There is a large group of Americans living in our ward here. And it seems to grow bigger every couple of months or so, which is way fun. So naturally, we started thinking about what to do for the Fourth of July several weeks in advance. Since it was on a Sunday, I really wanted to do the group activities on Saturday, and most people were okay with that. Lots of suggestions were tossed around, and finally we decided on a big barbecue at the park, with volleyball and baseball afterward. Hurray! But then as the time got closer, like that week, we saw the weather forecast for Saturday. Basically, it was gearing up to be the hottest day of the year. And a day in the park, with minimal shade, didn't sound that great anymore. So someone suggested the pool, which has a barbecue area, lots of shade, and most importantly, lots of cool water. :) It ended up sort of dividing the group, which we didn't want, but I really, really wanted to cool off in the pool that day.
As it turned out, some people went camping, some people went to the pool, some people went to the park, but they all got rained out! But the temps were scorching hot before that, so I still stand by my decision to go swimming. We didn't get to the pool until very late, since everyone ended up being hungry again by the time we got home from Zurich. I had to cook lunch, clean up, pack up swimming stuff, and frost my root beer cupcakes to share. I knew we weren't going to be grilling at the pool, we had collectively decided to skip it, for various reasons. But I still wanted to bring something festive. I don't think they were everyone's cup of tea, but me and the kids loved them. I had so many leftover, I brought them to my part American/part Australian/lived their whole lives in Switzerland neighbors. No word on how they liked them. 🙂 One of the other families was leaving as we got there, and the other one left after about 40 minutes. But it was nice to see them. And the kids and I had a great time together. Chris didn't want to fight the crowds for a spot in the shade, so he stayed home.
I ended up being grateful I could just concentrate on my kids and what they wanted to do; hear all their little stories, and play silly games with them. They really are so much fun, and I often get so caught up in chatting with the ladies, I ignore them a bit. We went down the water slide, discovered a little wading pool with super fun jets we had never been in before, and generally had a great time. I noticed the clouds starting to darken and get closer and closer, but there was no actual rain, so we just kept on playing. Then the wind picked up a bit, but as long as we were mostly in the water, it was fine. But then it really started to blow, and the temperature dropped 3 degrees Celsius in like 10 minutes. And I knew it was time to go. The kids didn't want to leave, but I knew being in a pool during a storm isn't fun, nor is it safe, so I forced them to get out and get dried off.
We had been driving for about 5 minutes when it started to rain a bit. A few more minutes, and it was coming down so hard, I was afraid the windshield would crack. It was that loud hitting the glass. And the lightning was so bright! The kids kept pointing out new places in the sky where they had seen it light up. I was very glad we had left the pool when we did. By the time we got home, it was still pouring down, and so we just covered up as best as we could with our towels and made a run for it. (Our garage is several feet from the front door.) We were all laughing and wet as we came in the door. Chris met us very concerned about where we had been. Apparently, the storm had come from the south, so it had already been raining for 45 minutes at home, but we had driven toward it, thus making it seem like it had just started. He was glad to have us home safe, and we were glad to hop in the bath and get nice and clean for Sunday.