Our Family in St. Petersburg

Three Months!

2012-01-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

The little guy is already 3 months old!

Merry Christmas! (Again!)

2012-01-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Christmas! Wait, didn't we already celebrate Christmas? Yes, but in Russia, Christmas is on January 7! I think it's kind of fun to stretch out the holiday season a little longer, and celebrate Christmas again. We didn't do presents again, but we did have a Christmas eve service at our church this afternoon. They had tables set up with lots of food and tea, and we all sat down and ate during the program. And Lydia got to sing a solo! She sang "Angels We Have Heard on High" in Russian and in English, and she did a great job.

Of course, we have a video for you!

The rest of the family in front of the tree

This was "take 1" of the picture of the girls. Actually, takes 1, 2 & 3 were like this, until Birdie finally decided to smile!

Happy New Year and Bangs!

2012-01-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! "Bangs" could be referring to the sound of fireworks that we heard all night on new year's eve, but I'm actually referring to the hair kind of bangs. Lydia has been begging for me to cut bangs for her for a long time, and I finally decided to do it. I kind of liked her hair without them, but since she really seemed sure she wanted them, we went ahead with it today. And since big sis was getting bangs, Birdie certainly wanted them too! I discovered that cutting bangs straight isn't as easy as it looks (even after I watched a YouTube video on how to do it)! So they're not perfect, and I learned a little for next time, but Lydia was beside herself with joy over her beautiful bangs. She couldn't stop thanking me! And I decided that my little girls are super cute either way! Here are the before & after shots:

Before:

After:

And even though Elliot didn't get a haircut, I'll throw in a picture of him from today too. He's having "tummy time," supposedly to strengthen his neck muscles, but he was too happy just relaxing and sucking on his fist.

Lydia's New Year Program

2011-12-24T01:55:00.000-08:00

Lydia did a great job yesterday at her Russian kindergarten program. For part of it, she was a circus horse, and for part she had the honor of being "Sneguochka," the snow princess. She loves performing, and it was so fun to watch her and the other kids.

Here's Birdie and our neighbor before the program started. (I had woken Birdie up from her nap to go, and she wasn't too much in the mood for smiling!)

Some of the other ladies urged me to go get Elliot's picture taken with the tree, since it's his first New Year celebration.

Finally a cute smile & pose from Birdie!

The kids lined up to enter the music hall:

And the videos...
Lydia singing her Snegurochka song:

As a dancing circus horse:

Saying her verse to Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost or Santa Claus):

Dancing around Ded Moroz & trying to wake him up:

Elliot's Arrival (2 months ago!)

2011-11-10T04:40:00.000-08:00

I'm finally posting some pictures from Elliot's birth, which amazingly, was 2 months ago already! I can't believe how time is flying by. It probably seems that way because I'm usually in a tired daze most of the time! Elliot is a happy, healthy baby though, and we are thrilled to have him as part of the family!

Here's me waiting to go up to the delivery room:

Right after Elliot's arrival!

Not-so-flattering first picture!

Here the nurses decided that Elliot will be a doctor someday...

All bundled up & happy!

Getting set up in my room for the next 3 days:

Proud Papa & son!

Just look at all that hair!

Getting ready to go home:

Our special gift!

Here's our family of 5:

The girls meeting their little baby-doll brother:

Ready to head home!

First bath at home:

Bundled up for first walk to the park:

Story time:

Here's the little guy at 1 month old:

And now, since 2 months have gone by since his birth, here's Elliot at 2 months old! I finally caught a pretty good smile on camera.

Welcome Baby!

2011-10-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

Little Elliot has arrived, and we praise God for this new addition to our family! I'll post more pictures later, since I'm too tired to do it now!

How time flies!

2011-09-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I posted here, that I'm not sure I remember how! We're back in Russia again, after our year in the US, so I guess it's about time to post! We had a wonderful rest of the year, and so much happened that I'm not even going to try to catch up on all of it. We had a great apartment to stay in most of the year in Pennsylvania, with a large yard for the girls to play it, and new friends with two little girls living in the apartment above us. We spent time studying Russian with a tutor, traveling and speaking in different places, catching up with friends & family, and savoring the experience of American life. Aaron did some substitute teaching and worked part time with kids at the local YMCA. Lydia took two sessions of ballet class at the YMCA and loved it. This past summer, we took another trip to Arkansas and stayed with Aaron's parents for about a month. When we got back to PA, we had about two weeks with my parents to organize, pack, say goodbye, and get ready to go back to Russia. The year went so fast, but it was a good one. When I look back at my last post, I can't believe how much the girls have changed. It makes me realize that a lot of time really did go by.

We arrived back in St. Petersburg on August 1, and again, time is flying. We jumped right into a few adventures right away, and we've been busy ever since. I think it was only two days after we came back that our neighbors decided to start some major remodeling that affected our apartment as well. They had to change some pipes shared by our bathroom and their kitchen, so that meant that all our bathroom ended up being gutted and completely re-done. It really needed the work, and it will be great when it's done, but it's taking a very long time. It's now September 2, and we are still without a bathroom (or washing machine). The toilet room is separate, and we have water in the kitchen, so we are surviving. But I am getting tired of showering at the church or our office, and lugging laundry on the metro to wash at the office. There is also dust everywhere from the work being done. We also had an ordeal with Lydia getting bronchitis the first week, although thankfully she recovered quickly. Then we were busy trying to get rid of some old furniture and shopping for some new things, assembling them, and trying to organize our apartment.

After two weeks here, Aaron's school started up again, and just yesterday, Lydia started back at the Russian kindergarten. She was a little worried about it, since she has forgotten a lot of the Russian she knew after spending a whole year in the US. Thankfully, she really enjoyed her first two days back. She has the same teacher as before, and many of the same kids are in her class. I know it won't be long before she's spouting Russian like before! I'm also doing some home school kindergarten with her in English, so that she won't be behind for starting first grade next year.

I almost forgot to write about the good news that I am now 33 weeks pregnant with our son! I was able to connect with the same doctor that delivered Birdie, and this week he helped me get all the Russian medical documents that I need to register at the same birth hospital. With all that has kept us so busy, it's easy to forget that we'll have a new little baby soon!

All in all, life has felt a bit crazy, but we're glad to be back in St. Petersburg, reconnecting with people and life here. We do miss everyone in the US (especially the girls' grandparents!), and we're thankful for all the great memories from our year there. At this point, we're commited to at least four more years here.

Here's a few highlights from our first month back:

Goodbye Russia, Hello USA

2010-07-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to catching up here! And I'm writing from the USA! It's great to be back, visiting family & friends. First though, we need to back up to May, because we had some fun events happening before we left Russia. Get ready for LOTS of pictures again! First, a slide show from when our friends from PA came to visit.

Next, some pictures from Lydia's birthday party on May 17th. Lydia's "babushka" Svetlana came.
I made a cake of one of Lydia's favorite Russian cartoon characters: Luntik.

Quite a crowd!

After some cake & ice cream, we went to the park to play.

Here are some pictures from beautiful springtime in the park:

This was the morning of Lydia's last day of preschool.

On one of our last nights in St. Petersburg, we had Dasha come and watch the girls...

while we went to Teremok for one last blin!

And had one last walk through Palace Square!

Saying goodbye to friends...

On the long trip back to the USA. (Do we look a little tired?)

Back in our home church in PA: Lydia making a new friend.

Time with family: At Great Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Celebrating Birdie's 1st birthday!

Still a little too jet-lagged to act too happy, but the frosting was tasty!

Playing with second cousin, Micah.

Learning to hit the ball with Poppaw!

Family photo:

Mmmmm! Potluck fellowship meal at church!

Lots of little girls!

Lovin' time with Poppaw!

Fun ride!

Last shots of the "fang smile" before those front teeth came in!

Getting used to riding in the carseat: a new experience.

Picnic with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew.

Lydia and her cousin had so much fun getting to know each other!

Birdie (not sleeping) in the pack & play during our picnic. Love that smooshed face!

July 4th: Huge family reunion at my Aunt & Uncle's house. The kids loved riding on "The Jitney."

Birdie with Grandma.

Birdie in the garden at the reunion.

After a couple of weeks in PA, we hopped in our awesome mini-van, and headed to Arkansas. We camped 3 nights along the way. Here's a slide show of our adventures on the road and some time with Aaron's family in AR.

So, those are the highlights so far! Great memories being made!

Packing Up!

2010-06-15T00:44:00.000-07:00

Taking a quick break from the frantic packing and cleaning. We fly back to the US tomorrow! The plan is to be there one year and then come back, Lord willing.

I haven't written for a while... Our internet wasn't working, and then we had friends visiting, and now we're busy preparing to leave! In the mean time we celebrated Lydia's 4th birthday- I'll post pictures later...

Back to the packing!

2010-04-24T23:13:00.001-07:00

Here are the videos, as promised in my last post.

First, one of Birdie saying, "Hi," from a few weeks ago.

Here are the videos from Lydia's Spring Program:

And the ones from the Orthodox Easter midnight service:
The priests coming out to start the procession around the church:

The bell ringer:

Inside the church:

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

A little update on Birdie- I took her to the doctor yesterday, and here are her latest stats:
length: 70 cm
weight: 6.8 kg
head circumference: I forget, but it was in the 75th percentile. Her length was in the 25th percentile, and her weight was off the charts on the low end. Lydia was always like that too. The girls are skinny & smart, like their daddy! :)

Весна

2010-04-23T00:20:00.000-07:00

The title of this post means, "spring." While it doesn't feel too springy today, we have been having some warmer weather, sunshine, and I'm finally seeing some leaves starting to appear on some of the trees! We saw some tulip leaves coming up in the park, too. Yesterday morning, Lydia had her spring celebration at preschool. It's so fun to watch her and the other kids singing and dancing. Here are some pictures:

I have some video clips of the program too, but I'll post those after I get them all uploaded to youtube.

Of course, since I haven't posted anything for a while, I need to catch up again. During the first week of April, we had some friends from Germany come to visit. On the Saturday night before Easter, Aaron took one of the ladies to an Orthodox church, to experience the easter service. They found it quite interesting. I would have gone too, but it would have been way to late for Lydia and Birdie. They start a little before midnight, and as part of the service, they march around the church. Then, right at midnight, they enter the church. The priest says, "Christ is risen," to which the people respond, "Risen indeed!" I have never seen it in person, but they televise the service from a large church in Moscow, and I have watched that. Here are some pictures Aaron took, and again, I'll post some videos once I get them all uploaded.

And, we have some fun family pictures...

Reading together! Gotta watch Birdie though- she thinks books are just as much fun to eat as they are to read!

Lydia had fun decorating Birdie with letters.

Birdie isn't crawling yet, but she has really started to scoot herself around on her belly. In this picture, she somehow got her foot stuck in her shape sorter!

