sunny day in thunder bay

Hi! We just got back from another visit to a park so that the boys could take a nap. Hi David! (if you are reading this) David is in Durham, ON doing some paperwork and presentations. He will be back tomorrow! The time has gone very fast. It is soooo much easier taking care of the kids and having fun with them with the use of Grandma Charlotte's Van:) Spaciba Char! We have been trying out various playgrounds and going down to watch the boats at the marina. It really is beautiful here. I don't think I fully appreciated things before seeing the grayness of Moscow. Though there are some nice parks there too, but not within walking distance. Anyway. we are having a great time. I wish I had brought our camera but was so hard to use. We will have to get one soon though. Don't want to miss out on pictures of all our friends and family... We will be here in Thunder Bay till June 12thish.

more picnic pictures

Park Update

Park: Vicker's Park
date: saturday may 26th
TIme: 10am
what: fun and fellowship:) bring your own lunch if yo want to eat
who: anyone who wants to play and chat or one or the other

if it rain's we will head over to Shannon's

Fun In Thunder Bay

it hasn't been easy to get on the computer so it's been awhile but anyway.... we are having a blast. even when we aren't doing anything it is great. We are staying at my mom's house and the kids are loving being in a house again with stairs and emma just loves the grass outside. The boys have been busy playing in the garden, shovelling dirt etc. And David and I take turns going out driving exploring the friendly service in stores and restaurants and all that. What a difference. And the food is good. Particularily the cottage cheese is good. yum.
anyway. On saturday (the 26th) my friend Paula and I are taking our kids to the park (undecided which one at this point) and would love for anyone else to come. So if interested check later tonight and I'll put up the details. I'll be calling some of you too.
David is going away for a few days down to Durham to do some paperwork and presentations. Maybe next weekend we will get together again with some of you Thunder Bayers so you can see him too.
Till later tonight....

we made it!!!!

just got back from swimming in the hotel pool with andy and char. we are having sooooo much fun. the kids did great on the plane. gotta go enjoy our room and company:) we will be here in chicago for 2 nights. thanks for thinking about us...i think it helped!!!

we are in England!

We survived the first lag of our adventure. David and Emma keep describing it as an adventure. It makes Emma really excited about it as she loves adventures. We are staying with Aunt Erica (andy's sister). It is so strange to be in a house and a beautiful one at that. Soooo nice. When we got out of her car we all said, "It smells sooooo good" It smells like fruit outside her house! Anyway. In an hour or so we will be leaving for the airport again. Dreading another flight but it has to be done. the kids were ok. sometimes wonderful sometimes not. But we were surprised how many people said how great the kids were on the plane. maybe they don't have great hearing:) I guess they were good, we just notice every complaint and cry more than the rest of the plane. The staff were great, very helpful.
I was a little sad on our taxi ride to the airport when we were leaving moscow. we will miss it I think. we had a very funny, slightly toothless driver who talked and talked. and the weather was bright and beautiful. Of course it is rainy here:) Wish we had more time here to discover a bit more of London, maybe another time.
anyway. i better stop and go pack up again. Next post we will be in Chicago!!!!

And we're off!

In a few hours we will be leaving so it is time to pack up the laptop. We have a taxi coming at noon and then we fly out at 5. Tonight we will be staying with Andy's sister Erica in London and then tomorrow we will be flying to Chicago where we will meet Andy and Char. Please remember us and think about us often as we travel. Can't wait to see you all!

Paka Vanya!

