Bill and Y cleaned up the back deck and the wrap around porch and Bill blew all the pine needles off the porch roof and mowed the yard (yes, for all you Yankees - mowed the yard in January). We finished about 1pm, so we all hopped in the shower, and then I sped over to Kroger while Bill and Y relaxed in the living room. Watching Sponge Bob, no doubt. I picked up Y's cake (I just told the lady, the one with the name you can't pronounce), six bags of ice and some extra paper plates, cups and plastic silverware.
I was just getting into the car for the 5 minute trip back home, when Bill called to say we had guests already! It was 2pm on the dot. So, I went home and found three unknown teenagers in my back yard with Y and the dogs. They were chatting away in Russian, so I said "Preevyet!" and went inside to see who had brought them. Two nice ladies introduced themselves to me and then helped me get the items out of the car, while Bill poured the ice and soda cans into a couple of different coolers outside. We talked a little bit about adoption, and then it hit me! These kids were from Y's internat and they had been adopted by a family in north TX that came down this weekend to visit with S (the internat director). I had told J to invite them, but then I had completely forgotten about them, so I was quite surprised when they showed up first.
Just a few minutes later there were several more cars full of kids in our driveway (our 7+ car driveway, with room to spare). Everyone was chatting and happy to see each other again, especially S who posed for photos with all of her kids, several that she hadn't seen in nearly a year. The kids spent over 3 hours riding bikes, rollerblading, playing soccer, chasing the dogs with the remote control cars, playing catch the string with Tigger in the living room (Daisy hid the whole time) and just hanging out. Funny how the kids generally stayed in the front of the house unless they were playing soccer with the dogs in the back, and the adults all stayed on the back deck chatting away. Our biggest problem came after the hot dogs were cooked and two of the boys were playing "keep away" with the dogs in the back yard. Goofy and Miko were trying to mooch off the same kid, and Goofy decided to tell Miko that there was no way he would let Miko get that hot dog, should it miraculously fall to the ground. One quick, "Hey!" and disaster was averted and the dogs behaved the whole rest of the afternoon.
Our next biggest problem was getting the dogs to stay in the back yard or the house each time one of the kids came or went. Seems like every time I turned around there was a dog following a kid somewhere the dog shouldn't have been. All in all, they were very well behaved. Surprised Bill and me to no end.
So, we ate our hot dogs and hamburgers and our birthday cake and most everyone left about 5:30pm. It was still light outside, so Y and I decided to go for a little bike ride. We left the puppies at home since they were quite exhausted. We rode about 30 minutes through most of the rest of the subdivision and right past C, O and A's house. I was quite surprised that they did not come to Y's party since we had just talked about it a day or two before. Low and behold, as we rode up our street around 6pm, there were two more cars parked by our driveway. Y wanted to go play soccer in the back yard, but I told him to go in the house. My suspicion was correct when I opened the door and saw C, O, A and there 4 month old daughter E standing in our kitchen chatting with Bill. Apparently they had only gotten there a few moments before. I said, "Hi! We just rode past your house and here you are!"
We made introductions and soon O and A were chatting away in Russian with Y. O, and her daughter A are originally from Ukraine. C, O's husband owns the local collision shop. While Bill and C were chatting in the living room, O and I talked in the breakfast room and Y and A went outside to see the dogs. Less than 5 minutes later, the puppies were barking because once again they were being chased by the remote control cars.
When Y and A came back in the house a few minutes later, I asked O if she could explain to Y where Bill wanted to take him the next evening. Monster Trucks would be performing downtown and Y was excited to go when he found out exactly where they were going. Bill asked if A wanted to go too, and C and O said it was okay. O then gave Y their phone numbers and said to call in the morning if he wanted to come over and play on their trampoline.
A little before 7pm the D family went home, and we sat down in the living room to recover from the day. There we were: four happy exhausted dogs, three happy tired humans, one happy exhausted cat and Daisy. She finally came out of hiding and she just wanted to love on everyone.
More on Monster Truck Day tomorrow.
Natalie
TX