I'm in the paper!

2010-03-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

Here's something fun! My picture was published in a newspaper here on Monday! It was in a free weekly publication put out by the city that you can pick up at metro stations, train stations, and other places. Here is the link: http://www.spbdnevnik.ru/?show=article&id=7185 Last week a photographer stopped me on the street while I was walking with Lydia and Birdie, and he asked if he could take our picture. He said he needed a picture of a young mother with young children for this paper. I was surpised that it was actually published. I didn't know what the article would be about either- it's about the number of unemployed women and jobs that are available. So, the photographer said he wanted a picture of a pretty young women, but maybe it was really that I looked unemployed! :)

In other news... Here are some pictures of Lydia sledding the other day. I like the way the sky looks in the first picture- dark with sunlight shining under it.

Birdie "hanging out" in her jumpy swing.

Here's a video of Birdie telling us what a sheep says! She already was making the sound, and we just helped her connect it to the question we asked her.

Happy Women's Day!

2010-03-06T03:13:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 8th is Women's Day. Congratulations to all the ladies! I don't know why we don't celebrate this holiday in the US- maybe because we have Valentine's day and Mother's day. Women's day is kind of a combination of both. At Lydia's preschool, they had a special "prazdnik" (holiday celebration) on Thursday, in honor of all the moms and grandmas. Here are some pictures...

Lydia's group, singing their first song:
At the beginning of this dance, they were supposed to look mad or sad (I'm not quite sure why, as I didn't understand the words to the song). I like Lydia's sad face!

Here she is with her dance partner. She managed to snag one of the few boys in the class! :)

They played some games, too. Here the children had to try to tie a scarf on the mom's head:

In this game, they had to try to dance around with the balloon between them:

Singing more songs:

Another game. They had to race to be the first to get the groceries in the bag. Lydia is one of those kids who jumps up and down with her hand in the air to volunteer for everything, so she got to do most of the games! All the teacher has to say is, "Who wants to..." and Lydia is yelling "Me! Me!" Quite unlike me as a child!

This song said something about airplanes, so they were pretending to fly around:

At the end of the program, they all got a gift:

Now for some other recent happenings! Here's what we did today on this beautiful, sunny & cold Saturday. We went to see the Chesme Church. The red and white stripes looked so striking against the blue sky and white sparkly snow.

We went inside the church to look around, and we were surprised to see a service going on, and lots of families with small children there. We have been in Orthodox services before, and we had never seen many young children at all. Then the priest came out with a bowl of porridge or something, and he started feeding spoonfuls of it to all the children. I think it is some kind of special blessing for the children, but I'm not sure of the all the significance. A man near us asked if we were going to (some word I didn't understand) our kids. I said no, and then we decided we should leave before we looked too strange having kids there that were not getting the special stuff. I love these unexpected cultural experiences! (As long as they don't make me feel too out of place!)

After that, we ate lunch at McDonalds (a special treat!), and then we went to this monument to WW2 and the Leningrad Blockade.

Lydia loves to make snow angels:

February 23rd was Men's Day. Really "Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland," but all men get congratulated. Lydia and I made cinnamon rolls as a surprise for Daddy.

A few more pictures of family fun:

Unexpected Vacation

2010-02-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

This past week was an odd one, as Aaron got some unexpected days off, from Tuesday through Friday. So many of the kids were sick that the administrator decided to close down the school! Aaron and I were getting over colds, but we all still enjoyed time with Daddy home. Now Birdie has a bad cold. The past two nights were a little rough, since Birdie had a hard time getting settled down and sleeping with a stuffy nose. Poor girl. This is the first time she's really been sick. I'm hoping tonight will be better.

Some family news, since I haven't posted in a while:

Birdie has two little teeth coming in on the bottom! They are easy to see now when she laughs or cries. No more of those toothless grins! She can also sit by herself, and she has begun grabbing and eating the grated apple when I put it on her high chair tray.

Lydia continues to amaze us with the progress of her Russian language. Last week there was a parents' meeting at her preschool, and when the teacher was commenting on the children's language skills, she said that their best speaker is Lydia, an American! She just LOVES to talk, and she'll do it in whichever language she needs to. She's such a social little girl. She is also learning to read (in English). She can sound out 3-letter words, which is so exciting! A friend gave me some "Bob" books, which are very short, easy books that move through a progression of words. They are great! We worked on those for the first time tonight, and Lydia read two of them.

All of us are excited to go back to the US for a visit, starting in June. We even have our tickets ordered (June 16)! We have finally decided that we would like to return here after a year in the US. That's our plan anyway, Lord willing! We are also excited that we were able to purchase a minivan from some friends, for our use in the US! Can't wait to drive again!

Now for the catch-up pictures!

We have still been having a lot of snowy, cold (COLD) weather! Here's me and Birdie on one of those chilly days. Our drafty windows make it plenty cold inside, too!

Birdie and Daddy
Birdie with a smorgasbord of toys on her tray (thanks to Lydia!)

Here's Birdie showing off her sitting skills. Next we need to work on crawling. Not too much interest in that yet- She doesn't like being on her tummy much.

Birthday party for Lydia's friend, Isaiah! Lydia can't wait to be 4 years old, too!

I often lay Birdie on the floor after we come home, while I take off my coat & boots, and then I get her undressed. On this day, Lydia joined her on the floor.

It was a long, hard day at preschool.

At preschool, Lydia's teacher put this sign up to thank Aaron for shoveling off their playground.

Here Lydia is posing with the truck and traffic light that she made at preschool.

Chilly!

2010-01-19T22:41:00.000-08:00

We are having a VERY cold spell here. This morning it was -20 C, which I think is about -6 F. Brrr. It's a good day to stay inside and catch up on the blog. Another reason why I'm stuck inside today is that Lydia is sick. :( She has a sore throat and low fever. I'm afraid she got what I did a couple of weeks ago, and I ended up needing antibiotics.

Since I'm catching up, you can get ready for some pictures again! First, a very belated Merry Christmas wish:

Here's Lydia on Christmas morning:

Her stocking contained her favorite treat... GUM!

Sledding on Christmas day:

One of Lydia's friends from preschool was at the sledding hill:

Later on Christmas day, opening presents while skyping with the grandparents:

December 26: My birthday surprise! Dasha came to watch the girls, and Aaron and I went to see the Russian championship competition for pairs figure skating! A dream come true!

December 27: Aaron and Lydia playing "Memory." Lydia is getting quite good at this!

Later that day, Lydia ended up not feeling well. Poor girl... asleep on the sofa with her kitty ears.

Birdie practicing sitting up on her own:

I'm in the background, working on sewing a new baby carrier. Here's Lydia with her baby and kitty in "baby slings":

Birdie ready to go out in her new stroller, after our old one fell apart:

Lydia in the pretty snow on January 1st:

Monster icicles on our building:

Lydia and "Kiska":

My new baby carrier I made. Much easier than the stroller when the sidewalks are covered in mounds of ice and snow. Credit goes to http://stilllearninglife.blogspot.com/2008/01/diy-hood-to-headrest-mei-tai-tutorial.html for the design and tutorial!

Russian Christmas day is on January 7th. Here is our celebration that evening:

Lydia in the deep snow at the park. It looks like late at night, but remember the sun was setting around 4pm!

Just don't eat the yellow snow...

Sledding with some American friends. I love how Josiah looks so bundled up that he can hardly bend to sit on his sled! :)

We tried experimenting with finger food (grated apple), but Birdie didn't quite get the concept. It was fun to spread around on the tray though.

Tea party on the kitchen table:

The sledding hill, with nice ice slides!
One of Lydia's Christmas presents was a pair of ice skates! ("Ice skaters" as she says.) This is her first time to try them out (Jan. 16). She didn't do too bad. She told me she fell alot, but it wasn't scary. Check out the beautiful trees behind her, coated in frost from the ice fog we had!

That's all for now!

"Prazdnik"

2009-12-24T05:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the special New Year prazdnik (celebration) at Lydia's preschool. We had fun watching her with the other kids as they danced, sang, said verses, and had a visit from Ded Moroz (Grandfather frost).

Birdie got dressed up for the occasion in her Christmas outfit...

Here's Lydia's class in the hallway, waiting to go into the room for the performance.

Lydia and the other girls are dressed as Christmas trees (actually New Year trees)

Dancing around the Yolka (New Year Tree). The lady in white is dressed as Snyegorachka (Grandfather Frost's granddaughter).

The lady in the black and white dress is Lydia's head teacher.

The arrival of Ded Moroz!

Each child received a little gift.

And now for the video clips! Enjoy!

Sisters

2009-12-08T22:28:00.000-08:00

People are telling me more and more often that Birdie looks so much like Lydia. I'm agreeing more too. As I look at recent pictures of Birdie, I keep thinking, "Somewhere we have a picture of Lydia that looks just like that!" Here are a couple of examples. Think they look like sisters?

Lydia at 5 months:

Birdie at 5 months:
Lydia:

Birdie:

Banana Baby

2009-12-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

I woke up early this morning (well, Birdie woke me up to feed her), and I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I decided to get up and do another blog! After all, I do have an exciting event to blog about... Birdie's first "real" food! Last night she was introduced to the wonderful world of food, with a smooshed up banana. Lydia loved helping to feed her. After a couple more days of banana, it will be on to rice cereal! Enjoy the show!

Thanksgiving and Other Catching Up

2009-12-05T00:11:00.000-08:00

I see I have been neglecting the blog lately! Time to catch up on recent events, so get ready for some pictures!

First, a cute after-bath picture of Birdie:
Lydia, with her adoring little sister:

A few weeks ago, International Academy had their talent show. Lydia got to be a co-host with Daddy! Here she is all dressed up for her role, with her friend, Olivia:

Lydia was not afraid of the microphone. I think she likes the spotlight!

Next, Thanksgiving day. We celebrated with the other American teachers and their families, but first, some American football in the park (in the drenching rain!)

Here's Lydia, ready for the Thanksgiving feast:

Family photo with the traditional Indian hats:

Last weekend, the IA middle and high school students had a retreat at a place outside the city. Aaron went as one of the teachers, and the rest of the family came along just for fun. Lydia loved hanging out with the big kids.

Here the girls are getting ready for bed in our room at the retreat.

A game led by Aaron and one of the other teachers, about the web of life:

In the dining hall at the retreat:

This is the view out the window of our room. A shaft of sunlight popped out for one brief moment (the only time the whole weekend).

After we got back from the retreat, it was time to put up the Christmas tree!

Birdie has recently discovered her feet, and they must be tasty!

The next pictures were taken just last night. There is something so cute about a little baby hat with ears!

