive because he was too busy running around and having fun.

When rain sprinkles started again, we shifted our fun to the front porch. When the rain stopped a few minutes later, we headed out into the front yard. By then we'd figured out that running with the wand produced far more impressive bubbles than simply blowing on the wand did.

It didn't take long to blow through all of the bubble solution. Thankfully I found more in the garage, leftover from last summer, but that only lasted another day or two. Thank goodness for online recipes. For future reference, you can make wonderful homemade bubbles by mixing:

1 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
4 tablespoons dish soap

That makes enough bubbles to last 10-15 minutes. (Yes, it's cheaper to buy them. But when you're stranded at home due to washed out roads, this recipe is a life saver.)

AJ's competitive spirit apparently has returned. He just peeked over my shoulder to look at the pictures and commented, "Whoa! Sydney's like a professional, and I'm just a minor leaguer."

I highly doubt we'll ever see Bubble Blowing as an Olympic sport. If they do get added, I think I know a few athletes who'd like to try out for the team.