Day 15 – Sunday, 20 August, 2006

For the second time in as many weeks, the Niles family made it to church EARLY! For those of you who know us well (or who understand Pathway Time), this is a minor miracle, and proof of the hand of God! Rachel and Masha signed in for KidZone and the adults sat together again for worship time.

When we got back home, Masha went up to her room, listened to music, and organized her toys until lunchtime. Mark made tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches; the toasted cheese was a hit, but the tomato soup was not a particular favorite. As soon as the food was gone, Masha disappeared back up to her room. Mark spent a little time uploading photos, while I got directions to the Stewart’s house for Masha’s afternoon engagement.

We arrived at the Stewarts a little after 2:00, fried from listening to the same Russian children’s song at least 17 times on the drive up to Butler. As soon as Masha spotted Vica and Little Masha, she shrieked and ran up to give them big hugs. The three quickly changed into their swimsuits, and were in the pool before you could say Ukraine! They played in the pool with Vica and Masha’s Papa while the rest of us chatted on the patio.

Eventually, the girls got cold, climbed out, and dried off. They changed back into their dry clothes and tormented the Stewart’s son Joe for a while. A snack of watermelon and bananas refueled the girls for more play, and they chose to set up shop outfitting the Stewart’s extensive collection of Barbies. After a very fun and full afternoon, it was finally time to bid our hosts farwell. They filled our arms with fresh garden tomatoes, and we were on our way back home.

We snacked on tomatoes still warm from the sun while we prepared baked ziti and a salad. We finally have found the limit of Masha’s stomach, as there was actually food left on her plate when she left the table. She did, however, grab an apple ten minutes later as we chose a video to follow our English practice.

Masha rocked through the English flash cards AND the three page ESL lesson that Mark found on the Internet. Lesson complete, we had a short debate about bedtime, then started Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. About halfway through, we hit the Pause button, and Masha began her long and involved bedtime preparations. We finally got goodnight hugs about 9:30, but it was a great end to a great weekend.