Who's Who, and Videos

2009-11-08T05:46:00.000-08:00

I went back to some old pictures of Lydia, and I just had to post this one side by side with a similar picture of Birdie. I was amazed at the resemblance! Can you tell which baby is which? It would be harder if Lydia hadn't been such a baldy!

I also wanted to post a couple of videos. The first one is a little clip from Lydia's program at preschool, and the second one is a funny one of Birdie doing some baby aerobics!

Quiet Afternoon

2009-10-29T02:27:00.000-07:00

It's a quiet afternoon at our place- Aaron and Birdie are taking a nice long nap, and Lydia just got up from her "nap" and is now munching on an orange. Time to catch up on the blog! Get ready for some pictures...

Yesterday was the annual Harvest Festival at the school. The theme was the Vancouver Winter Olympics, so people dressed up in costumes relating to the Olympics or their home country. Lydia and Aaron went as Olympic torches (the easiest costume I could think of to whip up the night before...) They had international foods available, and games in the classrooms that you could buy tickets to play. A lot of work went into it, and they did a great job! Here Lydia is playing the fishing game. Looks like she caught a big one!

We also participated in a cake walk, and Lydia won a beautiful cake!

Here's Lydia with her friend Olivia:

The closing ceremonies, where they gave out medals for the games and the best costumes:

Obama even made an appearance...

Some recent pictures of Birdie:

I like this one- chomping on the toy fish:

Big blue eyes!

Awwww....

Nobody can get Birdie to smile like Lydia can!

The next few pictures are of a visit to a cemetery where many people who died in the World War II blockade of Leningrad. About half a million people are buried in mass graves here!

Lydia with some other teachers who went with us.

Long rows of mass graves.

On a much, much lighter note, here are some pictures from a special autumn program at Lydia's preschool. It was so fun to see the kids singing and dancing. Unfortunately I didn't get many good pictures.

At the end, the kids all got a carrot. Somehow their teacher made it fun enough to make the whole group of 3-year olds SO excited to eat a carrot!

Rolling Over and 3-Year Old Logic

2009-10-13T03:38:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Birdie rolled over from front to back for the first time! She looked a bit surprised after she did it. She only did it once so far, but I'm sure there is more to come!

Another historic thing happened yesterday. We had our first snow for the season. It didn't stick around, but it was fun to see it coming down. Lydia was all ready to head outside and go sledding. I had to explain that the snow has to be piled up on the ground before you can sled on it.

Now, for your reading pleasure, some glimpses into the mind of a 3-year old...

Lydia (counting on her fingers): At the office, I told (a guy we know) that I'm three years old. He said he is I think 5 or 6. Hmmm... I don't know, yeah maybe 6.
Me: Well, he's a lot older than that- maybe 35 years old.
Lydia: Whoa!! He needs more fingers!

Lydia, after a conversation about feeding Birdie: When (a friend of ours) comes over, I'll ask her if she has milk in her breasts.
Me: Well, she doesn't.
Lydia: She doesn't?
Me: No, only Mommies have milk in their breasts.
Lydia: She's a Mommy!
Me: No, she never had a baby, so she's not a Mommy.
Lydia, looking perplexed: Well then, is she a man, or what?

Lydia's Got Wheels!

2009-10-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I said we had all been sick. Since then I had another round of some kind of virus, but I think we are at last all healthy. Lydia had been mostly over her cold, except for a cough that kept hanging on. So, she missed preschool all last week, and then on Monday we had to take her to the doctor to get a "spravka" proving that she is healthy enought to go back. She was glad to get to go back yesterday.

The weather turned very cold last week, so we had about a week of very chilly temperatures inside our apartment. On Monday, the city turned the heat on in our part of town, so now we don't have to wear our hats inside, as Lydia is doing here:

Yesterday was an exciting day for Lydia, because she finally got to try out her new bike! It took a while for Aaron to find new tubes to fit the tires, and then to get a pump that worked for the tubes. She loved riding it and did great, but she needs to get used to the brakes that kept stopping her when she accidentally pedaled backwards.

Some more recent pictures... Here Lydia shows off her "Indian headdress" that she likes to make when she takes her shirt off to get ready for bed.

Adorable Birdie:

Lydia modeling her fashionable hairstyle, done all by herself. The sock on the hand is nice accessory too!

Lydia and Daddy, ready for church on Sunday:

Park Pobedy

2009-09-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a while, but we haven't been doing a whole lot, since we've been passing colds around for the past few weeks. Thankfully, Birdie mostly avoided the germs and just got a little sniffly. We're all mostly feeling better, except for a cough that Lydia still has.

Today we met some friends at a large city park, called Park Pobedy. It means "victory park," a memorial to World War II. In the park is a monument showing where a crematorium was, and where the ashes of thousands of people were scattered during the Leningrad Blockade.

Here's the sign at the metro station next to the park:

You can see that the weather has gotten cooler, and that the leaves are starting to change!

Lydia enjoyed the playground. The next 3 pictures are a funny sequence of events:

Birdie slept peacefully in the fresh air.

We met a new American friend this morning, and she joined us at the park.

The rest of these are some other recent pictures. Lydia is always wondering what day it is, so I made this calendar to help her understand the concepts of days, weeks, months, yesterday and tomorrow. Don't be too impressed, though- I totally copied the idea from a friend who is homeschooling her kids. (Thanks, Christy P.!)

Birdie is starting to really enjoy bathtime. (Somehow Lydia got the idea that when I tell her to smile, she should make this face!)

Here's Birdie and Lydia's "Big Baby." I often do a double take when I see Big Baby sitting around somewhere, thinking it's Birdie.

All-Nighter

2009-09-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

No, we were not up all night... Birdie slept all through the night! 8 hours straight! I ought to feel great, but I woke up with a headache that was starting last night. Feeling better now, but still a little tired. Besides that, it's a beautiful day! The weather forecast looks like it might be the last warm day for a while, so I better enjoy it. Here's how I've enjoyed it so far...

First, Lydia was off to preschool. It was a little harder for her to get up this morning, since she didn't get to bed too early last night, but she was still excited to go. When we got there, I met another mom who speaks great English. She helped translate a bit with Lydia's teacher, so that I understood there will be a parents meeting sometime soon. She also said she can translate for me at the meeting. Yea! We also found this list posted, showing things each child needs to bring to preschool. I took a picture so I could figure out at home what everything is.

I usually have a hard time reading Russian handwriting, but thankfully, this list is pretty clearly written. So far, I can tell that we need colored paper, and maybe some kind of holder for it (??), glue, pencils and a pencil holder (??), A-4 paper, toilet paper, napkins (maybe it means wet wipes ??), trash bags (I think), maybe crayons, and special little slippers for dancing during the music time. We already have the slippers, because I was told earlier that we need those. (Lydia loves wearing them and loves the music time). I'll probably print this list and take it to the store so the clerk there can help me make sure I'm getting the right things!

After dropping Lydia off, Birdie and I had a nice stroll through the park. I hope to do this regularly, so I can start getting some exercise again. It's easy to do it now, when the weather is so nice... I hope I can keep it up when it gets colder! Here are some scenes from our stroll:

My favorite one:

I see lots of people jogging or doing exercises at the park in the morning. There were also what looked like some PE classes from the local school, and kids were jogging around the park. This guy was doing some interesting exercises:

Many people also are walking through the park on their way to work. If they are coming from the metro station and need to get to the other side of the park, it's shorter to go through it than around it on the street.

Another fun sight: We always see brides and grooms getting their pictures taken in the park, since one of the "Wedding Palaces" is just across the street from it. The legal ceremony is done in these palaces. Lydia and I walk past the palace to get to preschool, and on the way home, we often have to make our way through 2 or 3 groups of wedding parties and guests standing around outside. Lydia likes to say, "I spy a bride!" Sometimes we hear them shouting, "Gorka, gorka!" It means, "bitter," and then the bride and groom are supposed to kiss to make it sweet!

We see a lot of these, too. Lydia is excited to be a bride someday, so she can ride in a "big car."

My last sight as I leave the park: The ice cream stand. (Look familiar, Mimi?) Mmmmm... Maybe I'll go back there later today.

Here's our building, the way it looks right now. They have been sprucing it up, which is a good thing, but the past couple days have not been so pleasant. They are painting now, and the smell inside our apartment is pretty bad. The past two afternoons we have had to get out and go somewhere else. We didn't want Birdie and Lydia inhaling all those fumes. Monday night we went out for dinner at Subway (yes we have it here, pronounced "Sabvey." It was our first time to go there- yum!). Yesterday afternoon, I took the girls to our organization's office to get out of the smell, and then Aaron met us there and we cooked dinner in the kitchen. In the evening, when the painters are done working, we can open up the windows and air out the apartment for sleeping at night.

This afternoon, the girls and I will probably spend some time at the park. I'm not getting much house work done this way, but I guess it can wait!

She wants to go back!

2009-08-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

Well, Lydia must have enjoyed her morning, because she said she wants to go back tomorrow and eat lunch there too. She was happily playing in her classroom when I went to pick her up. She was excited that they had baby doll strollers to play with. The funny thing is that we somehow got her into the wrong class this morning! She was with the 4-year olds. So before we left we met the teacher she should have had, and we'll get her to the right place tomorrow. The good news is that the younger group eats breakfast later, so we don't have to be there until 8:30. Here are some pictures on the stairs at the preschool.

First Day!

2009-08-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today is the big first day! Aaron's first "real" day of school (yesterday was just an orientation day for the students), and Lydia's first day of preschool! Here is a sight I may be seeing more often now :) ...

I'm so proud of Lydia, for how well she did when I dropped her off at preschool (in Russian it's called "dyetsky sad," which means "kindergarten"). She went right to her locker to put her stuff in, and change into her "inside shoes." And when I said goodbye, she was smiling, holding her teacher's hand, and walking off to her classroom! I was so glad she didn't cry- that would have been hard on me! I dropped her off at 8:00 this morning, and today I'll pick her up at 10. I wanted her to just have a couple of hours today to get used to it. Eventually I'll let her stay until right after lunch. She'll get breakfast and lunch there.

Our morning routine went pretty smoothly. We all had to get up a lot earlier than we have been! Aaron and I got up at 6, and I fed Birdie and started getting ready. Birdie cooperated nicely by sitting happily in her bouncy seat while I got ready. Then I got Lydia up at 7:15, she got dressed, and we were out the door by 7:50. Thankfully, the preschool is just a short walk away. Here's Lydia waking up for her big day. Her first words after saying good morning were, "The darkness went away really fast!"

Ready to go:

Heading out the door. (You can also see her "new" bike in the corner that we bought from some friends. She hasn't gotten to try it yet- we have to find a pump to fill the tires):

At the door of the preschool:

Standing by her locker:

And just for fun, some super cute pics of Birdie!

The girls:

Time to go pick Lydia up and see how her first day went!

