Holidays in NZ- Sun and Ice Cream

So A and the kids are down under, where it's warm and sunny! Looks like they are having fun - this is now one of my favorite photos - looks like both toddlers and teenagers enjoy Kapiti ice cream, huh? A tells me that she didn't even get that much on her (notice how her brother is holding her chocolate colored sweatshirt, to better ensure that she looks as messy as possible?)

And below are photos of the petting zoo at Lindale (home of the Kapiti ice cream shop) Shopping Center. Appears my daughter is not afraid of hairy pigs or brown sheep. Nana Mayhew (Brenda) is helping out - and by the sound of it when we skype, is being ordered around by my shy, retiring daughter. I keep hearing "Nana, come here!" or "Where's Grandad?" whenever I call them. I miss being there, but it sounds like just what the doctor ordered for the boys - a break from cold, dark Kyiv.

Trapped in the Snow

So, for those following our crazy adventure, I am in Philly, while the rest of the family is down under, in Wellington with the in-laws. As we Skype, I see the kids and A in the background in shorts and tshirts. We, on the other hand, are in the middle of possibly the biggest snowstorm since 1909. They expect between 15 and 20 inches, and here at 11 AM we're only up to about 4...

We had planned a birthday dinner tonight for the Poobah, but we don't want Voo traveling, especially since someone from her bank quit last night and she's now on all day. Our other guest, Aunt Anita, would need to be picked up and dropped off, and no one relishes the thought of being in the height of the storm in the dark, just so we can enjoy tenderloin tips! So we are rescheduling for a more convenient date. The Poobah's birthday was yesterday anyway, and he got a "shout out" at the Christmas concert at the Verizon Center, where the Phildelphia Boys choir and the St. Thomas Episcopal choirs were performing with the Philly Pops. They celebrated the birthday of one of the Pops members, and played Happy Birthday, and asked if anyone else had a birthday. Since Poobah was there with his office, the Bishop made him stand up. He told it like he was embarrassed, but I know that he thought it was really quite cool!

So today we are home, and I am organizing the pantry - must be a leftover nesting instinct, combined with the extra hunger of nursing a baby. Perhaps I will also tackle other parts of the house? Who knows what the day holds? Well, other than Dad shoveling, and a promise to watch the new Harry Potter DVD later.

Boys Take a Weekend

A & M headed to Istanbul last month for a weekend get-away. We had bid on, and won, a two night stay in the Radisson in Istanbul, but it was only one room. We are too big a family to crush into one little area, so I thought this would be a memorable 15th birthday present. (Although I probably won't really know if it was appreciated until our dear son is around 30...) We should have all gone, since A got himself upgraded to a suite. Such is his luck! As you can see, the weather was beautiful, it was full of culture, and just as I remember it. I love Istanbul, and we'll have to go back once we're able to be mobile again - post-baby.
.

Point to the goodies!!

Halloween trick-or-treating was on Friday night at my office, since they don't celebrate the holiday here. It was inside, warm and safe. What's not to love? M even came and kindly held his sister's goodybag. Lest you think this was self-serving, the fact is both brother and dad were "guiding" S towards their favorite candies. This was her first time out of the house in 7 days, since we've been battling some yuckiness - a fever the first day and then lots of runny nose and misery. Nothing, apparently, that antibiotics can't fix! And no, it's not swine flu. Or even pumpkin virus....

Dancing pumpkins. Not smiley, just dancing.

Our summer nightmare in Kachanivka

I never posted this when we went, since our camera was in the States having one of its buttons repaired. We used M's camera, and forgot to upload the photos.

At the end of July, we decided to try a Saturday day trip out of town. Our friend recommended a lovely place called Kachanivka - steeped in history, a little like Mt. Vernon in that it is an estate with nice grounds and a park to picnic in. It isn't marked on any map, but she told us that once we got close, we could ask.

