Fireworks and Mango's.

Again I find myself playing catch-up here.

Summer is definitely here! At last!! I've been trying desperately to resurrect the pool - The water is now a lot clearer, but still kinda cloudy. For as much money as I've spent on chemicals I'm starting to think it would have been cheaper just to drain it and refill it. I have 2 more bags of shock to use and if that doesnt clear it right up then I'm emptying all 10 000 gallons of it. Its pure torture for the kids to see the pool uncovered and not be allowed in it. Ben has been surprisingly good. He's curious about all that water, but not curious enough to want to climb in it yet.

We all had a great time on the 4th July. Living in a quiet dead-end neighbourhood on the edge of town has some major advantages! The whole neighbourhood got together on the 4th and BBQ-ed. All the kids ran wild and then we all pooled our fireworks together for an awesome display. It was midnight before we walked back home again and the kids all slept until 10am the next day. I was unsure as to how Ben would do with all the noise - He's terrified (and I do mean TERRIFIED) of thunder. I told him this would be kinda like Diwali only American-style. He told me all about how Surekha-Aunty had taken him, Babbu, Makesh and Amir (all of the older boys at the orphanage) and they'd done sparklers. The fireworks were very familiar to him ...He knew exactly what to do and exactly when to stand back. Like every celebration he thought it was a birthday party (and there were cupcakes..haha), so we all had to sing Happy Birthday to America.

Saturday the 7th saw our lovely week go downhill big time. Georgia flew out to spend 4wks with her family in New Zealand and seeing those suitcases really unsettled Ben. I tried to be reassuring that she was only leaving for a "little time" but he wasn't buying it one bit. J ended up taking Georgia to the airport as Ben was not going to have me out of his sight. He was worried that I was going to go on the airplane too. After she left Molly cried, and Ben decided that he would join right in. After trying everything I could think of to reassure/comfort/distract him it was obvious nothing was going to work. We needed to head to the store to get "Bens milk" (soy milk) as we were out, so I figured I'd just bite the bullet and give it a go. He was unimpressed to be going anywhere and pouted for the first 30 minutes we were out of the house. I had to sit him in the cart as he refused to walk anywhere, but once we rolled past the mango's in the fruit and vege dept and I told him he could pick one to have he was all smiles. Mango's were definitely a treat at the orphanage. When we buy them he expects to be allowed just a little slice. To be allowed a whole mango at a time is like handing him a million dollars. He strapped his mango into the shopping cart beside him and babied it the rest of the way around the store. It even shared his seatbelt in the car on the way home! Apparently Mango's can buy you happiness!