Dacha & Birdie's Smile

2009-08-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

Last week we had the chance to stay at a dacha for two nights! The first two days were a retreat with the folks in our organization who live in St. Petersburg. Then we stayed an extra night with one other family, just to have a little family vacation time. A dacha (pronounced "dah-tcha") is a Russian country house. We might call it a cabin or cottage. Usually they are a bit rustic, and they often don't have indoor plumbing. That describes the one we stayed at, although in the little village where it was located, we saw many dachas being renovated or new ones being built. There was quite a range from really delapidated ones to really nice ones. I would say most are on the delapidated end of things though. The dacha villages are really something to see. I don't think there is anything quite like it in the US. They are built close together, but they all have a little yard or garden plot, usually fenced in, with kind of a secret garden gone wild look to them.

The dacha we stayed in was owned by another organization that has people in St. Petersburg. It was about an hour's ride on the electric train from the city. From the train station (a platform out in the middle of nowhere), it was a short walk to the dacha. We walked past two tiny stores on the way there- the only ones around. They were like little mini-marts, but they had a little of everything. (Even diapers you could buy by the piece, which was good because we forgot some for Lydia to wear at night!) The morning we got there, there was a milk truck that had come to sell fresh milk to the villagers. They also were selling fresh home-made tvorog (something like cottage cheese). I wanted to go back on another morning and buy some, but we didn't get around to it.

We had a nice time, enjoying the fresh air and being away from the city. Lydia loved playing with the other kids, picking raspberries, finding snails, and playing in the sandbox. She had so much fun that she didn't want to take time to go potty, and we quickly went through all her pairs of pants. By the last day she was wearing her jammy pants! Thankfully on the last day we were there, she decided that she liked being able to go potty without our help, and we didn't have anymore "accidents."

For dinner the first night we made shashlik, which is like grilled shish-kabobs. Very yummy, and something Russians love to make at their dachas or out in the countryside for a cook-out. We also celebrated Aaron's birthday (34 years!!) on the 12th. After the shashlik, we sang happy birthday and enjoyed some cakes that I had made. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that. Here are some that we did get:

And here are some recent pictures of Birdie's beautiful smile:

She also found she likes to suck on her fist. In the first picture she looks like she is contemplating something important!

If you click the YouTube link on the left you can see a little video of Birdie smiling for Mama! :)

Birdie's Smile

2009-08-04T04:08:00.000-07:00

I finally caught Birdie's smile on camera! She was being so cute and happy for a while this afternoon, and giving lots of smiles, especially for Daddy. The first picture is the best shot, but unfortunately its a little blurry.

Sweet sisters:

Later she was happily munching on Daddy's thumb!

Birdie's One-Month Update

2009-08-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

I took Birdie to the doctor yesterday for her one-month checkup. She is doing well and is up to 4.186 kg and 55 cm. Sorry I haven't taken the time to convert those to pounds and inches and my calculator is not handy right now! The doctor was happy with her growth. She said she heard something like a heart murmur, but it is nothing to be concerned about. I actually didn't understand the term she used for what it sounded like (false something), but she said it is not really a problem- we just may want to have an ultrasound on her heart sometime down the road. This doctor speaks english, but her accent or use of different terms to describe things is sometimes difficult to understand. For instance, she described a little pimple-type thing on Birdie's neck as "not a pure element." I understood she meant that it is not a normal baby thing, like the baby acne on her face, but it was an unusual way to convey her meaning. (The pimple is also nothing to worry about for now though, either).

Birdie also got her 2nd hepatitis B vaccination. I was glad to learn that we can get all of Birdie's immunizations here, just like they do in the US, except for the one for roto-virus. Apparently that is a relatively new one they do in the US, because Lydia, born in 2006, didn't have it. I also just recently realized that our insurance covers all immunizations 100%, even if we haven't reached our deductible yet! :)

Here are some recent fun pics of "our girls." Birdie's eyes are looking more blue!

Here's a short video of Birdie. We tried to catch a smile, but they are still too fleeting!

Mimi & Poppi's Visit

2009-08-01T00:35:00.001-07:00

I finally getting some pictures posted from Mimi & Poppi's visit (Aaron's parents). It was great to have Aaron's mom, Glenda, here for 3 weeks after Birdie's birth, and then his dad, Alan, came for the last week. They both left on July 17th. I can't believe it's August already, and Birdie is already a month old. Here are some highlights from our time with Mimi & Poppi. Lydia loved all the special attention, and all the ice cream treats when they went to the park!

More Birdie pictures (again!), and other stuff

2009-07-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of Birdie for you to enjoy! Lydia is a sweet big sister, and always wants to help take care of Birdie. She especially always wants to give her the pacifier!

On the 4th of July, we had a chance to celebrate the day with several other expat Americans. It was planned as a cookout in a park, but the weather did not cooperate. However, the good thing was that it was held in the new school building instead! It was a treat to get to see the new building. The school had been looking for a new location for a long time, and they really needed to find something for next year. After several other possibilities fell through, they finally found a place that looks great!

Here is the new school building!

On Tuesday, we decided to enjoy the nice weather in a new place. We took a bus to an island in the gulf, where there is a town called Kronshtadt. It was nice to take a relaxing stroll in a smaller, quieter town, and to see the beautiful cathedral there.

We've really been enjoying having "Mimi" (Aaron's mom) here for the past two weeks. Yesterday "Poppi" arrived as well! Lydia is loving the extra attention (and ice cream treats whenever they go to the park!)

More Birdie Pictures & Sailboats

2009-07-03T03:56:00.000-07:00

Birdie continues to be a peaceful baby, now a week and five days old. She's doing well, and she has even slept for a few 5-hour stretches at night. Not consistently yet, but it's a good sign! Here's another slide show of Birdie pictures:

Here's something else neat that happened here recently: On Saturday, June 27th, the Volvo Ocean Race ended here in St. Petersburg. I was still in the birth hospital, but Aaron, his mom, and Lydia went to enjoy the festivities on the bank of the Neva River, by the Peter and Paul Fortress. The sailboats came in through the raised bridges and paraded in front of the fortress. It was the end of a race around the world that started back in October.

Our daughter is born!

2009-07-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

Announcing the birth of Birdie Vera Miner, born on June 22 at 9:30pm!
3.468 kg (7 lbs, 10 oz)
52 cm long (20.5 in)

Birdie was the name of one of Aaron's great-grandmothers, and Vera is a Russian name, which is also the Russian word for "faith."

Here's the story:

Thursday, June 18- I have a doctor appointment in the afternoon. He checks me and says my cervix is "preparing," and that he thinks it won't be much longer... He wants to see me again on Monday afternoon.

Friday, June 19- In the morning I wake up feeling contractions coming regularly, every 10 or 11 minutes. I think, "This is the day!" Aaron cancels his language lesson with the man he is tutoring in English. Later in the morning, though, the contractions stop. False alarm!

Saturday, June 20- Feeling good. Aaron and I have tickets to see a ballet at the Mariinsky Theater. It's a performance of the graduates from the St. Petersburg ballet academy. Unfortunately, Aaron has a bad sinus headache, so I go with my friend Alyona. We have awesome seats (row 3!) and really enjoy it.

Sunday, June 21- I announce at church that my doctor thinks I'll have the baby sometime this week. Someone comments, "Maybe tomorrow!"

Monday, June 22- Doctor appointment in the afternoon. Surprise! I'm already dilated 4 cm! My doctor says he thinks we'll meet at the Roddom (birth house) at 5 or 6 that evening, and the labor will be starting. (It's like he has it all planned out!) Later on, I'm feeling more contractions. I call him and he says, "Meet me at 6:00." At 6pm, Aaron and I walk to the Roddom (only about 5 minutes away). We do a load of paperwork (couldn't some of this have been done earlier?) They take us to the delivery room, hook me up to a monitor to watch the contractions, and right away they start getting stronger and closer together. After about 15 minutes, the doctor comes back in and says it's time for the epidural. Just about the time the epidural kicks in, it's almost time to start pushing! At 9pm, Aaron asks the nurse how much longer she thinks it will be. She says she thinks maximum 12am; minimum 10 or 11pm. Birdie was born at 9:30pm!! I couldn't believe how fast everything went! Praise the Lord! A much different experience than when Lydia was born.

Here's a slide show of the birth pictures. Aaron was quite the photo-journalist and captured the experience well!

I would have been able to come home from the Roddom on Thursday, but when they checked my blood, I had a high leukocyte (white blood cell) count. So they kept me longer and started giving me IVs with antibiotics. They thought I must have some kind of infection, although I felt fine the whole time. The only symptom was a slight high temperature one night. I finally got to come home on Monday (the 29th). I couldn't wait to get home, but at least the long hospital stay gave me plenty of time to rest and recover. Birdie was in the room with me the whole time. Aaron was the only one allowed to visit. I could have had other visitors, but they would have had to have a recent chest X-ray to be allowed in.

Aaron's mom is visiting right now. She arrived on the Thursday after Birdie was born. It's been great to have her here to watch Lydia and help out with cooking & cleaning. It was good to come home from the hospital and find everything in order in the house!

Sunny Saturday

2009-06-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

Our weather right now is back to cool & cloudy, but we had a gorgeous day on Saturday! It was warm and sunny, and we decided we needed to get out and enjoy it! There were sailboat races being held on the Neva River, right in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress, so we joined the other sunbathers on the beach there to soak up some sun and enjoy it.

Celebrating 10 Years

2009-06-03T04:06:00.000-07:00

Ten wonderful years of marriage- it's hard to believe! Our anniversary is actually on July 10th, but we wanted to do something special before baby arrives. Aaron planned a very nice evening for us last night, starting with dinner at the restaurant "лев," which means "lion."

Inside the restaurant:

Then we went to the Marinsky Concert Hall to see a famous conductor, Gergiev, directing some of Beethoven's music. They performed scenes from the opera "Fidelio," and also the 5th symphony. It was amazing! We had good seats, too:

Do we look excited?

Me, feeling a little silly while Aaron took my photo with a picture of the conductor:

In the lobby on the 3rd floor, during the intermission:

Us in the concert hall:

Graduation, Baby Shower, & Lydia Photo Shoot

2009-05-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to do a better job at keeping our blog updated, so... can you believe it- I'm doing another post already! The only bad thing about it is that it tends to make me stay up too late (especially now that the sun is setting after 11pm here!) Yup, it's 10:20pm, and I still see bright sunshine out my window!

The graduation ceremony for the international academy was held on Friday. Aaron had the privilege of giving the address for the students.