Great - loaded up S and took off. A got to try out the new GPS, which is hard when there is no street address, or even a historial site listing. We input the closest town we could find on the map, and drove off. Everything was fine onthe first highway, and then the GPS sent us off on what ostensibly was the most direct path (the longest leg of the triangle) but the GPS does not assess road quality. The going was slow and after about 20 minutes of bumping along, I told my dear husband to turn around and stay on the main highway, even though it was technically longer. It paid off, and we saw a sign eventually that said there was a Kachanivka historical site - just turn left. Which we did. After stopping for directions twice, and grabbing some grub, and grousing between spouses, we did manage to find the beautiful site. It took almost 3 hours to get there, which was not anticipated. (Photos below of the walk down from the main house to the water.) The weather was beautiful.

The return trip was a nightmare of an empty gas tank (bad planning by both me and husband) and a GPS that couldn't figure out how to get us to the closest gas station. This wasn't wholly the GPS' fault, as we were in a tiny dirt-road village, and it kept telling us to turn right in 50 meters, which would have been someone's house. We had to resort to the original plan, which involves me asking the locals for directions, which we did after driving past the same two kids playing soccer in the middle of the road three times. As near as I can tell, the GPS was somehow off in its satellite line-up by around half a kilometer. The return drive kept us on our marital toes, as we tersely debated the merits of electronic guidance versus wifely map-reading. Suffice it to say we alternated and the end result was around 45 minutes down a "road" that was strewn with giant potholes (I am so glad that we brought an SUV) that reminded me of the quality driving experiences in Georgia. For the record, when I told us to turn and follow what looked most logical (i.e. the thickest line on the map) we made good time. When I listened to the evil GPS woman who was programmed to have an Australian accent, we lost time. I still love my husband.
What a day. But now you understand why, if you come to visit, you ain't gettin' a visit to Kachanivka as part of the package!

All About Miss S - the Terrific Twos

In addition to a recent family wedding, we had two big birthdays. S turned 2 and M turned 15. Both got equal amounts of cupcakes, although the younger was definitely more excited about it - she chose "love heart" shaped cupcakes and wanted green frosting. BUT - before the Kyiv party, we had a small ice cream cake in Philadelphia. As evidence from the first photo - she knew what was coming! And then we headed home to Kyiv - S wanted to save us some money and go in the suitcse, but riding on top is definitely more fun. I think this particular humorous look was derived from my dismay at how to get this 50 pound suitcase down the stairs, with a 30 pound toddler on top.

And now a series from S's small birthday dinner in Ukraine. The big party isn't until the 18th of October, since it will take me that long to figure out how to make freakin' Dora cupcakes! She figured out how to blow out the candles really well, and BOY did she get cupcakes. The last photo is courtesy Cousin Caden, who taught her how to make silly faces. Thanks, Caden...

The Voo Gets Hitched

The first picture has nothing to do with Auntie Voo's wedding, but I think it's pretty funny. We were walking back through our parking garage and S wiped out, face-down. And this is how dirty the floor was. She's smiling here, but this was after the shock and hysteria that only a toddler can employ. It's a bit like having the stock market incarnate living with you - ups and down in the space of minutes, with no guarantee you'll end up better off. But she really has settled now that she's had a birthday - sleeping in a big bed, happy with her routine, and talking ALL THE TIME. And in both languages - her Russian accent isn't too bad, but there's an element of baby talk in both languages. Auntie Voo's and Uncle Ben's rehearsal. Not that we needed to rehearse, we were all fantastic. Ledlie is an old pro, and talked us through everything, even the idiosyncracies of St. Peter's Church, which is worth looking up if you are interested, as it is beautifull and historic and very important in my mother's family. I like this photo as Voo is giving a quintessentially Voo look, and Ben appears to be having his moment of omigod that happens before everyone's wedding. Thankfully it didn't last long, as I have not seen two people more ready to get married than these two. Perhaps that's the effect of planning for an entire year. In our wedding, with the acelerated timeline and the pressure of immigration, there was a bit more soul-searching the night before, but we ended up together anyway!! Yeah, best Matron of Honor ever! The Maid of Honor wasn't there yet, due to arriving slightly late to find that all of the gates of the church had been locked and she couldn't get in. What's a wedding without drama? The Poobah and GranDora are looking good.

We don't have wedding photos since I was in the wedding party, and A was doing the videography, but I'm sure once the official photos are up, we'll start collecting pics.

