Happy Fourth of July!

Today was a perfectly marvelous day. As you can probably tell, I've been super-busy since summer camps started (I've been working 7 days a week for a while now) but today was the first day of a 3 day vacation with my girls. So I will write about it in blissful detail. We had scrambled eggs, Canadian bacon and fresh fruit for breakfast, then went to the Community House for a patriotic flag-raising ceremony and the Games. My girls have always been too shy to participate in the games but this year was different. Natalie did 4 and Leah did 3. Natalie entered the sack race, three-legged race, wheelbarrow race, and egg and spoon race. Leah entered the sack race, back-to-back, and egg and spoon race. Leah came in last in everything but back to back which she nearly placed second in but her partner dropped her arms and walked off the field in search of a drink. Such are the trials and tribulations of a four year old. Natalie placed a solid last place in everything but egg and spoon which she nearly won but got disqualified because she was so thrilled at being first that she decided to ensure her victory by holding the egg with her hand and that is against the rules.

After the excitement ended the girls and I spread out a beach towel under a tree and had hot dogs and chips for lunch. They each also got a frozen treat to cool off during the heat of the competition. Then it was home with their tie-dyed shirts (a project begun yesterday and handed out today with washing instructions) and changing into bathing suits. We enjoyed the pool (Natalie can stand in the 3 foot end and touch the bottom with her head out of the water, Leah can float on three pool noodles, and Becca prefers to sit on the edge and watch although I got her in the water in my arms and we swirled and danced and splashed for a while). Then it was home again for rest time. The children were all wiped out!! I made some swordfish steaks for dinner which was not a big hit and we ended up at the church for some hot dogs and side dishes. I figured to eat first because they hate hot dogs and this way they would be sure to get dinner but I guess hot dogs are preferable to swordfish. Corn on the cob, baked beans, applesauce, cookies and lemonade rounded out the meal.

After the picnic at the church we were on our way to the Ice Cream Social at the Community House (a lot of engagements for today!) when we passed a working house fire. One of the neighbors across the way from my father had white smoke pouring out of their roof and dark smoke coming from the chimney. I figured some idiot had thought to do fireworks inside because of the rain but my dad's girlfriend said there had been a lightning strike quite close and perhaps that was it. The amount of smoke increased a lot in the two minutes it took us to pass their house, me to curse the fact that I had left my phone at home and had no way to call for help, turn around and go back to confirm that it was a fire and go let my dad know. It was pouring down rain. He rushed out of the house and across the field (the whole time I was growing up he was a volunteer firefighter). We hung out for a while at his home in case he would come back and fill us in but by 8 pm I decided to get the girls home and in bed. We missed the ice cream social because the end of the road was blocked by emergency equipment (which had already started to respond by the time I got my dad, so she had apparently been able to call 911) and the bonfire was completely rained out so my dad's girlfriend got my kids some sherbet in lieu of ice cream and then we went to see my mom for a bit -- since the way home was still blocked -- and played there. All in all it was a late night and firefighters were still on the scene at 9 pm. I hope the family was okay. Grateful to come home and find our home intact. You always think things are so permanent and then you realize that it's really not that way at all, just our own illusions.

Housebuilding summer camp is going awesome (my daughter who is 6 uses this word all the time and it has crept into my vocabulary). Our cob bench is a huge sensation and the bamboo tipi has been planted with vine seeds. To make a trellis for them to grow on I introduced finger knitting and now can't get the kids to stop! They each take yarn home at night and bring in the results the next day. We have all different colors woven on to our tipi and it really is a lovely sight. The veg. garden, Pizza Garden, Herb Spiral and sheep are all doing fine and in a few weeks we will get chickens.

Hope everyone is having a lovely 4th.