The graduates:
The sign language club performing a song:

Some of the band members:

Yesterday, I had a baby shower! It was a fun time and a great blessing! My two dear friends Christy and Cristy organized it. I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few:

We have had some beautiful days here, and today really felt like summer! It was 26 or 27 celsius, which is somewhere around 78-79 fahrenheit! It feels SOOOO great after a long winter and cold spring!!! This afternoon we went for a walk in the park and took some pictures of Lydia in her new dress. The tulips are so pretty, and the lilacs are blooming too. Their fragrance fills the air as you enter the park.

One more interesting/bizarre thing: This afternoon this group of people was singing & dancing on the corner near our building. We think they were a Hare Krishna group. Strange!

Field Day

2009-05-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the international school had a field day at a large park in the northern part of the city. Lydia and I went along to watch and enjoy the beautiful day. We were blessed with sunshine and the warmest temperatures we have had so far this year. It felt so good! Many other parents came to watch, and Lydia had plenty of little 3 & 4 year old friends to run around with. Here are a few pictures:

Lydia & Olivia:

Lydia with friends Noble, Rita, and Olivia:

Some of the spectators:

Part of an eating competition:

Egg toss:

The students got a little carried away with shaving cream at the end. Here's Aaron carefully avoiding getting any cream on himself...

But someone else was determined that it wouldn't last long...

So he did get a bit creamed (sorry no picture of the result), but he didn't look as bad as the girls pictured above!

Tomorrow is graduation, and after that, Aaron is free for the summer! We're looking forward to some relaxing weeks in June before Baby arrives.

Speaking of Baby, I had another doctor appointment today, and everything is still looking good. He did say that he thinks the baby will come before the due date; probably sometime between June 18 and the end of the month. I wouldn't mind- I already often feel pretty uncomfortable! I only hope she waits until after the 20th, because we have a special date to see something at the Marinsky Theater, in celebration of our 10th anniversary! (Now that we have work visas we can get cheaper theater prices- woohoo! MUCH cheaper!) Our anniversary is in July, but we wanted to celebrate before Baby & sleepless nights!

Lydia's Birthday Party

2009-05-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday (May 23rd) was Lydia's big birthday party! Since her friend Noble is also turning 3 years old at the end of the month, we had a combined party for the two of them. We invited lots of their little friends, with the parents too. Since the crowd was too big for our apartment, we held it at our church, which worked out great.

Here is Noble's train cake, and Lydia's butterfly cake. If you want to see a video of them blowing out the candles, click on the YouTube link to the left.

Everyone starting to enjoy the food:

Some guys from church giving Lydia a gift:

After eating, we played some games:

And did a craft:

And everyone got some fun gifts!

It was quite a fun and memorable day! We are so thankful for good friends to share it with.

In other news, I had another ultrasound on Monday. The technician said that everything looks good and the baby is healthy. Praise the Lord! While she was showing us the baby's profile on the screen, we got to see our little girl open her mouth and stick her tongue out! (Does that say anything about her personality?) We could also see that she was swallowing. Pretty cool! She was estimated to be at 5 pounds already. I can't believe I only have about 5 weeks left until the due date! :)

Lydia's birthday & other exciting things

2009-05-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

Lydia's 3rd birthday was last Sunday (the 17th)! She says that she is now big. The night before her birthday I decided it was time to give Lydia her first haircut.

Here's the "before" picture:

And there goes that long baby hair!

The result:

I think it turned out pretty nice! On Lydia's birthday, we had a little celebration with some pancakes for breakfast (with a candle on Lydia's), and we shared some cake at church. In the evening we skyped with Grandma & Poppaw, and they watched her open her presents that they had sent. Her really big party was yesterday, shared with her friend who is also turning three on the 31st, but I'll put pictures of that up later. Here are the ones of opening presents with Grandma & Poppaw.

Thanks for the great gifts! They have been keeping Lydia busy the past week. We're looking forward to more fun things coming with Mimi & Poppi in June!

Now for the latest belly picture, taken on May 18. (After I thought I couldn't possibly get any bigger...)

And the last picture is from the ultrasound on May 7th. Someone said it looks like she's blowing a bubble :) It's actually her hand held up near her face.

The baby looked healthy and seemed to be growing fine (they said she was already 2 kg, or about 4.5 pounds), but apparently the blood vessels in the placenta were a little bit constricted. I've been on medication for that the past 2 weeks, and I'll have another ultrasound tomorrow to check that everything is OK.

I'll give a quick update on getting Lydia registered for preschool, too. I think we got all the paperwork figured out and taken care of this week, and Lydia and I got to tour the preschool. It looks really nice, with lots of fun stuff! Lydia is excited and asking when she gets to go. However (there always seems to be ONE more thing...), they now told us that we need to get Russian health insurance for her. So we have until sometime in August to get that figured out. They gave me the address of where to go for it, so hopefully it will be an easy (and not too expensive) process.

Bits of daily life

2009-05-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

Here are few things that have been going on since I last wrote. First, some pictures of one of the first warm days in April. We walked a few blocks north to the Neva River and enjoyed the sunshine.

One of the things we have enjoyed while living in St. Petersburg is having opportunities to host several guests. Recently we have had Alyona, a colleague with our organization, staying with us. Lydia loves to spend time with her. She has been so much fun to have around, and has also helped us on many occasions when our Russian language skills were lacking!

We also recently had Luciana, the fiance of a friend from church, stay with us for a few days. Lydia loved her too, and she got a lot of practice speaking Russian, since Luciana doesn't speak English.

We, being the scrabble-lovers that we are, had a real treat while Luciana was here. We got to play Russian scrabble! We had the help of the dictionary (and our friends when we got really stuck), but we did better than I thought we would. Of course, we still came in last place. The first 3 letters on our board spell a word we used. Any guesses what it means?

We've been getting good use out of our Settlers of Catan game (thanks, Mom & Dad M.!) Here we are teaching Alyona's friend Yanna how to play.

On May 11th we took a bus about an hour outside of the city to a place called "Oranienbaum." The town is called Lomonosov. (I think I have those spelled right). There is another palace there, with a large park to walk around in, although this one is more run-down than some of the other places. The weather wasn't quite as nice as we were hoping for, but it was still nice to get out of the city and into a more natural setting. We went with some other American friends, Kevin, Emily, and little Josiah.

Spring flowers!

Here's our future coffee junkie- drinking straight from the pot!

Alyona is gone on a trip right now, but she'll be back with us for a couple of weeks in June. (Then our next guest will be Aaron's mom- here for the birth of her newest granddaughter!) Alyona's birthday was going to be while she was gone, so we celebrated before she left.

I think I'll end this long post for now, but not without some funny quotes from Lydia:

Lydia: "Daddy, do you know what 'eagle' is?"

Daddy: "Well, it's a big bird."

Lydia: "Oh, I need to go to the store and buy some eagle."

Daddy: "Why?"

Lydia" "Because I need to make chicken breast."

Alyona: "I'll be leaving tomorrow."

Lydia: "Oh, but now it's already tomorrow!" (The previous day I had been telling her that her nanny was coming tomorrow, and now her nanny was there, so of course, it was tomorrow!)

Lydia (watching Daddy scratch his ear): "Daddy, don't poke your eardrum!"

Lydia (later, at bedtime): "Dear Jesus, I pray that we don't poke our eardrums." (This was all after a speech by me about how we should never stick anything in our ears.)

Zenit Game

2009-05-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here I am catching up on the blog again! Back on April 25th, Aaron had one of his dreams fulfilled- we went to see a Zenit soccer game. Zenit (like zenith) is the St. Petersburg team. We went with some of the other teachers from the International Academy. We had great weather, and it was fun watching the game (Zenit won), but an experience before we got into the stadium kind of tainted it for me. I'll let Aaron tell you about it...

Well... a scary lesson learned, thankfully God protected us. The lesson is NEVER take your pregnant wife to an event (in this case a Zenit soccer game) where riot police are required to keep the crowd, sort of, under control!!! To my shame I did.
I did do some background checking to make sure it would be OK. I asked my friend, Jarod, who has attended many games if there would be any danger to Danielle. No problem, sometimes the Moscow fans get rowdy, but they are caged off into their own section, and this was not a game against a rival Moscow team. OK. And, we were going with a big group of staff from the school, so we weren't on our own in case we needed anything.
Problem was that Jarod usually arrived to the games about an hour earlier than our group did. So instead of smoothly slipping through the 3 separate security checks into the stadium, we got stuck in the middle of a huge pack of fans who were being prevented from entering the stadium by police in full riot gear. It was a good plan by the police, because the only access to the stadium from where we were was across a bridge and they were obviously trying to regulate the number of people crossing the bridge at one time.
I was a little nervous about our position, but the fans seemed to be fairly patient wating their turn, and there were some smaller kids and other women smattered in with the crowd. Russians are usually very attentive towards women and children.
Then something happend that set the crowd off. Not sure what, maybe their patience was just thin, but they started whistling and shouting. We should've worked our way out of the crowd, but we didn't. A minute later we were all being pushed forward towards the police barricade- where bodies were being pushed back. Now we were very scared and I was yelling to the people around us that Danielle was pregnant. At least one guy seemed to understand and started pushing away from us. Thankfully, the crowd was able to break through the police line so that we were able to get behind the part of the barricade that was still standing and let the crowd go past us. Another lady stood close to us and was sobbing. I think she had actually fallen just in front of the police.
We were very shaken, but things calmed down and we did enjoy the rest of the day.

I was close to sobbing myself when this happened! I think we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, because it was actually a relatively small part of the crowd that went crazy. Anyway, we survived just fine, and here we are at the game, still able to smile! :)

Here are all the Zenit fans, showing their colors after the team scored a goal.

New Belly Picture

2009-04-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest belly picture, taken today! I am definitely growing! Baby is actively kicking and moving around a lot, too. Lydia likes to put her hand on my belly and try to feel kicks.

You may have noticed my new haircut- Lydia's nanny cut it for me this afternoon. I think she did a pretty good job! I was a little nervous, because I didn't really know if she had any experience cutting hair! Here are some more pictures. (I know I don't make a very good model!)

Yesterday Lydia had her physical exam for starting preschool in the fall. She was a brave little girl, and she didn't even cry when they pricked her finger for a blood sample. Today Aaron had to go pick up some other form at the preschool that we'll have to go back to the clinic and have them fill it out. Little by little we're figuring out this process!

Happy Easter / "Pussy Willow" Sunday!

2009-04-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

Another quick post today! Happy Easter! However, here in Russia, Easter is next Sunday (following the Orthodox calendar), so today is Palm Sunday. I suppose since palms aren't too common in Russia, they don't call it Palm Sunday. What is available this time of year? Pussy willows! So this is Verbnaya (pussy willow) Sunday, and you see people with pussy willow branches in church, or the branches are used to decorate. All week the old ladies were selling bunches of pussy willow branches on the street.

Here is Lydia coloring and decorating some eggs at our office on Monday evening.

And now for a special blog entry from Aaron! He sent this story to some people on email, but it's so funny I wanted to post it here too. Oh the adventures!

