Rain drops keep fallin on my head

I am not one who would normally sing the praises of northwest weather, but today I just might....a little. I am from the south. In case you didn't know, its really hot there. Its like stepping out of your air conditioned house into a sauna set on Krakatoa, except you aren't in a sauna you are outside. The humidity is intense to say the least and the heat is just unbearable during the summer. The winters are pretty mild, but most of us southerners would just love to see a flake or two of real snow once in a while.
Here where I live, it is downright wet. It rains for almost 9 months straight. When I first moved here it was novel. We moved here from California and I was just about done with sun all the time. I wanted to see the leaves change colors. I love the fall and there is no fall in California. It goes from hot to rain and back again. I thought the Portland area would be perfect. We would get to see all the seasons and enjoy some rain. Ha! That is what I actually thought. I would enjoy some rain. What I didn't realize is that when it rains you have to stay inside. That means my three kids too. Most of us creative northwest moms have made room in the garage for scootering and skating and frequent any and all indoor play places we can find. (Thanks McDonalds) It is still a very long exhausting time of year watching the little faces plastered against the window. There is only so much that play-doh can do. I did have a stroke of genius this year. I made my own ball pit in the garage. I took the kids plastic pool and filled it with those plastic balls. We are talking 700 balls here. It entertains them, but man is it loud. At least I can close the door.
So I am trying to be positive, even though the kids are fighting over play-doh as I write. The rain keeps my roses gorgeous. I mean they are beautiful this year. I could have never had roses like these in California. Never. I could barely have grass and that was only part of the year. I get to start wearing boots and sweaters before all my family in the south. The leaves are changing here and falling from the trees and I love leaving the windows open at night and sleeping to the rain and the cool air. We have the greenest trees, grass, and anything else that can be green all thanks to the rain. There are days when going out means coming home soaked, with all your groceries soaked and there are muddy doggy prints on the floor that seem to reproduce themselves no matter how much I clean, but it ain't all bad. That is what I have to tell myself for the next 9 months. And the kids, I have to keep reminding the kids. We will get through another fall/winter. We will see the sun again! We could see some snow and that would be great for the monkeys. I will be safely inside with my little gas fireplace drinking coffee wishing I was in Hawaii.