The VP, A Big Bed and Chornobyl

Vice President Joe Biden visited us here in Kyiv, largely to reassure the Ukrainians that a "reset" button with Russia was not a threat to our position of support for an independent Ukraine. He also delivered some tough messages on the need for the Ukrainian politicians to work on unity politically and economically, but the key point was really the "reassure" button.

He held an Embassy meet-and-greet on July 21st, the day after A and I returned from Iceland. So we were very, very close, but we couldn't go up and shake hands due to the 100+ screaming, groupie-like Peace Corps volunteers. I was fearfull of being pummelled in the stomach. But I got a photo, and for most of the speech, the VP was holding S's good friend and fellow 2-year old Keenan. I'm sure if he'd picked up our daughter (who we didn't bring) she would have squirmed, but Keenan was awestruck by the crowd - apparently he's also been held by President Bush, so I guess he's destined to go far. S is going to have to pave her own path.....

Speaking of our charming daughter, here is a photo of her enjoying her transition to a BIG GIRL bed. She is telling us here that this is her pillow and her blanket. It's taken some doing, largely assisted by our trip back to the States where, well, there just wasn't a crib. Some nights and even in the morning, I will still find a roaming toddler, which I'm not used to, but for the most part she's great about it. Next stop, potty-training. And to wrap up July, Aaron went to Chornobyl (yes, that is the correct Ukrainian spelling - Chornyi means black) on the 30th of July with a visitor I had from Washington. I, for obvious reasons, did not attend.
Aaron tells me that the normal Geiger counter reading is low - around 10. Here's you'll see, on the outskirts of the area, that it's reading about 100. Oh, and he went back this week, so I hope we've had all of the children that we're planning on, since lord knows what all of these visits over 3 years will add up to!

Sleepy

S is suffering from jet lag after our return from a great trip to the States, and it isn't pretty. She woke up around 12:45 last night screaming and it took us almost an hour to calm her down. A had the brilliant idea of giving her crackers, since she hadn't wanted dinner. Why does food always work? So, she's had crackers, and wants to go to bed, right? Wrong. She proceeded to want to play for another few hours, run around and pretend it was mid-afternoon. Not helped by the fact that her brother was also up at 2 AM. I was not happy. So. I finally got her to wind down around 4:30 AM, using some fairly brutal tactics, including turning out the light, and pretending to sleep. (Note - it is very hard to only pretend to sleep when you are exhausted and lying down on a comfy pillow.) She dozed off. I, however, had to miss about 3 hours of work so that I could get enough sleep to be functional. The sleep is really for the baby, since I can't drink lots of coffee. As I slept I heard S laughing with the nanny as they headed out to the park at 10 AM. Grumble, grumble. Must be nice being a toddler...

Iceland!!!

(Photo of Gulfoss Falls)

An unexpected romantic destination - we took our honeymoon last weekend in Reykjavik. Due to a roundabout set of circumstances we ended up with a two night stay at the Radisson in Iceland. In order to take full advantage of the trip, we thought we would go while M is in the U.S. in Minnesota, and we left S with the nanny. It was like the honeymoon that we never took right after we were married.

It was a lot of travelling - we had to go through Copenhagen and spent a wonderful 5 hour layover in the airport (tips available on what to do there - I recommend the spa service with facials and massage.) And for some strange reasons, in both directions Iceland Air tried to seat A and I in different rows.

(Photo of the special breed of Icelandic horses - not ponies, full-grown horses.)

A brief summary - Iceland is amazing, incredibly accessible - not geographically but culturally, physically and linguistically, and really relaxing. I'm just going to post a couple of photos here, since my toddler helper keeps trying to push the keyboard keys. The first day we did a full-day tour of the Pinvelligir (the site of the oldest Parliament in the world) the Gulfoss Falls - photo here, and the Geysir (which apparently no longer erupts, so they have a substitute geyser.) That night A and I enjoyed a four-course tasting menu of things Iceland is famous for, including local lobster, which was abaolutely phenomenal and almost made me cry, and lamb. Dinner took almost two hours and we had a real conversation, and there was no reason to hurry. It was the highlight of the trip! On Sunday we did a whale-watching tour, and saw minke whales and dolphins. The sea was remarkably calm, so I didn't feel queasy. (There is a direct correlation between getting motion sickness and morning sickness, and I have been blessed with both in life.)