Friday, I had an embarrasing commute home. I had forgotten to strategically place myself near the doors of the metro train- to be able to exit as soon as we came to a stop. You have do this at our station, or the flood of people entering the train will try their best to make you stay on until the next station. Well, when the doors opened I was not hardly out of my seat when I saw the flood of people coming in. I was determined to make the 3 yards needed for the "first down", so I gritted my teeth, turned sideways, and lowered my shoulder towards the first few ladies just coming through the doors. I could see the amusment/annoyment on their faces as they must've been thinking "just try to get off this train". But, after a few grunts and deflections off of several anonymous bodies, I could tell that, with just seconds left, I needed only another few inches to freedom. So, I lowered my shoulder a little more and stepped hard sideways, just getting my left foot through the threshold. Then, it happened. As I was still in the middle of the oncoming surge of travellers, my left foot descended rapidly through the 6-inch gap between the train and the station platform. All I could do was let out a frightened "oy!" to those I had been pushing against as my entire body tried to follow my foot through the gap. They watched me struggle below them with one leg still on the train (doors about to close!) and half of my other leg dangling under the train, stuck at the kneecap between the train and the platform. If had I been them, I would've had a smug look and the thought of "serves him right!". Praise the Lord, despite the large, bloody, goose-egg, below my left knee, no other injuries were incurred- except to my ego. But, that wasn't the end. Just a few minutes later, I was waiting to cross our busy, 4-lane, avenue (probably surrounded by those who had witnessed my acrobatics on the train). The cross-walk light turned green, and the large crowd I was in began to stride towards the large crowd from the opposite corner. This time I decided to play it smart, and I took up a position behind a couple of would-be blockers to make my walking a little easier. Half-way across, my right foot (must have been jealous of my left) decided to fully plunge itself down into a small (I had never seen it before!), but deep, and water-filled pot hole. "Down goes Frazier!" -I could hear it coming, but just barely did I stay upright, though my stride changed considerably for the next few steps. Did I hear some snickering behind me? How all the water from the pot-hole didn't wet my right foot, which was in the hole, but did soak my left foot and several inches of my left pant leg, remains a mystery.
So now I'm contemplating how to completely avoid having to be seen by that same group of commuters in the future.
~Aaron

Novgorod

2009-04-05T04:25:00.000-07:00

First an update on the process of getting Lydia into a Russian preschool, for those who are interested. A lady that works at our office called some of the individual preschools for me, and the directors all said that it is fine for Lydia to only come 2 or 3 days a week. So we went ahead with registering for the one closest to us. Last week I got a call from a preschool, and they told me to bring Lydia's documents. The only problem was that it was not the one we wanted. I went and tried to figure out what was going on. They didn't really know, so I left the documents there, and in the meantime they called the preschool we wanted. This week I called them, and they said there is a spot for Lydia at the one we want, and I should come pick up my documents. Now we need to contact the preschool we want and see what they want us to do. Sound confusing? Yup, when you only know basic Russian it's hard to figure out what's going on! Thankfully one of the Russian ladies at our organization's office is helping me with the next steps. I do know that Lydia has to have lots of medical tests done soon to be able to enter preschool.

Now for the pictures from Novgorod! We took a bus there and back (a little over 3 hours one way) on March 31st and April 1st. This was during Aaron's spring break from school. We invited our good friends along, which made it lots more fun! The weather wasn't the greatest, as you'll see in the pictures, but we survived the wet feet and cold hands and still had a good time. (Some warm cappucinos in the cafes helped!)

The Novgorod Kremlin, dating from the 15th century. The original walls were erected in 1000 AD.

Danielle beside one of the large bells inside the Kremlin.

St. Sophia's Cathedral, inside the Kremlin- completed in the mid-11th century.

St. Sophia's from the other side, the only place where you can see a faded fresco that was part of the original decorative walls.

The Millenium Monument, showing figures from Russian history. It was unveiled in 1862, which was the 1000th anniversary of Prince Rurik's founding of Novgorod.

Our friends Thomas, Cristy, and Isaiah, enjoying the warmth of a cafe after walking around all day.

Our hotel room at "Intourist Hotel."

Our huge all-you-can-eat breakfast at the hotel. Maybe something got lost in translation, but our waitress thought we wanted about 5 big plates of sausages! Do we look stuffed yet?

At the museum of wooden architecture, looking at souveniers. We couldn't believe how long this heavy wet snow kept up!

The museum has a collection of wooden buildings from the surrounding area, including churches and peasant houses. The oldest ones date from 16th century.

Inside one of the houses- Lydia liked the baby swing/cradle. Pulling the rope makes it bounce up and down.

The famouse old-style Russian stove, seen from the side. The grandparents would sleep on top of it- the warmest spot in the house!

A basket and lapti (shoes) made out of birch bark.

With one of the museum guides.

Walking from the museum to the Yurev Monastery.

In front of the Monastery.

The Cathedral of St. George, inside the monastery complex. There are frescos inside the cathedral dating from the 12th century!

Can you see why we had wet feet? There weren't boardwalks like this everywhere!

Waiting at the bus station to head back to St. Petersburg. Guess what? The sun started shining brightly while we waited! Oh well, in northern Russia you just need to get used to being out in damp, grey weather.

Finland and the Blockade

2009-03-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

I started writing this entry back on March 7th and never finished it! Isn't that awful? I guess I'll finish it and then update on our newest adventure. On February 28th, we took a quick one-day trip on the train to Lahti, Finland. We had to leave the country to come back in on our new work visas. PTL we were able to get these visas! Now the hope is that we can get them extended to one year with no problems. Right now they are good until May 1st. Theoretically, we can get them extended without leaving the country again.

We only had a few hours in Lahti, and we visited some friends who live there. They graciously fed us lunch and let us join them in a gathering with some friends of theirs. Sorry I don't have any pictures to show you! Here is one of the train ride home. Lydia had some little playmates, which made the 5 hour train ride go a little faster!

As usual, Lydia did not want to go to sleep, even though we got home quite late. We tried blocking out the light with my hat, but no luck. She eventually did fall asleep, but not until we were almost back to St. Petersburg.

While we were in Lahti, we picked up some cloth diapers that we had ordered from England. These will save us lots of money when Baby arrives! Lydia is also now wearing them at night. These are not the diapers your grandma used- they work a lot like the disposable ones, but they have absorbant inserts, and everything can be washed. They are also adjustable, so they can be used for tiny babies up until toddlerhood. Pretty cool! Here is Lydia helping me wash them the first time and modeling one of the diapers.

We recently visited the museum of the Leningrad Blockade during World War II. It was pretty amazing to see some of the ways people had to live during those 900 days. I can't imagine what it would have been like to live through something like that. So many people did not live through it. The first picture shows a cutting board with a piece of bread that was one day's ration of food. It is baked with sawdust as a filler.

The next one is of a girl and her journal entry. In the journal she lists the food she wants to eat when the blockade is over. She says something about not even being able to dream of it, because she doesn't think she'll live. She was right.

On a lighter note, here I am with Lydia in the museum. We're practicing how to hold our hands so that we're not tempted to touch things. :)

I'll do another post of our latest adventure in Novgorod.

It's a girl!!

2009-02-24T10:34:00.001-08:00

On Friday we had the long-awaited ultrasound, and we found out that Lydia gets her wish for a sister! Of course, Aaron was sort of hoping for a boy, but we are still very excited about another sweet little girl. And even more importantly, the doctor said the baby looks very healthy! No signs of any problems. We had been told that a blood test I had showed a high risk for down syndrome, so we're especially thankful!

I didn't know if I wanted to post this next picture, because my belly looks so big already, but here it is- the first "belly picture." I can't believe I still have 4 months of growth to go! (I'm holding a rose that my wonderful hubby gave me for Valentine's day!)

Today I went to try to register Lydia for a kindergarten next fall (it's called that, but it's really a preschool.) I had to go to the Education Department for our district, which was a little intimidating, trying to figure out which office and how to go about doing it. But when I found the right office, the ladies there were amazingly kind and patient with me and my terrible Russian language skills. I eventually figured out most of what they were trying to tell me. They said that the kindergartens near us all have full day programs, and Lydia would have to go every day, from 10am to 5pm. That's more than we wanted her there- we were hoping for 3 days a week. So, we need to decide what to do. We're going to see if we can still somehow work it out that she doesn't have to be there every day. I don't want my 3-year-old gone all day, every day.

Yesterday was a holiday here called Defenders of the Fatherland Day, also known as Men's day. It's a little like Father's day, but all men are recognized. We had a special lunch at our organization's office, prepared by us ladies. We also played some fun games afterward. The kids had a chance to write down and say what they like about their dads, and here's what Lydia said when she was asked:
My dad can jump up and touch the lights.
It's funny when my dad tickles me.
My dad loves me.

A nice two-year-old tribute to her Daddy! Here she is enjoying the time with one of her friends.

And lastly for today, here is Lydia this morning, helping me make some homemade granola. She loves to dump in the ingredients and stir them up. Here she's doing a pretty good job of not flipping it out onto the counter!

Baby news!

2009-02-18T05:41:00.000-08:00

I just had a thought- I never even posted the exciting news that I'm pregnant!! What a bad blogger I am! Probably most people reading this blog already know, but I should have mentioned it. I am about at 22 weeks now, and we have an ultrasound coming up on Friday. We hope to find out if Lydia gets a little brother or sister! (Lydia, of course, is hoping for a sister!)

Here is a picture of the first ultrasound at about 14 weeks. I'll need to post a "belly picture" soon, so you can all see how big I am! You can see my belly a little bit on the last post, in the pictures of Isaiah's birthday party.

Catching up again!

2009-02-18T04:55:00.001-08:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote here! I put pictures up on facebook, and then I neglect the blog. Here are a few new pictures. First, Lydia watched some bean seeds "pop open" and start growing:

They're starting to grow!

Planting the seedlings.

Here are some other recent events. First a basketball game that Aaron played in. It was the staff versus the student team from the school... although I think there were only two real staff members, and most of the rest were young college-age guys who were great players. The "staff" won!
Lydia tried to figure out how they make the ball bounce like that:
Here's Lydia with a friend who is staying with us for a couple of months while she gets some training here in St. Pete. Lydia also lined up a bunch of other "friends" on the sofa!
A cute picture of Lydia, snuggling with "Big Baby."
And finally, a birthday party for Lydia's friend, Isaiah!
Our dear friends with their son, Isaiah. Happy 3rd birthday!

The kids' table. In the back is another little friend, Slava, with his parents.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T08:34:00.000-08:00

We celebrated with Lydia by shooting off a big party popper in our living room. It had a bigger bang than I was expecting, so I was thankful we have high ceilings! It was quite a shower of confetti! Lydia had just as much fun re-living it by throwing the confetti up in the air.

