nice day - boring title :)

We did it! Yes, thank you Lord for a wonderful day. I didn't know how it would go but it went great.

The day started with me doing more work on some rhubarb pies that I ended up not having time to bake in the morning before church. Then make some scrambled eggs for breakfast with Mark, Andy and Sarah.

Mark arrived late Fri. night cause of some bad traffic in Van. that day. He helped Andy with some more of the 'to do before campers arrive' list that he's been working on.

Then church. Camp Tulahead staff led the service - the worship and a few spoke of how camp has impacted their lives. Then our pastor shared a message focused towards the staff - about not getting discouraged, or what to do if you start feeling that way.

Then Andy and Mark caught rides back with some staff and Sarah and I went to a friend's house in town - Rhian and Martin. They have 12 year old twins and Martin works at the other camp near Princeton - Rockridge Canyon - as their maintenance/facilities person. Rhian has been working a few days in the office here at Tulahead. They also attend our church. We had a great lunch with them - chilli and veggies, bread and fruit. Sarah loved the cherries and grapes.We then played some with some 'littest pet shop' toys and visited and then time for our church picnic.

I got some money out of the bank for swimming, we had a potty break at Pharmasave and we bought some ice to keep our salad from wilting. I hadn't brought the cooler and Andy had picked the lettuce this morning. I'm including all the details because on a hot day like today (37 degree C) every thing you do seems significant.

We had put on swim suits and sunscreen at Rhian's house, so were ready to get in the pool right away. Rhian's family brought three girls from their neighborhood and the youngest needed an adult to be within arms reach of her at all times in the pool. Rhian and Martin were not planning on swimming, so Becky, the 5 year old, swam with Sarah and I. It worked out good because she was also a little timid of swimming. I said I could watch them if there was always one of them wearing a life jacket. We spent a lot of time on the stairs and then eventually did some 'tours' which involved me having a floating girl in each arm (wearing life jackets) and we'd talk about what we saw in the pool as we went to the other side and back. I'd encourage them to kick and at one point one girl was floating on her back and one on her front in the jackets. We pretended we were turtles on the stairs as the sisters and friend would pop by and say hi and encourage Becky to come further out (but not away from me:). I said they were fish and we were turtles because we weren't swimming in the water all the time. Don't they call beginner swimming classes 'turtles'? I remember in school not getting into the stingray group, I think. I remember taking one 'animal' class twice, cause I wan't ready to move to the next.

At the pool we saw my friend Alesha who is due within a week of when I was due. She is really getting out there (tummy-wise). I got to give her a hug and visit a very tiny bit.
Then it was time for our church picnic which was at the park next to the pool. Most of the people were situated under the shade of a large willow.

Becky didn't have a change of clothes and she was very thristy so we watched her walk to the picnic people and then we went back to change. I felt bad for those girls because they didn't have any parent to make sure they had sun screen on and they were so red and laying on the blankets after the picnic - I'm sure they had sun stroke.

It was very fun having the two girls to swim with and seeing both Becky and Sarah get more into the water in their own ways. Sarah liked making washing machines with me, with our hands and Becky was funny in that she would pretend she didn't like water one moment and sit on the deck of the pool and then she'd say, "I like water" and jump in.

The picnic was nice. A little more hanging around visiting would have been nice, but Sarah wanted me near by the swings to push her or whatever. The times she sat down and ate were the times I got to visit. It was nice overall. They 'remembered us' (they said) and made tofu dogs...nice.

Then home. Before we started driving I put ice cubes into S's waterbottle but they pretty much melted instantly. She was really good about drinking lots of water to stay hydrated. She was quite flushed in her face and I didn't know if she was burned, but once she cooled down at home I could see that the new 30 SPF sunscreen for kids worked well. I used the same kind because I'm suspicious the sunscreen I adopted from camp is out of date.

Anyway, on the way home she spilled on herself and she was wearing a hat and a thin scarf (not winter scarf) over the hat to shield the sun from her shoulders.

Then on our driveway, we saw Mark driving up to leave for home in his van. He had had trouble starting it and if he hadn't we would have missed him. It was very nice to be able to say bye and Sarah answered his questions about the picnic with nods or shakes of her head. He liked that she was finally communicating with her.

Mark had brought some leftovers from a potluck he had with his ESL students and it was a dish from Ethiopia...injera (bread) and amazing spicy sauce with chicken in it and also hard boiled eggs. We had that for lunch Sat.

On Sat. Sarah and I went to the "Racing Days Parade." There were horse races in town that day or the day before. The parade had a few too many loud sounds for her and she enjoyed the art show we went to directly afterward. We both got to vote for our favorite painting.

So then, this evening, I gave her some ice to play with in her little kitchen unit with a sink and some ice to eat. Then we had cold soup with rice cakes for dinner and a great bath to scrub sunscreen off and cool down more. Then fall asleep under a sheet with only underwear on.
She said today felt like an adventure. Definately. She said, "We spent a lot of time together today." Yes. Also, "You definately know about my day, today, because we were with each other lots." She said that just before I talked about her day, which we do every night before bed. I think she must have like being together all day. She mentioned it twice.

We also tried some of Andy's homemade iced tea when we got home and she liked it and said it tasted like juice...I guess that would be the sugar and lemon?

We had a message on the phone that Grandad is coming to stay the night/morning, as he will be star gazing in Manning Park this evening. Sarah asked what we were doing tomorrow and I didn't have anything special to share...now we do. We don't have any bread in the house, but we'll be ok. We have 2 rhubarb pies :)

Campers came today. The first age group - 8-10 yrs. Andy is watering camp or maybe our garden currently and I am thankful for the fan that was installed in our house a week ago approximatly. It is drawing cool air up to the upstairs.

I do need to slow down a bit more, but with increasing energy it is tricky.

Thanks for the great day God and for all the friends in town and those reading about my day here or there. Goodnight.