 
It will be strange not seeing Vanya for 3 months. I will miss hearing Josiah say "Pakaye!" and Emma's eyes light up when Vanya comes in the door. and huddy always wants to be right there with them at the table... Vanya- Thanks for coming faithfully everyday and helping David with his lessons. Today was David's last language session and he has his last class tomorrow. I am already done! Yay! It looks like Vanya was teaching David some cool moves in the picture but he wasn't. I just wanted to get a picture of David and Vanya at their last session for a while and the camera wasn't co-operating so this was the best picture I could get:)
We are pretty much ready to go, just have last minute things to do really. It doesn't quite seem real yet that we will be going home but it will soon enough:) I am not really looking forward to the plane ride with the kids but hopefully it won't be tooooo bad:) As long as there is a movie on Josiah and Emma are usually content. But Hudson is another story. He can eat a lot though. maybe he'll just snack the whole way. I don't think they have bathtubs on the plane. too bad:) 

only 2 more days!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

It isn't Mother's Day here but we are still remembering you mom and char. WE wish we were with you today to give you big hugs, flowers and kisses but soon we will see you! Hurray! Charlotte is already in her van headed out to pick us up at the airport, right? Charlotte and Andy will meet us in Chicago and then they are letting us borrow their van. very nice. Hope David remembers how to drive! 1 year without driving is pretty long.... Anyway. then we will drive up to Thunder Bay probably taking our time. We can't wait to see our moms. We are so thankful for you both and the way that you love us and care for us even when we are on the other side of the world. As I experience more and more with our kids I realize all that you did for us when we were small. I think about how hard it must have been for my mom travelling to Australia with two little ones visiting people and going places, especially if I was like Hudson a bit:) And Char, you had 7. wow. Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou! you are both wonderful examples to me as I now am figuring out this whole mothering thing. WE love you! Can't wait to see you!
It is a really hot day, it says 23 C but I think it is warmer by our place. Our place is cool though cause the heat has been turned off for the summer. We are glad to be missing the hot water shutoff that hits every summer. It will be out for a couple of weeks soon...but we won't be here then!
And cockroach season has started. We had a few alreadly but hopefully our apartment won't be plagued by them like some Moscow Apartments. We missed it last year I guess or that first apartment we lived in wasn't as prone to them. I just had one on my shoulder. It was big. At least I think it was a cockroach. It made lots of noise and flew a little. Yuck. David found one searching for food in the kitchen.
Well. I'm gonna go make some supper. David got me some beautiful flowers again and we are just enjoying a day with no school, beautiful weather, dreams of milk and canada....

5 more sleeps!

We have started saying our goodbye's and are getting pretty excited about coming home. It is so nice here lately...it is 10pm and still 15 C out! Nice! And there are some flowers growing and the trees are getting green everywhere.
We are starting to make lists of things we need to get when we are home. A big need is something that maybe some of you could help out with. We need (maybe just want:) clothes. Clothes are available here but not easily. There is mega mall where we could buy clothes and have bought clothes but they are way more expensive than at home (though are very stylish) and getting the kids there is not easy (not that clothes shopping with 3 little ones is easy anywhere). Nor is it easy to bring the kids on the bus/metro and weave our way through the outdoor markets where cheaper clothes are available. So that being said we are down to our last threads. The boys have only a few pairs of pants that they share, 1 pair of shoes each (which we squeeze their feet into) and so on and so forth. We have enough if I do laundry every day kind of thing. And we often (just the boys I mean:) don't wear pants when we are home. So before we head out to Intercity or Chinook Mall I just thought I'd mention the need in case some of you have clothes that you could pass down to us :) Emma wears size 4ish and shoe size 9. Josiah wears size 2?- shoe size 8?. and Huddy wears size 2 as well:) and 1 size smaller for shoes probably size 7?. (Emma wears size 104 or 110 here so size 4 sounds so little:) But larger sizes would be useful as well as we wouldn't mind bringing back some clothes for the future. Or we could use some gift certificates for Old Navy/Sears/Walmart etc.... I don't mind shopping:)!!!
We will have other needs that we will share later as well (just in case clothing isn't your thing and you really want to help us out:) We would like a house and a car later in Tuva so if you have ones you don't need anymore just ship them over here:)!!! kidding unless you want to:)
Our biggest need is really just to see you all and enjoy some great canadian fellowship! (american too- Paula and Mark and Mae and families:) but if you want us to be wearing clothes when we visit.... then this other need applies too:)
Here we come Sour Cream! We will probably have our first reuniting with dairy in Chicago, is it really not as good in the States? Is Paula right? I'm sure it will taste wonderful to us:) I'm really gonna miss the mayo though. unless they have the drippy kind in Canada now...