С Новым Годом!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-28T05:15:00.000-08:00

OK, I know Christmas is past now, but I hope it was merry for everyone! Actually, Christmas for most Russians is on January 7, according to the Orthodox calendar, so I can still say, "Merry Christmas!"

Here are some pictures from our Christmas morning.

Reading the Christmas story (toddler version!)

Opening some presents. The toy coffee maker was a big hit.

Playing with new toys.

I have to add just one more picture from a few days ago, just because I was so amazed that these kimbobs (korean sushi) actually turned out looking like the real thing! My first time to try making these. Yum!

Trip to Riga

2008-11-13T02:30:00.000-08:00

Last week we had a nice time in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. We had to go for business reasons, but we had a lot of time to be tourists, too. We took an overnight train there and back, and we had a total of 5 days there. It was a cold week, but we still enjoyed lots of walking and sightseeing. Riga is a very nice city, with a quaint historic section of town. Winding cobblestone streets, small houses packed tightly together, churches dating back to the 1200s. It had a real medieval feel to it. Most of the historic buildings had been destroyed somewhere along the way, especially in WWII, but have been rebuilt. Here are some pictures from the trip.

A Wet Morning

2008-10-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

This morning as Aaron was getting ready for school, he noticed something unpleasant- water was dripping from a crack in the ceiling in our kitchen. So, I called our landlady and told her as well as I could what was happening. She called back later and said that our neighbor from upstairs would come and look at it. He came a while later and said something about mice and rats (could a rat chew through a pipe?) and said (I think) that he would wrap something around the pipe to stop the leak. At times like this I wish my Russian was a little better! So, we'll see what happens.

On another note, here are some fun quotes from Lydia:

"Can you pray for my crayons, the tea ball, and my plate?"

(While walking outside behind some pigeons) "I can't walk with not wearing my boots, like the birdies. But they CAN!"

Exciting Day for Science Teachers

2008-10-19T10:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we got to see a very special monument on the way to visit some friends... A monument to Mendeleev, and his periodic table of the elements! Here we are in front of it:

It was an exciting evening for Lydia too, because she got to play with another little two-year old girl. They had quite a time together, and at the end of the evening little Olivia said, "I love you! You will come back!"

More Fall Frolicking

2008-10-06T04:05:00.001-07:00

We've been having some really great fall weather here! We try to get out and enjoy it to make the most of it! Yesterday afternoon we walked to the Summer Gardens and joined many others who were out strolling and enjoying the beautiful sunny day. It was interesting to see so many people picking up the colorful leaves- adults and kids. Another interesting thing was that many people were weaving the leaves together somehow to make a garland-type hat! We asked one lady if we could take her picture with her wearing her hat and Lydia, and she was so nice and put the hat on Lydia's head for the picture. Even the statues were getting in on the fun (see below!)

Here we are in front of Peter the Great's Summer Palace:
Today Lydia and I made a craft with some of the leaves she picked up a few days ago. Here she is showing off her work:
This is her face after I told her to give me a big smile!

Enjoying Autumn

2008-09-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

We have had some amazing sunny days lately (truly amazing for fall in St. Pete, it seems), and the leaves are so pretty right now.

Here are some pictures of Lydia in the park.

Lydia has gotten quite daring on the playground equipment lately, so I really need to keep my eye on her (and my hands ready to grab her!) She thinks she can do everything by herself, and she watches other kids closely and tries to copy whatever they do!

In other news, Aaron went to a leadership conference with some students last week in Hungary. He had a great time, but came back very tired. They took the overnight train to Moscow, and flew from there, and he had a hard time sleeping on the train. The conference kept the kids (and chaperones) busy from early in the morning until late at night too, so Aaron took a long nap on Sunday after he got home!

Here's another random quote from Lydia for the day: "I need my sunglasses, so I can eat better."

We're Still Here!

2008-09-22T05:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since we updated this blog! After Aaron's parents visited this summer, we took a trip to Hungary for a conference. Lydia loved being with her daycare class while we had conference sessions. Here are some pictures from the short time spent in Budapest. It's a beautiful city! Unfortunately Danielle was sick the one full day we were there, but we still got to see a bit of the city. The first pictures are from the castle hill.

Here's a view of the city from a hill called the Citadel. Aaron is wearing his Hungarian hat made out of a mushroom! Near the bottom of the hill is this church built into a cave.

After we got back from Hungary in August, it was time for Aaron to start getting ready for the school year. He's back to teaching now, and autumn has arrived in St. Petersburg. The leaves are just starting to change color, but it has been very chilly. Today has been unusually warm and sunny (60 Fahrenheit), so Lydia and I had a nice time in the park with some friends this afternoon.
Here's a picture of our family from last Saturday. We went with a group to Pavlovsk, and we had a nice time strolling through the huge wooded park.

And finally, a random quote from Lydia today: "I have armpits and elbows!" (Exclaimed with great excitement and arms up in the air!)

Saying Goodbye

2008-07-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

Another post today! A few hours ago we had to say goodbye to Aaron's parents, and Aaron took them back to the airport. Their friends left on Wednesday. We had so much fun with them here, and we gave them a good whirlwind tour of St. Petersburg. They did about as much as possible in two weeks, without dropping over from exhaustion. (And a few times I think they almost did!) It was hard to say goodbye, not knowing when we'll get to see them again. Lydia will really miss having Mimi and Poppi around. At least we have skype!

Here is a slideshow of some highlights from their time here.

More Catching Up- Lydia's Birthday

2008-07-25T04:40:00.000-07:00

I'd been wanting to post a few pictures from Lydia's birthday, back in May, and never got around to it until now. She turned 2 years old! We had some friends over and had fun playing in the park and then eating dinner and birthday cake. I also have to show off my birthday cake creation- I made a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" cake. I made some cupcakes to go with it, that were decorated with the fruit the caterpillar ate through. This story was Lydia's favorite book at the time. Now she always wants to read "Sheep in a Shop" and "Time for Bed." Here are some pictures from her birthday party.

Summer Fun (Catching Up)

2008-07-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a long time! It feels like our lives have been a whirlwind since the last post, but it's been a good whirlwind.

The end of May brought the end of Aaron's first school year of teaching in Russia! It was a great year for him.

The first week of June was spent at a dacha (a Russian country house). It was a rustic, but fun experience, even though it was chilly most of the time. Lydia loved it, although it took her a while to decide the potty (an outhouse) was a "nice potty." She loved running around in the great outdoors, and "helping" the landlady with the gardening. Some of our favorite things were hiking through the forest & fields, seeing a beekeeper, walking to the little country store in the morning to buy fresh tvorog (like cottage cheese) and smetana (sour cream), making shashlik over the grill, and last, but definitely not least, experiencing a banya (Russian sauna). Here's what a banya is like: You all strip down and go into a little room with your friends (and maybe the landlady), and the room is so hot you feel like skin is going to roast and burst into flames at any moment. After you sit there for a while, the landlady pours water over some hot rocks, and steam bursts out all over the room, making you realize that the way you felt before wasn't hot at all. (At this point, I was begging the landlady to let me out... she wouldn't let me...) You gasp for air, and once you start breathing again, you all start beating each other with birch branches. They do make the air smell nice, and you're supposed to breathe deeply to get the full healthful benefits. After a few beatings, you head out to the outer room again, where someone promptly douses you with COLD water. Yipes! I was screaming for mercy again. The landlady had none! Then you sit around in the lounge area of the banya cabin, drinking tea, and discussing how great it all is for your skin, your heart, lungs, and overall health. Oh, and then you go back in and do it all over two more times. Quite the cultural experience. I do have to admit, I felt refreshed and relaxed after it was over. And after the second time I learned to endure the heat/cold like a real Russian. Here are some dacha pics:

"Our" dacha

Making shashlik

People buying fresh milk, smetana, and tvorog

The rest of June and the first week in July was spent in the US! It was so great to spend time there again, and to see some friends and family. To get there, we took the train to Helsinki and flew out from there. Here's a picture from a boat parade we saw in Helsinki.

At the beginning and end of our trip, we were in PA, with my (Danielle's) parents. Here are some highlights:

Fun with Grandma...

And Grandpa!

Visited with lots of family (here with Great Grandma & Grandpa)...

Went canoeing...

Visited my brother and his wife in Washington, DC (you can see this view from their apartment!)...

And celebrated the 4th of July!

In the middle of our trip we went to Kansas City for Aaron's friend's wedding, and then headed to Arkansas to visit family there. Here are some highlights from that part of the trip:

Croquet at Mimi & Poppi's house...

Riding on the ski boat and "ski-bob"...

Kayaking & playing at the Buffalo National River

Meeting up with Aaron's brother's family (Lydia loved being with her precious cousins!)...

Time with family (here with Great Grandma)...

Playing in the water and seeing a big fish at the War Eagle Mill...

Dancing at the wedding...

And becoming a Razorback fan!

Now we are back in St. Petersburg, and it actually felt good to come back here again. A week after we got back, Aaron's parents and their good friends came for a visit. Their friends got a good cultural experience right off the bat, riding the metro at rush hour, with all their luggage on the way to our place from the airport. They got squished good! We're having fun showing them all around town, and I think they're enjoying taking it all in. They did a great service project for us, putting screens in our windows. We can finally sleep all night without having to wake up at 2am to swat mosquitos for an hour! Yea! Thanks, guys! Yesterday we took the electric train to visit the Peterhof palace, so here's a slide show of that. The fountains are amazing! This was our first time there, too.

Photo Shoot

2008-05-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures we took of Lydia in the park yesterday. She's quite the little model. We wanted some two-year old pictures, since her birthday is coming up soon!

христос воскрес!

2008-04-28T03:36:00.000-07:00

The title means, "Christ is risen!"- a greeting we heard several times yesterday. According to the Orthodox calendar, Easter was yesterday, and it is celebrated at this time in the protestant churches, too. Here is a picture of our first "kulich," which is the special easter bread, that we had for breakfast yesterday morning.

Here's the display that was in the front of the church, featuring dyed eggs and more kulich.

And some fellowship after the service.

And here's Lydia, modeling her Easter outfit before church (thanks to Alisa for the hand-me-downs!)

Ouch!

2008-04-21T04:46:00.000-07:00

Last night Lydia had her first experience with a hot iron. The temptation to touch it was overwhelming, and she got a little burn on two fingers. It caused a lot of tears, but the bandaids made it feel better. Check out our youtube to see her talking about it.

Here's a picture I took this morning of Lydia working hard at her office!

