My kids decided at the early hour of 11am yesterday that they should throw together a lemonade stand.

 
A couple of years ago, they had some success watering down and overcharging neighbours for somewhat refreshing beverages to raise money for their “Save the Turtles!” campaign. This money (just over $4) would then be sent to the Turtle Sanctuary which helped people make signs with things like “Turtle Crossing.” Any extra funds would be set aside for the unicorns.

 
Lemonade stands are never a money maker for the parents. In fact, parents typically lose anywhere from several dollars to all of their patience when it comes to setting up, lugging coolers filled with ice, making the lemonade, finding cups, setting up chairs and tables, advertising and finding change while the kids spend the entire time finding just the right yellow marker to draw a lemon on a giant piece of white bristol board that can only be detected if potential customers are carrying a black light.

 
We’ve shifted in our fundraising strategy from the noble cause of saving turtles to, you guessed it, saving up for a trampoline for ourselves.

 
In just over one hour (because the lemonade stand closes for lunch and never reopens due to lack of interest) we sold zero units of lemonade.

 
I did however make four, frozen containers of lemonade, filled a cooler with a bag of ice and a case of water, gave the kids a “float” of $4 in change, never to be returned and I got to bring it all back into the house when the kids got hot, bored and hungry. Ironically, they never got thirsty.

 
Here is Chloe writing a letter of disappointment to the trampoline manufacturers for not just giving her one.