6 days left!

 
I should stop with the kid pictures so that they look different when we get there. Though it is different to see them in person. They won't look quite so good of course as I tend to put better looking pictures on the blog:)
Hard to believe we leave in 6 days. I can't believe we have been gone for a whole year! It hasn't been that hard to be away for 1 year. (sometimes it has) but really it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. Next time we will probably be gone for 2 years or 3! Being away at school in the US and all that has probably helped getting us ready for this. But I do miss you all and look forward to seeing you. and I look forward to drinking milk again:) I am going to miss it here though I think. It is becoming home. We are getting together some russian movies and books to bring home so that we can keep figuring it out. Emma really picks up a lot of language from her movies (russian not bad language:). 

Grumpy Again:)

 
Hudson has been very grumpy lately. And if food or cuddles don't help...the bathtub always works. I don't know why he likes it so much, but he sure does. I cut Huddy and Jo's hair again! but this time I made a mistake.... I cut huddy's hair a bit too short in the back. Makes him look, how do you put it... not good. Owell. It will grow. But those of you in Thunder Bay will still see the damage. Maybe by the time we get to Calgary it won't be so embarrassing for him (I mean us:) He was just moving a lot and then when it went to high I had to stick with it and even it out. Josiah's is better. David was wanting his haircut again but since I cut Huddy's he hasn't mentioned it at all!!!!:) 

Victory Day!

 
Today is another national holiday. May 9th is the day Russia celebrates victory over Nazi Germany and honours the 20 million Soviets who died in the war. (May 8th, 1945 WWII) Last year for the 60th there was a huge concert/parade which I watched a re-run of last night. There was a parade this morning though I didn't get to watch it, David watched a bit at class and said it was pretty impressive. But every year there are parades, concerts, flowers and flags everywhere. Even the buses had flags on the front of them today.
I took this picture last year when we first arrived and went to see Park Pobedi (victory park). Today it will be packed full of people celebrating Victory Day. And to get in Red Square you need an invitation. In about 1/2 hour we will watch some celebrations on TV and I'm sure there will be plenty of fireworks tonight. 

 
Huddy Stop! You're too far! He looks kinda little in this picture 

 
Hudson often has this expression. I like it a lot. 

Green!

 
It looks so nice out our windows now as there is green on the trees! We are lucky to have an apartment with big windows and lots of trees.
Only 10 days left till we leave. Kinda strange. I'm not waiting for it like I thought I would be, which is very good news. I have begun sorting through things and organizing what we won't need till we return and what we need to bring etc. I love throwing things out and giving things away. I also like getting new things:) I guess most of the time when I am throwing things away or giving them to someone else I am hoping that I will soon receive a new updated cooler replacement. That makes it not so generous of me:) 

Recent Pictures

 
 
 
 
I got these pictures from our friend Kathy. just ones she took that I thought you guys would like:) Some people will like David's Shirt:) The girl with David is Maya who has been one of my language helpers and helps with testing us. And Josiah was just getting dressed to do some ballet:)
We had our last day of meetings with our tuva team. It is sad to see David and Christy and the girls heading back to the other side of russia for now. We took pictures of our whole team but not on my broken camera, I'll get them from the others and put them on soon. We will keep planning and thinking about the future through email and such but it was great to be able to spend this week in person. 

