Our first Bicycle

A direct outgrowth of the ANZAC lunch was the gifting to us of a child's bicycle that our friends are no longer using. Miss S was over the moon.  She's seen bicycles, and ridden on the back, but never had her own.  We tried to ride it in the park down the street, but the road was so bumpy that the training wheels kept getting stuck.  So she rides it in the apartment.  My favorite thing is when she wakes up in the morning, she hops on her bicycle to ride from her bedroom to the living room.  And lest you think we let the little kids have all the fun, here's photographic proof of "Mr. Hot Wheels" doing some tricks. 
And once I upload our current photos, there may or may not be a photo of GranDora riding the bicycle as well...

ANZAC Day!

This year ANZAC Day, April 25th, fell on the Easter Monday, and so we invited friends over for a big brunch.  Unfortunately, we were so busy having fun, we didn't get many photos.  But see if you can "spot the kiwi" in this photo... Actually, see if you can spot the confused Kiwi-American, who isn't quite clear what holiday she is celebrating. And her older sister, who is wearing a dress in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.  We are all truly citizens of the world, with love for members of all nations... but a little more love for Kiwis and Yanks!  So Happy Memorial/ANZAC Day everyone, keep our soldiers and veterans in your thoughts.

Easter Sunday - Enjoying the weather!

Easter Sunday the weather was so beautiful that we wanted to go out and enjoy the sunshine and the freedom to run around.  We chose to head back to "Glory Park" which is between the Lavra (Monastery complex) and the Statue of the Mother of the Motherland (see below.)  It's a lot of stairs but at this point both of the girls can walk, so it's not as bad as the first time we did it in the end of 2008.   

Mother of the Motherland.  At any given point, I was only in charge of one of the two girls.  Here we stop for a photo, and the little one makes a break for it. She really is active at this point, but more motion than sense, as I like to say.

Someday my children will thank me for the opportunity to have a cool childhood.  They will also marvel at the fact that our idea of fun was climbing over left-over Soviet military hardware and picnicing at the site of WWII memorials and graves.  Here it's time for fun with anti-aircraft guns! Yeah!

Easter Sunday - Looking for treats!

The baskets started out empty, but for some soft, floppy bunnies, and some leftover New Year's candy (shhh, don't tell the girls!)

It doesn't take much to impress them - here Miss S is showing off her ChupaChup lollipop.  The idea that there was candy hidden all over the house was exhilarating to her.

The older got the concept, and you can see an egg hidden behind her on the chair.  She left some for her sister - some of the more obvious ones, but as you can see, Miss G found what she always finds - mischief!  She loves to push the power button on the laptop and see if anyone is Skype-ing her, since obviously that's the only reason people Skype, right?

The Easter bunny was creative, and even hid an egg in our toy teapot.  Mom was only concerned that we find all of the real eggs, and they not disappear to be discovered either during packout or, even worse, after we arrived in New Zealand!  But I needn't have worried - as you can see, the haul was excellent.  And she even got over her initial concern when she picked up an empty egg "Mom!  It doesn't have any lollies!  What's wrong!"  Perhaps the Easter Bunny is trying to teach you that the hunt is just as important as the result?

 

Egg-stravaganza!

Even though we're overseas, we still like to do somewhat traditional things.  Traditional American things, as we also take on activities reflective of where we are.  And this year, we got to dye Easter eggs. We waited until G "The Destructor" was down for a nap, since her current craze is to "decorate" the house, just as we get ready to leave, with crayon and paint, and I thought that egg dye would be too much for me to handle. 

And so below, I include to keep the punters happy...enjoy my proof that my kids do all get along, and the teenager is actively engaged in our lives.  (Good form, son!)

The Laleka April Fairy Tale Spectacular! (Video)

The performance are always extravagant.  We were chosen once again to be a frog, but of course I didn't really have a good costume (still.)  Thankfully the school was able to provide a great frog hat (where were they hiding it last time???)  There were three froggies, and all of their names started with "S."  My favorite part is near the end when they pretend to eat the flies.  Classic!

The Laleka April Fairy Tale Spectacular! (Pictures)

And once again, we are back at beautiful Laleka during a workday to view a perfomance by the "Younger Class."  My daughter, foe the second time in a row, played the role of "Frog."  This time, though, you'll notice that they managed to give her an awesome hat.  Excuse me - where was that last time??So in this "spectacle" they acted out the fairy tale "Happy Hut" or "Veselinka Khatinka."  All of the groups of animals come up and act out their song, and then knock on the door of the hut (which she's sitting next to in the bottom photo) and go inside - figuratively, since these are all 3 years old, and cramming them together, while fun to watch, wouldn't end well.  Finally, at the end a bear joins in, and something happened, but since I don't speak Ukrainian, it's still a bit of a cliff-hanger for me.  I guess I could watch all of the video if I cared to.

Bunnies, Mice, Frogs.

And then at the end the awesome nursery teacher who does the planning for these events came out dressed as something - a raincloud?  Regardless, she had a big bunch of blue balloons shaped like a raincloud, and each kid got to do a circuit with her.  They loved it.

