Lemonade is exhausting

Well, the big day arrived. The highly anticipated lemonade stand, highly anticipated by my children only, came to fruition on our happy little street. I must admit that I was a bit of a pessimist in regards to projecting their success when I walked outside to a sad gray sky. While the sales team grabbed a few more z's in preparation for the big day, I took off to out Kroger store to buy some dry ice. While I do admit our family has a strange obsession with the substance, there was a legitimate reason for buying it. You see, in addition to the four types of beverages the kids were selling, they were also in the frozen pudding pop business. The dry ice allowed us to keep the pops outside all nice and frozen instead of turning into gross gelatinous pools with popsicle sticks floating in them. Nice visual, I know. As I returned from the Kroger jaunt, I noticed a neon green sign in our neighbor's yard pointing up the hill to a yard sale. Yippee! We had the possibility of second hand customers. S walked up and asked if we could put a sign up with their yard sale. Luckily we know the neighbors who are very kind people. They also ordered some lemonade as well. Nice. The kids were ready before their advertised time and made about $5 presale:



They have decided that they are going to do projects throughout the Summer that would benefit different organizations. This lemonade, and pudding pop, venture would benefit Wesley House. They are trying to raise a substanial amount of money for a new facility. They help kids and seniors in an inner city area of Knoxville. They do wonderful work. To learn more about what they do, visit their website http://wesleyhouse.com/. I doubt the link will work from the actual post. I don't have the type of skills to make that happen. Anyhoo, they jumped up and down for hours with their larger than life glass of lemonade on a stick, complete with straw. Can't you hear the ice clinking? Some friends came over and the kids all worked together in the advertising department. We had some fairly good business. We had a lot of confused people looking for the yard sale up the hill only to find glasses, screaming kids, a donation jar, copious amounts of coolers and a bottle of hand sanitizer. Some had pity on the kids and bought, whilst others waved, shook their heads and drove off quickly. Our friends were very brave to take two pudding pops in the car with them. They get the medal of bravery for the day for sure. We did find, in our very unofficial survey, that luxury car owners will not stop at lemonade stands, but people driving with their dogs will. Also, we found that motorcyclists will stop and donate to the cause but, limited to their driving circumstances, will not partake in the peddled goods. What this has to do with anything, I don't know. The kids made these discoveries.

Anyway it happened, the kids made $72 to donate to Wesley House. Whether that buys a brick, a few school supplies or items for a snack, know that the funds were raised with love, enthusiasm and the hope that they will help in some small way. And for that reason, I am proud...and a little sticky from the aftermath.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad