the grass is always greener

My neighbour has really nice grass. He takes good care of his lawn, and he mows it regularly and he doesn't have little kids at home, so his yard doesn't have small toys strewn about it, or dirt all over his back patio or indentations in his yard caused by playhouses and slides.
He has a nice lawn. Perfectly manicured - right to the fence where it meets our grass - easily 2 inches longer because we have a manual lawn mower that can't cut right to the edge, and I haven't gotten out the trimmer because the second I do, two little boys race out in bare feet and I'm paranoid of them running into the path of the blade and getting their little toes cut off.
So needless to say, our backyard needs a little maintanence help.
After duncan turned it into a swamp we turned the water off to the backyard, and cut his afternoon misting activities way down. He's gone into spray withdrawal, resorting to being so exceedingly whiney and annoying inside the house, tormenting both of his little brothers to tears that I have turned the water back on in a desperate bid for peace inside.
Now looking at my grass I notice it's not nearly as green as it was when we let him have free reign over the water. And it's not just because of the heat wave we've had for the last 2 weeks either. I suspect that my boys have been "watering" the grass in their own special way - The way only little boys can. I know for sure I've caught them at least once - competitively peeing away off the deck. There is a distinct area - right in front of the deck, within peeing distance that is less green than the rest of the lawn. sigh. I guess I'll see if Duncan can spray the lawn back to life...call me competitive, but I rather enjoyed having the greenest lawn on the block - the grass is greener right here baby - end of story!