And the obligatory gift was provided at the end - thankfully not edible.  It's a great workbook... in Ukrainian.  I can figure it out, though, as the concepts of matching and grouping transcend linguistic ability.

Best frog EVER!

Easter finery at the Marine House

Happy, Happy Easter!This was the first year that we really felt like at least one of the girls was interested and involved in the process. But that didn't stop the youngest from having fun!  We went to the Marine House for their outdoor Easter egg hunt.  It's a great location since, as you can see, there's a tall, secure fence ringing the entire building.  You can relax and enjoy, and know that your kids won't wander off into traffic.  (Although I have since learned that small, devious and enterprising kids can actually slip through the bars, but I didn't know about this at Easter.  The photos on the couch are the only examples I have of the girls in their lovely Easter frocks, since April and May here in Kyiv are still quite chilly.

 

And below we have the aftermath of the hunt, once all of the eggs were gathered.  Like many of the littler kids here, who have largely grown up in an urban environment, the concept of "grass" is still exotic and foreign.  Lots of our playgroup buddies were interested in (or wholly suspicious of) the concept that you could sit in the grass and play, and that it wasn't dirty and full of cigarette butts and dog poop.

On that note, however, in one of the funnier moments, when the under-2s did their hunt, Miss G picked up not one single egg, but did hurry over to the garden, grab a cigarette butt and put it in her basket.  Her only contribution. In the event she needed to hunt and gather for a living, I think she wouldn't last long, although she'd probably figure out a way to organize the others to gather for her and then reap the rewards, as she did with her big sister's loot.

EGGS!

Poster child for Phila Horticultural Society!

OK, so older sister isn't in a flower dress, but I thought it was a nice picture, and worthy of inclusion.  In the other photos, the little Miss G is modeling a great dress covered in what I consider "'80s puffy paint" with lady bugs, flowers and bees.  When she put it on, all I could think was that GranDora and PHS would appove.  So enjoy the photos of my uncooperative model in her cute, cute (free) dress!

The Partridge Family

Rockin' out to '80s hair bands with the kids.  The photos actually look like we were more successful than the reality, which was that our "lead singer" kept stopping for a while, which makes the game re-set.  But I think we definitely have some Jackson 5 potential... if we had 2 more kids, more dysfunction and better rythym.

Birthday in an Airplane Hangar!?!

OK, what could possibly be more awesome than a 4th birthday party in the "largest indoor hangar in Europe"?  (A claim I find doubtful, but what the heck!)  Nothing could be cooler!  Joseph, in Miss S's nursery school class, invited her and the other classmates to his party at the National Aviation University.  So we all trotted over there on a Saturday morning.  We were limited to one adult per child for the "tour."  I got to go, which was good, since the tour was all in Russian.This was not your average tour - we actually got to climb in, on and under all of the working airplanes.  I know they look like they are old and decrepit (they were) but they are all functional, and the students use them for practice.  In fact, while we were there, a group of students was studying the HVAC system on an old plane in the corner. 

The kids were totally amazed by everything, obviously.  Here my daughter is dwarfed by a tire.

Logically, if you are going to have 3 and 4 year olds runnning amok, you would assume the location is somewhat child-friendly?  No way.  The first thing the guide said was - don't touch any levers or any of the items in the hangar, especially if they are red.  I'm sure none of the children paid the slightest bit of attention, especially since that part of the lecture was followed by the guide putting each of them on the missile (seen above with Miss S beneath) so they could have their photos taken. What?!? 

Here we are in the world's oldest Tupelev airplane.  You could go in the cockput but my daughter was a little scared.  I don't blame her. After all of the kids left, the last little boy, Sammy, was coming down the stairs from the plane, and the guide engaged the hydraulics, putting the wheels down.  The kids all freaked out - saying "Sammy pushed a button!"  I think it was the high point of our entire tour, the idea that one of them made the wheels come down. This was the plane (below.)

Last thing we went inside was the MI-8 helicopter. Fun for the whole family? We enjoyed looking out of the portholes, but again she didn't want to do into the cockpit.  Maybe next time?

A Very Proper Tea Party!

My darling daughters were invited to a real tea party.  Miss G stayed home,since it's often a little much for me to watch both of them effectively, and also the tea party was during her very long naptime. So Miss S and I dressed up and met up with some friends.  Conveniently, the friends have a 2 year old daughter, so there were LOTS of princess things to borrow... like blue shoes! And big foam blocks, and beautiful dolls.

Here is our hostess, modelling a princess dress (and a really beautifully designed room for her and her little brother, who makes an appearance in the background.)  On the left is our friend from across the street, who just left Post this past week, making us a little sad. But what a great dress! 

And the table was amazingly laid out.  Little tea sandwiches, juice in ceramic tea pots, special cakes.  And equally yummy food for the parents.  I had to take a picture since someday, in another life, I may actually be able to put something like this together.

Someone wanted photos of themselves up close, and then a photo of Mom, so here are the two of us at the Tea Party!

Mommies and daughters enjoying their time together.