(Photo of me in front of the natural geothermal energy. The start of our tour was to the geothermal plant - they're so environmental!)

Why children should listen to their parents

While at the charming restaurant described in the last post, we enjoyed our meal in a small outdoor hut. S ran around and played with the flowers and the fountains and, unfortunately for me, a large thick stick.

It was about 4 inches in diameter and about 5 feet tall - so a real piece of hardware. Dad took it away from her once, but it was attractive, so she snuck off and got it again. I went over to tell her it was dangerous and, well, as you can see from the photo, she proved that it was. She refused to let go and in the tussle it bonked me right above the eyebrow. It hurt - but not as much as you would thinbk by the attached photo. It was quite embarassing at work as folks thought perhaps there was marital discord but no, it really was the toddler, I swear!In fact, it's now been about 12 days and the bruise is still on my eyelid, part of the "settling" process, according to our nurse here at Post. Lovely, eh?

Horses and Coffee

We took S on her first horse ride about two weeks ago. She had a look of serious concentration and concern on her face the whole time, but seemed pleased in general. It was at a restaurant that had a petting zoo, including pigs and chickens and full-size horses. Notice, though, the complete absence of safety equipment in this process.

Up top you'll see the restaurant - they like to do outdoor huts where you can eat. Aaron liked this place because a woman in traditional Ukrainian dress greets you at the door and gives you a shot of vodka, one of a lightly-alcoholic fruit juice, and then a piece of, well, basically fat, to wash it down. I begged off, but he took it on - what a champ!

And above, S enjoys a latte with Dad. Shortly after this she accidentally hit me in the eyebrow with a giant stick, leading to the biggest, blackest eye I have had since I was about 7. Thanks, dear!

ROAD TRIP!

Here's a pre-road-trip photo of M handing out the 1st place ribbons to his relay team - he was the anchor and did a fabulous job. He independently won a second and third in two other events. It's a combined middle school/ high school team, and they were competing against local schools and other international schools in Eastern Europe. M's school won overall. Go, team!
We finally got our acts together and planned a trip over a long weekend in the car. We've been trying for a while, but illnesses, S's busy birthday party schedule and inertia seemed to conspire to get us down. Finally, though, we took June 6-8 to head to Lviv (Lvov in Russian) in Western Ukraine. I highly encourage googling it and looking for pictures of the architecture. I was a bit afraid of taking on a big trip - the language barrier, the quality of the roads, the poor quality of the drivers - lots of things that if they went wrong would be incredibly stressful to address. But I faced my fear head on and we hit the road Saturday morning (we're not allowed on roads outside of Kyiv after dark - not a huge problem now since the sun comes up at 4:30 AM and sets at 9:30 PM.) We took my friend Jody with us, so it was a bit crowded in the car - unless you were a toddler in your throne. For a first trip it was great. You follow one road the whole way and don't turn - for 6 straight hours.
We did have to stop for gas - see the photo below where S and I are demonstrating the high-tech firefighting equipment at the gas station!
We rented an apartment in town - a bit of an adventure trying to find it, but so much better than a hotel room. We're just too big a group to fit comfortably in one hotel room, so I am a total apartment-renter convert. Our own kitchen... not having the kids sleep in our room... and all that for less than $60 a night! And the nice landlord didn't even charge us for the drapes that A ruined by pulling out of the wall. (Long story, but they didn't close and as you see above, when the sun comes up at 4:30 it's hard to stay asleep.)
The weather was great, and first thing we did on Sunday (Pentecost or Holy Trinity Day in Ukraine - hence the 3 day weekend) was to climb to the top of Castle Hill. Here are the kids at the top, tickling each other.I have lots and lots of photos of the beautiful architechture, the restaurants, the horses, the trolleys, but here is just an example. It is just like being in Eastern Europe, but like nothing I've ever seen in the former Soviet Union. St. Petersburg is similar, but the history in Lviv is so fascinating and so obvious in the city. Lviv was Polish for centuries and also part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It's Soviet/Russian period is fairly short, and that is very evident in how people would generally speak to me in Ukrainian only. I think it was largely a question of being accustomed to it, not a political statement against the Russian language, although politicians here would have you believe it's the cause of some great rift.
So, I stayed in Lviv for work for the week, and the family headed home on Monday, which is right around the time that I realized that M didn't actually have Monday off, only A and I from work. Oops. Another point in the bad paretn book - if he doesn't get into college, it's all my fault!

