Day 13 – Friday, 18 August, 2006

Not every morning can begin smoothly. After a particularly difficult time waking up, Masha made a couple of poor breakfast choices, and I invoked the Parental Veto. I’m sorry, but leftover ice cream and diet coke might be a great breakfast for me, but it’s just not appropriate for a growing girl! The strangest thing? I felt perfectly comfortable holding a firm line on this! “Nyet.” Period. Because I said so. (Yes, I feel certain that my own parents are all howling right about now!)

Masha doesn’t hold a grudge for very long, and once we had the Barbie Princess and the Pauper soundtrack blaring in the car, all was forgiven. We made it to camp in fine spirits, and had a great day. I fully intended to head back home to work for a couple hours before catching up with Mark and returning for the kids’ final presentation in the afternoon, but my plans have not been executed the way I’m used to lately! I ended up staying at camp, and working via cell phone, while helping with crafts and chatting with some of the other parents.

Friday’s field trip to the Fire Station was great fun for all the kids, and I drove the Four Musketeers (Masha, Khrystyna, Vica, and Little Masha) there and back. The firefighters put on a great demonstration and tour, showing the kids the specialized equipment on the trucks. One even donned a full protective suit to teach them to run *to* the fireman and to not be scared of him if they get trapped in a smoky or burning house. It was an engaging lesson for them, and they all had a blast!

We returned to camp in time for the kids to rehearse their program one more time before the parents arrived. Once everyone was in place, Natalia led the kids through their songs, dances, and a recitation where each child had several lines. Everyone gave a GREAT performance, and the cameras went crazy through the whole show. Being the oldest, Masha and Vica both had “starring” roles in the performance, and they both performed beautifully.

After saying our goodbyes to everyone and heading home, we enlisted the help of Google Images to offer Masha a choice of pizza or chinese for dinner. She picked a photo of a yummy-looking shrimp lo mein, and we popped out to Golden China for a 10-minute pickup. We had dinner on the table around 7, and then watched Shrek in Russian.

Just before bed, Masha found a couple of toys she wanted to give to Laura for her birthday. I pulled the wrapping paper bin out from under her bed, and she commenced wrapping. She also found a card, and tried to use the online translator to write a message in English. A combination of spelling challenges, exhaustion, and frustration resulted in a card written in Russian, which will actually be more special to Laura, but was a little disappointing for Masha.

In the end, we all hit the sack close to 11, but it was a great day anyway!