Summer Checklist

Last week wasn’t all that exciting.  I went back to work after a week vacation.  Friday night at New Heart (a recovery group) I was to teach both the whole group and the family group.  However, the small membership of the family group didn’t show.  It was a nice warm evening (which doesn’t happen that often in Seattle), so I don’t blame them at all.  I don’t think I would have shown if I wasn’t in charge. 

I have a checklist for summer of those things that I would like to do.  I was able to do a few of those things on Saturday.  Saturday we went down the hill from where we live to the downtown area to a festival called Auburn Good Old Days.  Each city has one of these festivals and each one is a little different from the others.  At these festivals they have the booths of various vendors and their products but this one has a lot more music and performances.  It is smaller than the one I went to in Kent last month.  But it is still nice to go to visit.

As time is getting closer to school beginning, on my checklist is to get ready for school... hair cuts, clothes, backpacks and supplies, and shoes are a part of the list.  You might have the same list.  I was able to beginning this checklist on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening we took the boys to the drive in theater (yes, we still have one here) to see Wimpy Kid, Dog Days and the new Ice Age movies.  It is like going back into the 60s.  Even the snack bar is decorated in the yellow and orange you would have seen back then.  After two movies, it was just after midnight… yet the boys hung in there and was awake through it all.  They went to sleep right away when we got home but they stayed up the whole time, which surprised me.

Sunday was church and after church Kari went to meet up with friends to go swimming in one of the near by lakes.  Now, usually you would think this wouldn’t make anyone nervous.  However, one of our students drowned in one of the lakes a week ago Sunday and there is always all these drowning of people who you would think wouldn’t drown.  What I mean by that is… this student was 19 years old, strong, and an athlete.   He knew how to swim.  So what happened?

I have discovered since then that one of the ways that people drown here is from cold incapacitation.  A pocket of cold water from the mountains here causes a swimmer to not be able to move… and therefore they can drown.  You can read about it more at this website http://mariovittone.com/2010/10/the-truth-about-cold-water/  .  I would think it would be in very cold places however it isn’t so.  My co-worker’s son in law experienced this and fortunately he survived… but it scared him.  Now she and I are letting everyone know about this cause for drowning.  I am convinced that this may have been the reason our student drowned last week.  (By the way, he was the forth in a year’s time… the last one was a 17 year old on June 23^rd at the same lake)

Well, on that cheerful note I think I will leave you with something to think about.  I had never heard of these reasons in California, however very few people know about their environment here and things happen.

Have a good week!