Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Russian Riverpalooza 2013

July has been kind to me. I spent a week floating on a river, then went to Palm Springs and baked in the heat while poolside at YxYY, and then I slept for a week when I got home (not really, but kind of). I have no groceries in the fridge, and our apartment is a mess, but there's a big dent in my pillow. My cats have been really happy with the cuddle time.

On the river we swam, floated, cooked, drank, laughed, read, applied sunscreen, and ate and ate and ate. There were flotillas, spicy cocktails, boozy popsicles, midafternoon gourmet river snacks, homemade tonic and Spiritworks gin, a game of dinner table telephone, a slightly ill bulldog puppy (Duncan!), a shark pinata, a slip and slide, a giant ice cream sundae, epic dinners, late night dance parties, pies of all kinds, hot tubbing, epic sangria, fireworks, cranky neighbors, sparklers, breakfast biscuits, birthday headware, and a lot more. It was a lot. A good lot. A lot of good. Photo retrospective below.

The best part, of course, was having lots of people I love around me, and seeing them love each other. New friendships came out of the week, I think - at the very least, there was a very high laugh-per-minute ratio. My stomach ached from laughing for days afterward. And I got to celebrate a big birthday in a very happy place.
The supplies. We may have overshopped.
Prepping for fireworks.
River fireworks. Happy birthday Amurica!
Our first flotilla 

Light beer: for pregnant ladies and kids
Flotilla day 2, on dry land 
Mixing drinks in real time
30 friends for dinner!
Birthday birthday!
30 ain't so bad
Aftermath