Summer Rain

A classmate of Dahin's had a birthday party at the science park across the street from our home. (Dahin is quite popular with the boys, I must say. As we walked up to the party, a while bunch of boys started yelling and running toward us--"Sung Dahin is here! Sung Dahin is here!" Dahin did her usual, "What-ever" look.). It's awesome--an observatory, eco-projects, etc. One problem: It rained about an hour into the party and we found ourselves stranded under one of the building's over-hangs (or whatever you call it). The parents moved the picnic tables under the overhang so that we wouldn't get wet, but the rain headed towards us, anyway. The kids, however, decided to keep partying. It was so fun to watch them run around like maniacs in the rain and spray each other with water guns, play soccer, and get totally soaked.

This little girl is one of Dahin's friends and she followed Dahin around during the party. It was sweet to see the girls talking to Dahin and, when they realized she didn't understand exactly, they were really patient and said what they were saying a different way. We've been really lucky; the school environment overall has been incredibly supportive.

The kids went crazy--it was fabulous to see them turning the rain, something that could have ruined the party, into something that made the party even more fun.
Despite the fact that it was raining, water guns were employed in a battle extra-ordinaire. Like getting sprayed with water would matter....A group of boys engaged in a soccer match pretty much the whole time. When the thunder arrived and some lightening appeared, we had to encourage the boys to get out of the rain.

The little guy, below, did not want to get wet. He stayed under his umbrella the whole time and watched the other kids play.

In Cal-i-FOR-nya (how the kids say it, emphasis on the "for"), the kids only experienced lightening and thunder once. I can't really explain why there is no thunder and lightening when it rains there (although my friend Zoe could probably pull a scientific explanation out of thin air), but probably has something to do with it's location, elevation, blah-blah-blah...We only heard it once. We were at the library on a rainy day in October and suddenly we heard a massive clap of thunder and saw a burst of lightening. The kids all said, "Mommy, what was that?" And the librarian (who hailed from Indiana) and I explained that it was thunder, reminding me of how teachers and parents explained sunshine in that Isaac Asimov story about the kids who lived indoors all the time on another planet (right?) because it rained non-stop; some had never seen sunshine because it only appeared once every few years (right?). I love that story; though I can't remember the title or the exact details. I remember feeling sorry for the little girl who came from earth (right?) and had seen sunshine. All the other kids were jealous and shut her up in the closet during the 30 minutes or so that sunshine appeared, not to show up again for a long time. Any--way...since the rainy season has begun here, the kids have been fully exposed to massive downpours with plenty of lightening and thunder to back them up. Dahin's preemptive strategy to shield against the surprise of the sound is to cover her ears. Summer rain, as well, is a new phenomenon for them because California's summer is the 'dry season.'
Oliver decided, why watch when I can get soaked, too? So, Dahin went out to retrieve him.