last group :(

 
I'll stop with the shoe pictures:) But can anyone guess which russian wife is married to an american? funny how we adapt. Anyway. It is quite sad that now that we have these friends coming each week we will be leaving. We sure hope that we will be able to start up again in the fall. I'm sure something will work out. And I know that we will still see Denise and Yulia often. They are good at calling us up and seeing how we are doing every few days. Many of them are going away for the summer as well.
We have been so busy lately that I haven't even thought about coming home too much. I still can't believe that in a few weeks I'll be drinking milk!!!!! and sourcream!!! and marble cheese!!!! I can't wait. I think I may overload on dairy for the next few months. Chocolate milk! Coffee Milk! mmmmmmmmm What else do I want.....refried beans! Kraft dinner! Creamed Corn! yummmmmy.
i think i will miss the mayonaise though. really. it isn't like canadian mayo. It is drippy, runny, light and refreshing. (maybe I've become a true russian woman as my love for mayonaise is pretty strong) 

Aria

 
This is baby Nina's big sister Aria. The girls are so beautiful and so sweet. Now I just need to get a picture of the parents:) We had a great time at the picnic with some of our friends. It was really warm again and the park that we went to was really nice. even had green things growing! Tonight we have our married group coming over and then we will meet with a couple of our friends again tomorrow. It has been such a fun week, I love it when we have company everyday. At least for one week:) 

Taking a nap with a beautiful blonde....

 
 
At first Huddy had a nap with a beautiful blonde girl but then she turned into Josiah and Huddy looked quite sad. Huddy and Aria looked pretty sweet napping today at the picnic. It is neat to have pictures of them together as they will hopefully be great friends as they grow up. 

Emma and Nina

 
 
We have been enjoying meeting together with our friends. Emma was so excited to see the little girls. This is the youngest (4 months old)- baby Nina. Emma has been asking for a little baby sister so I think she will enjoy having two little girls to play with and enjoy. Nina's older sister is 1.5 (between Huddy and Josiah). I'll get a picture of Aria tomorrow as we are going for a picnic with our moscow friends. Josiah likes Aria so much and I've never heard him so chatty before. No one knows what they are talking about but they sure are cute. Josiah is very gentle and sweet to the little girls but Huddy is (you may have guessed) a little on the rough side. Funny how the two boys can be so different in soooo many areas. The weather is soooo nice. 23 C! I'll put up some pics tomorrow of our picnic. 

More Park Pictures

 
 
 
  

21 degrees!

 
 
 
 
We are busy during the day this week with meetings with our future tuva team but the weather is soooo nice that we make sure to get outside still. We are having a great time with our team planning and dreaming and all that. It is great to have time with David and Christy again (who we knew from Missouri) and now they have two little girls for our little boys:) Emma likes having 4 little ones to watch and play with. Wish she was old enough to really take care of them all...
I took pictures of some people outside. they thought i was taking pictures of just my kids:) The two girls on the bench are what most of the girls look like around here. Red highlights are very popular. And cell phones are always being used and often cigs and a can or bottle of beer. They really need 3 hands:) Even the little girls that were at the playground had their own cell phones. I also took a picture of a russian family that live in our building. we should get to know them. Their son is 7? 8? and then they have a 9 month? old. Funny that we have 3 kids in between the ages of their two with room for more.
Josiah made one of those canadian rock statue kind of things, must just be something canadians do. what are they called?
Huddy found a sandy beach by the construction site and Emma stills loves riding around on her new bike. It is sooo warm out, almost two warm (only I would think so:) 

May Day May Day!

 
 
 
 
Today is a holiday so we are having a great time enjoying the great outdoors. It is warm and sunny and we even had a great little russian boy to play with. David went to the cemetary to do a little culture study and the rest of us just wandered around exploring some signs of spring like little flowers and a little bit of grass even! Huddy is soooo crazy outside. he walks down the slide without any realization that he should sit and that we could help him get down safer. I got tired of rescuing him so I thought putting him in the middle of the round turtlelike thing would keep him put but as you can see it didn't work:)
We are coming home for sure:) It didn't work out for us to renew our current visa's here in time so we will have to do the whole process at home again but at least we can still come for the visit. We will be in thunder bay from May20th-June13th? and then in Calgary till we come back here August 16th?. I am a little sad about not being here for the summer as it is soooo much easier to do everything, especially have conversations with people outside and just getting the kids outside. But I am very happy about being able to see all of you for sure. 

16 degrees!