All Dressed Up

Kyiv is like a different city in the Spring. People are friendlier, moods are lifted, and the social circuit starts up again. S had a 3rd birthday party, which was an excellent excuse to get her out of her typical sandbox-and-dirt stained clothing and into a nice party dress.

I was looking for a reason to try on the future Matron of Honor outfit, so we signed up last minute for the International Womens' Club of Kyiv ball. We had a great time, and there were swag bags from Givenchy - so we felt very posh. We even won a basket in the raffle - donated by the French Embassy. It had some great champagne and wine and then, oddly, some really cheap local cheese. But the scandal was that one of the sponsors who was unhappy tried to walk off with our basket! We went to pick it up around midnight, and they said it had been taken. I saw it "walking off" and made them go talk to him. I mean, really, maybe it was an honest mistake, but since they called our name out you would think that someone would know if they didn't hear their name? Odd, and caused some discomfort for my friends who were organizing. But it's the principle of the thing!

So - we got home around midnight to find that our "babysitter" needs a refresher. Apparently S finally fell asleep around 11:40, on the recliner, with a half drunk bottle and some chocolate smeared across her face. Uh, yeah. She was happy, and no harm done, but I think we may consider hiring the nanny to stay evenings. Routine is important!

London Bridge is... not what I thought it was

We had a great long weekend in London, taking advantage of the 4 day weekend for May 1st in Ukraine (Workers' Day.) As I'd been in Eastern Ukraine for business all week, and flew in Thursday morning to Kyiv, just to fly back out that afternoon (and pack in between frantically) it wasn't quite as jam-packed a trip as Lisbon. Oh, and London is expensive! But we shelled out for the full day hop-on/hop tour. It included a river cruise, and the weather was spectacular. We did a lot of walking, saw the Tower of London, ate at KFC (be still my beating heart - humph!) and saw lots of my friend Allison B, who lives there.
The photo below is standing on London Bridge (which I, like many, actually thought was Tower Bridge, which you see in the background.) London Bridge is very boring and nondescript, and has not fallen down since the 11th century, so we felt fairly safe.
Below is a photo of S working the water table at the Science Museum. THey have a special area for 3-6 year olds, but apparently S isn't so good at math. She was taking on kids 4 times her age - she was determined to work the levers and the handles and get good. and. wet. Thank heavens for the orange smocks!

During the viewing of the super-changning of the guards, which was bigger than usual we think because the Queen was holding an audience for some soccer team or some such, S and I played on a little patch of grass. THe funniest past was all of the Asian and Indian tourists who took pictures of S instead of the parade. Apparently little blond-haired, blue-eyed independent toddlers are hard to come by in that part of the world?


So a nice break, perhaps I'll photo spam later. Or you can look forward to pics of A's indoor soccer game. THe only down side to the trip was that S apparently picked up some nasty virus on the way back, got really sick and gave it to everyone else. We are all now abot 5 pounds thinner, but not the good way. Hopefully it'll pass soon and we can eat normally...

Easter & Helsinki - What a combo!

Eggs? Who needs eggs?

S and Keenan grooving out to Guns'n'Roses. Our only glimpse of her Easter dress.It's tough to be a teen, but he was a good sport. Here is M, guarding the all-important basket of... empty plastic eggs.

Look, it's sunny... but somehow still freezing cold. Not as cold as A was in Finland, though.

A went to Finland for the long weekend, and I was the sole responsible adult in the house. As you can see from the photos, it is very difficult to manage and point and shoot, so please appreciate the attempt, at least. The egg hunt was held Saturday at the Marine House, which has a lovely front yard and a huge, terror-proof 8 ft tall fence. This meant that I could let S run around with impunity. This was good, since she was totally uninterested in actually picking up the eggs, as evidenced in the photo here, where she is dropping the egg M put in her hand. (That biscuit was SO tasty! Despite being stale...) M came early and helped set up, but as the only teen I released him after S did her egg hunt - he took the pizza and soda and ran. S did a full 3 hours of running around, walking up and down steps and curbs, falling on her knees, dancing inside (with her buddy Keenan) and basically tiring herself to the point of exhaustian (yeah!)

