When my husband turned 40, I thought it would be fun to let the entire city know. So, I had 40 pink flamingos delivered to our yard with a huge sign that said “Lordy, Lordy, Look Who’s Forty”. Unoriginal, but fun, nevertheless!
When the lady came to pick up the flamingos from the yard, my girls (still little at the time) didn’t want her to take them away. So, she kindly said to the girls “We do have an adoption policy for our flamingos”. GREAT! For 5 dollars each, I was able to ‘adopt’ flamingos for my girls.
Now they came with very strict orders from me… “Now Girls, you can have a flamingo, but they are not allowed to stay outside in the yard, OK?”. It was fun for a day, but it was not exactly something that I wanted as yard art. Both girls agreed, and so we purchased a flamingo each.
The next day when I came home from work, the flamingos were positioned prominently in the yard so that I could not miss them when I came home. ARGGGGG! I quickly picked them up and brought them in the house. I reminded the girls that I didn’t want them outside.
The next day, the flamingos were back… in a different spot! This time, I decided not to say anything. I just picked them up and hid them behind a bush.
Next day… flamingos again… new position… snatched up by me, and hidden AGAIN! No one would say a word about the flamingos… we were all waiting for the other to mention it.
This went on for days! That is until I hid them in the garage cabinet behind a lot of stuff!
Whew! When I came home the next they were not there. I know it was killing the girls to stay quiet about it, but they were probably hoping that I would fess up to hiding them. (Note, I say girls… but Rachie was only 2, so this had the markings of Britt all over it!)
I had a great reprieve for months! That is, until the next summer when we moved. We were packing the garage, and the girls found them in the cabinet. They ‘helped’ me pack them to move to the new house.
During the move, Tom and I headed back for the last load of things from the old house while my mother-in-law stayed with the girls at the new house. When we were driving up the street to our new home I could not believe my eyes. Right there in the front yard BY THE STREET were those DANG pink flamingos. I was mortified. I hadn’t even moved in yet, and my neighbors were going to think I was already decorating with plastic yard art!
The girls were sitting on the front steps waiting. They could not stop laughing. When they saw me get out of the car, they slowly stood up. We made eye contact. You know the kind - that ‘wild west stare down’ kind of eye contact that you give your opponent right before you have a shoot out. Rachel just stood there and clapped her hands and laughed. But Britt knew not to stand still. She RAN! She grabbed the flamingos with one swoop and headed around to the backyard. I followed suit. When I caught her, she could not stop laughing. Of course, I couldn’t either. We just stood there laughing for quite some time. How in the world does a 10 year old get such a devious sense of humor at such a young age? And how could she keep her plan so quiet? I’m guessing a certain man of the house had a part in it too! Way to pull one over on MOM!
At the end of the day, I found another really good hiding place for the flamingos, and they have never been heard from again! Britt - 1, Mom - 1.
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