Summer Hosting Experience II

What other words describe our experience with Kolya this summer? Fun and rewarding. We picked him up the evening of June 24 in Atlanta. We drove a couple of hours, and spent the night in a hotel room.

It was really cool being able to help Kolya experience things he had never done before! Right off the bat, we stopped on our way home from Atlanta and went to Gulf Shores to the beach. I honestly think that day was very surreal for Kolya. It was almost as if he couldn't believe his good furtune in being chosen to come to America!

On July 4, we took the boat out to the lake and pulled the boys around on the tube, then anchored among the sailboats to watch the sun go down, and then watch the fireworks from the water. It was a gorgeous sunset that evening, and the boys had such a good time, jumping off the boat and swimming around it. It was good watching them help each other up out of the water and onto the tube, and being concerned for the other guy when he would fall off.

We went to the zoo one day, and to the aquarium on another. Both were new for Kolya. When I told him that they were located in the "big city," he was afraid. He asked where the bandits with the guns were! I reassured him that they were on the next street, not the one we were on. JUST KIDDING! He must hear some kind of stories over there! ha!

We took Kolya to soccer camp for a week, and he just loved it. Because he's so small, apparently the director had put him with the younger kids. After the first day or two, he had to move him to play with the older kids because he's a pretty good soccer player, I think.

Kolya knew how to ride a bike and a skateboard, already. He had told us he knew how to swim, but actually wasn't very good at it at all! His swimming improved remarkably over the 6 weeks here. He enjoyed fishing down at the pond, and riding the lawn mower with David. He helped TREMENDOUSLY when David was building a little deck off the back porch. He's a real workhorse! He tried to fix everything -- every previously-broken toy and flashlight in the house works, now!

I took Kolya to Six Flags when I took him back to Atlanta. He was overjoyed -- so excited! The first ride we got on was a big roller coaster with a couple of loops in it. He was NOT impressed; in fact, he screamed like a girl and I had to drag him to the next one!!! lol! He was sooo glad he was too short to ride the really big ones! lol! Now, THAT was fun! His favorites were the bumper cars and the go-karts.

We tried to keep the summer low-key, without too many leave-the-house activities. We went to a couple of movies, which he loved, and we played laser tag. We went to a couple of friends' houses to swim and meet/visit with other kids. We did make a trip to Texas to visit with family there. He enjoyed playing the Wii at Aunt Dana's house, and Julie and Randi met us at a water park for some last-day fun. Of course, we went to church. We tried not to overwhelm Kolya, and still believe that was best.