And yes, I know how big they both are - I'd attach a voice clip of M's deep voice, but I don't think that blogspot is that saavy for me yet.

Lisbon, City of VACATION!

We spent 3 wonderful days last week in Lisbon, Portugal. As with all things in this part of the world, this was not without some drama - on the Wednesday, as we were preparing to leave for the aiport in Kyiv, we heard that there was a plane crash in Amsterdam. We were supposed to transfer planes in Amsterdam a few short hours later. I was already in desperate need of a vacation, and this almost pushed me over the edge. But miraculously, we were 15 minutes late to leave, on-time for our transfer, and landed in Lisbon 20 minutes early! (Obviously KLM, not Ukrainian airlines...)
I decided to experiment with VRBO.com and rented an apartment instead of a hotel room. For a cheaper price, we got a full kitchen, a washing machine, and most importantly an extra room, so we weren't all jammed in together. The landlord picked us up at the apartment - he even had a car seat in his car for us. Great experience all around - he ordered us a taxi for 5 AM on Sunday, so we didn't have to, and called halfway through to make sure we were all OK. The ability to stay in our pajamas and make breakfast and coffee was also a huge bonus. As you can see below, I was actually able to relax on the trip!

The first day we saw the Castle of St. George (photo on the parapet above.) We rode Tram 28 - conveniently at naptime so Sarah rested while we photographed. And most importantly, we found the local supermarket and Portugese fast food :-) The second day was in the Belem region - cathedrals and towers and Manueline architecture. Instead of the planned shopping, we went great guns and saw the aquarium, the shopping mall and, I'm embarrassed to say - KFC and Pizza Hut. (You always crave what you don't have - even if you don't want it!)

Day 3, Aaron suprised us and we took a train out of town to Sintra. It was a bit cold and rainy, but nowhere near as yucky as Kyiv weather. We were outdoors all day, and saw this fantastic pink and purple castle there. We really packed a huge amount of living into a short amount of time. A key decision on vacations, though, was to look at direct flights from now on.

I should also note that one of my highlights of the trip was how great M was -engaged and fun and interested in what we did. And as you can see from above, he was a big help with a little, extremely rambunctious, sister!

Aunt x 15

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law, whose third appeared on the 20th and is- a girl! Cora Jane. She is quite a bruiser, 10 lbs, 10 oz. Makes me dread the idea of having another kid - that's a lot of baby! Sounds as though delivery was swift and, well, as painless as these things can be. This now brings A's and my grand total of neices and nephews to 15 - 8 boys and 7 girls. This may explain why sometimes we confuse birthdays, and gifts aren't always forthcoming. Doesn't mean we don't think of you, we just think of you at odd times.

So here is a photo of the happy family - I hope I'm not stealing any thunder, but they look so darn cute. And another photo of S opening her birthday gift last December, a tea set that she can't wait to play on with Cora!

Success after only 6 months!

This has really been a banner week for the family and the excruciatingly long acclimitization process:
- They will install our 6 foot+ diameter satellite dish on the roof next Tuesday. Don't ask what it is costing us - just know that I love my husband very, very much. And his ability to watch the NZ All Blacks play rugby is crucial to our marital bliss.
- We have the wireless network up and running. Now I no longer have to scream at the teenager who plays 56 straight hours of World of Warcraft on the weekend that I need to use the computer. Serenity prevails. In fact, I'm locked in the bathroom right now (to prevent the baby from pushing her favorite key "Delete.")
- Our new maid starts on Tuesday. This will cut down on hubby and I spending our weekend not winding down from a difficult week of combatting Ukrainian corruption but instead washing toilets. In a sad commentary on the economic situation here (even before the crisis) our lovely maid is actually a college graduate with a degree as a speech therapist for young children. But she'll make more cleaning our apartment and nannying another mother's small kids. Tragic! I like that we're both helping each other, but I wish she could do what she's trained to do!
- The sun came out yesterday. It's been well over a week. Everyone in the city was in a better mood, and you could taste the promise of Spring. Today? Back to thick pea soup fog. Sigh.