Sunday, 20 July 2008 06:18
We've been trying to come up with creative ways to get the kids out of the heat this month. That's the biggest challenge of having no car right now. (Besides grocery shopping of course. The grocery shopping dilemma--i.e. how to keep groceries for 5 people in the cupboards when you have no car to haul them home in--I fear, will always be with us.) In our quest to keep cool, we went last week to an aqua park, which was great. Unfortunately, the price of admission put it into the once-a-summer-activity category for us. Another missionary family has a pool, but they live far beyond the reach of even public transportation. We tried putting a blow-up kiddie pool outside the back door, but that didn't fly. (" Mom! That's for babies!") With the heat reaching 105 degrees this week, driving us all indoors, I'd sort of started to despair.
But this morning, we hopped on the bus and one short hour and fifteen minutes later, were at Solnichniy Ostrov, or "Sunny Island." This park is on the Kuban River here in Krasnodar, and the riverbank beach is not only completely free to the public but also somehow clean, uncrowded and beautiful. We swam and soaked up the sun for 5 hours, then strolled to a nearby cafe for pizza. It was so restful and reassuring to spend the day in a beautiful atmosphere and to watch my kids completely enjoying themselves: I think God knew I needed a day to do just that.
Now, at home, we're doing the shower rotation and getting ready to settle down in front of another episode of Horatio Hornblower. With ice cream, of course.
I feel like I've discovered a hidden treasure today. Summer is suddenly looking like a lot of fun!
