4th of July

Wow, what a day we had!  My husband’s friends from church invited us to go tot he lake with them, they are Russian and really had to think for a second "What holiday is this?" I do not think any of them are US citizens so none of them vote, so  that part of  American life is not quite real. The one man’s wife homeschools and she knew! <p> Anyhow, we got up early. packed up the car and headed out.  Only one family was there when we arrived, but the boys were playing in the water  with their children (they have 8 and had a nephew or 2 with) and then the others started to arrive.  There had been a bad accident that we just missed (Praise the Lord!) and  were waylaid by it. They arrived and everyone helped rig up tents, and they strung a tarp up over tables so we had a  shady place to eat.  There was one picnicking family nearby who I watched as their eyes got big as one man pulled out a drill, a saw, and skill saw as he rigged a shade unbrella for his wife and baby!  They were obviously carpenters by trade, not normal picnic material!  I was watching as one woman peeled a large mound of potatoes and then in a canner over a fire up the hill  fixed a canner full of a potato fish soup, with  fish, potatoes, boullion, and lots of minced onion I think and dill maybe.  <p. Everything is done loudly and  at full speed, so it was quite the sight! There was probably 6 or 7 familes and like 50 children there, swimming, eating, yelling,  boating, and everything loudly in Russian, so after awhile my head starts to spin as it translates  mentally and I have not been around it for awhile so I was missing stuff. The nearby picnicker, was actually someone i knew and she asked me "Why do they speak some words like Life vest in English?"   They are slightly lazy and when a word is easier in English they just use that! <p> We left the lake around 5 pm and went to their house for "tea" which was another meal of ice cream, sandwiches, cookies, tea, and  other stuff. At 8pm. we left there and went to my sister’s to watch fireworks, but we had to wait for it to get dark so it was about 10:30 pm before it was dark, so it was midnight before we got home.  it was a fun day,  despite lots of sunblock we got a little subburn in places,  a couple of the boys had a little bit on their shoulders, but otherwise were fine, and I got a tint on my face. <p> It is really hot here and  we are doing our best to stay cool…it is not easy though!