Talent Show

2008-04-12T00:55:00.000-07:00

Last night Lydia made her debut on stage at the International Academy Talent Show! The plan was for her to sing "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Jesus Loves Me" with Daddy, but she was a little too distracted to sing much. She was more interested in going up and down the stage stairs. The audience started to sing with her, and she actually started to sing into the microphone, but when a feedback noise startled her, she got a bit distracted again. So, she ran upstage, but then ran back clapping and cheering at the end of the song. Not bad for her first performance! Her cuteness still scored some points with the judges!

Aaron played one of the judges- the "mean" one that always gave low scores:

We put a clip of the end of Lydia's performance on YouTube, so you can check it out with the link in the sidebar.

In other news, we recently returned from a trip to Moscow for a few days. Here are some pictures:

Panoramic of Moscow River, Kremlin, Red Square

Red Square

St. Basil's

Moscow River & Kremlin

The wall inside our Youth Hostel

Red Square

On the train back to St. Petersburg (close quarters for 8 hours!)

Four hours in Finland

2008-03-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting some pictures put up from our trip to Finland a few weeks ago. We went on March 8th, because we had to leave the country to re-register after being here 6 months. We took a bus to a town near the border, called Lappeenranta. We only had about four hours there- just enough time to see a little of the town and do some shopping. The town is in a part of Finland called the lake district, and it looked like it would be very pretty in the summer! It was a long day on the bus, but it was comfortable bus, and Lydia did very well with traveling.

Here are some pictures.

Birds again

2008-03-03T03:01:00.000-08:00

After my last post, I just checked on the internet for info on Russia's birds, and I found that there is a lot of great info on Wikipedia. If you're into birds, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Russia.

It seems that the chickadee-like bird in my last post is called the Great Tit, and the crow is called the Hooded Crow. It looks like Russia has lots of interesting bird species- we just may not see many of them in St. Pete!

For the Birds!

2008-03-03T01:14:00.000-08:00

A while ago I promised some bird lovers out there that I'd put some pictures up of the local birdlife... so here they are. Not too much variety that we've seen. Maybe there will be more in the summer, but maybe not, since we do live in a big city. I haven't taken the time to research what these birds are called, but some look very familiar. Here's what we've seen so far.

First, very familiar... lots of pigeons!

Some ducks and sea birds:

Some kind of sparrow:

We see many of these crows here. They sound just like an american crow.

Finally, these look like some kind of chickadee.

Gryazni!

2008-02-16T00:25:00.000-08:00

The word in the title means "dirty!" That is the way our apartment looks right now, because of some plumbing work that was done yesterday. Our landlady wanted to have a pipe replaced, so two plumbers came with her to work on it yesterday. I didn't realize what a big job it was going to be... When I left in the afternoon for my language lesson, the stove and some cabinets were torn out, and they were making some holes in the floor & wall of the bathroom. They tracked big glops of mud through the hallway, too. By the end of the day, everything in our kitchen, toilet room, and bathroom was covered in a fine layer of gritty dirt! Our cold water still wasn't working normally, so they came back this morning, and they're working on it right now. I think they're also putting a new faucet in the kitchen. I'll have my work cut out for me with cleaning when they leave!

Here are some recent pictures of Lydia with two of her friends. The first one is of Alisa, and the second one is Isaiah. Both are two years old. Isaiah has spina bifida, so he can't walk yet, but he has strong arms and can get around with an army crawl. He loves to chase Lydia around, which makes them both giggle and laugh. We're thankful for the friendship of the parents of these children, too!

"Kick-a-ball snow!"

2008-02-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

The title says what Lydia wanted to do today, since we had a nice fresh coating of snow this morning, and it continued to snow most of the day. So, this morning we went out for a while to frolic in the snow. Once we got out there though, Lydia was more interested in "kick-a-snow." She also really liked to scoop the snow up with her mittens and brush her hands together. If you want to see some videos of Lydia in the snow, check out the You Tube link- I plan to put some up soon.

Snowy Sunday

2008-01-27T06:16:00.000-08:00

This morning we woke up to a pretty blanket of snow covering everything. It makes the city look so much nicer! We took a walk in the park before church and took some pictures.

As for an update on Lydia's potty training... She is doing great! She still naps and sleeps at night with a diaper, but otherwise, as she says, "No diapers! Big girl!" Only a little accident every once in a while. It only took her about a week to get the hang of it. Now that she is a "big girl" she has decided she doesn't need to nap. After lunch she always says she is tired and wants to get in her crib with "Aa-aa Baby" (her monkey and baby), but she just spends one and a half to two hours in there playing, talking and singing. At least she's usually happy in there, and I still get a little break!

Lydia is learning and talking so much. She can count to ten, and sometimes 13, and she tries to count to 20 (it usually ends up, "iteen, iteen, iteen, TWENTY!"). She also surprised me one day when she suddenly started reciting all the colors and animals in the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See... in order! She tries to say all kinds of things that she hears us say, and makes up two-word sentences. One of my favorites is that when she calls to me from another room, she often says, "Hey Babe!" I guess she heard that from Daddy! She's so much fun at this age. Some of her favorite activities are coloring, stacking blocks, playing with her Noah's Ark toys, pushing her doll (or anything else) in the toy stroller, and playing soccer with Daddy ("Kick-a-ball!"). Today she and Daddy played soccer in the snow.

Lydia is also learning to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me. The first one often goes, "Minkle dar, How I won... sky!" The second goes, "Jesus Me, Jesus Me, Bible tells me so!" And sometimes the two songs end up merging into one medley!

Plops?

2008-01-19T03:13:00.000-08:00

This slideshow gives you a glimse into what has been consuming my time this week! We decided to go into potty training full force. I guess I should say I decided, because Lydia had her doubts about it. We started on Tuesday, with NO diaper. Lydia was excited about wearing panties, but she soon decided the potty wasn't for her. We had about 7 wet pants accidents that day. The encouraging thing was that I knew she could hold it when she had to go, because she'd hold it the whole time she was on the potty, and then let loose when we put her pants on.

The next few days were met with varying amounts of success. Lydia's favorite phrase when I sat her on the potty was, "No plops!" After six "accidents" just yesterday morning (I don't think they were exactly accidental), I was glad when the nanny came to take over, and my language lesson gave me a break. Last night Lydia did much better, and so far today only two sets of wet pants, and lots of "plops!" We're making progress!

On another note, Aaron is gone today with a friend, helping to deliver Christmas gifts to children whose mothers are in jail. Our friend got connected with a neat organization that does this, and I'm excited to hear how it went.

Aaron's first two weeks back at school after Christmas break have gone well. He is enjoying his teaching, and the weeks fly by. He said he'd much rather have that job than the one I'm doing right now!

Here's a recent picture of Lydia trying out a new treat. These things are like pelmeni, except instead of meat inside, they have fruit. These particular ones had blueberries, and Lydia talked about her "purple hands" for a long time afterward. I think these are usually boiled, but I tried frying them too and liked them better that way. Reminiscent of McDonald's apple pies.

By the way, we have some new videos on our YouTube site (see the link to the left). They're of Lydia, of course. And of course, they're cute! :)

Here's one more picture of Lydia being creative with her underwear.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-05T04:21:00.000-08:00

We have several new pictures and stories... First a view of the area right outside of our apartment building on January 1st. All the litter you see is the remains of fireworks (some very large, loud fireworks) that were being set off all through the night until 3 or 4 in the morning. We hardly slept at all, but we had some neat fireworks displays right outside our window! Thankfully, Lydia slept through most of it and only woke up once. New Years Eve is the biggest holiday celebrated here.

Here's a close up:

On December 27th we took a walk around some of the historic parts of the city in the afternoon & evening, and we also went inside St. Isaac's Cathedral. Here are some pictures from that walk, and inside the cathedral.

We had another fun day on Thursday. We finally got to see the inside of the Hermitage (in the Winter Palace). Every first Thursday of the month is free admission, so we decided to take advantage of that. We knew it would probably be crowded, since this is the major holiday week for Russians, so we got there right when they opened at 10:30 AM. There was a long line of people already waiting to get in, as you can see in one of the first few pictures of the following slide show. They're standing in a line, right? That kind of surprised me, because it seems like many other places where we would expect a line, Russians form more of a tight cluster around the entrance. Well, as soon as they opened the gates to the palace courtyard, the line completely disintegrated, and everyone rushed forward and mobbed around the doors! It didn't take too long to get in, and once we were inside, the museum didn't seem too crowded, since it is so huge. I mean huge! We were there from 10:30 to about 3:00, and we only saw most of the 2nd floor, and one room on the first floor. And that was even without really taking time to appreciate all the art. Even if you're not into art, it's an amazing place to visit just to see the inside of the palace. The opulence from the time of the tsars is just incredible. The Hermitage's art collection includes over 3 million pieces, and even though the place is so huge, only about 5-10% of it is on display at one time. We'll have to go back another time to see more of it. On our way out, we realized it was good we got there when we did, as there was a long line to get in, reaching all the way through the palace courtyard! You can see that in one of the last pictures of the slideshow. Lydia would have stayed home with her nanny, but she called and said she was sick, so Lydia came with us. She did great, and she brightened the day of the usually stern babushkas who sit in the rooms of the museum to keep their eyes on everyone coming through. One even gave Lydia a piece of candy!

One more slide show to share. This brings us to today. At 10:00 this morning it was -19 Celsius, and by 11:30 it had warmed up to -18! So, we decided to go out and finally try our ice skates and Lydia's sled! It was actually nice to be outside because the sun was shining for the 4th day in a row!!! You don't know how exciting that is until you've lived here for a while! The bundling up is quite a process, but Lydia loves going outside. We went to the park across the street, an she had great fun on the sled. No snow, but we pulled her around on the frozen pond. We couldn't stay out too long though- my toes and fingers started to freeze! I think I need some reindeer skin mittens and boots! I don't think I've ever experienced weather this cold. Now we understand why people kept telling us in December that it wasn't REALLY winter yet.

Here's a picture of Father Frost outside of Smolny Cathedral that we saw the other day. I guess he rides a boat in St. Pete!

Another Trip to Catherine's Palace

2007-12-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

Today we had a wonderful second trip to Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin) to see Catherine's Palace, while Lydia stayed home with her nanny. This time we toured inside the palace, which was breathtaking! (And Aaron got us the resident's price instead of the tourist's price, with his good pronunciation of "We live in St. Petersburg." We also had to show proof of registration). We took a lot of pictures to share with you on the following slideshow, but unfortunately, in the most beautiful room, the Amber Room, they did not allow photos. The entire surface of the walls are covered in a mosaic of amber pieces in different shades. There is some interesting history of this room. The treasures of the room were taken by the Nazis, only to go mysteriously "missing" while under Soviet occupation. For years, no one knew what had happened, and the Germans funded restoration of the room. Then, in 2004, it was revealed that the original Amber room treasures were accidentally destroyed by fire, while under the care of Russian soldiers. They were too terrified of Stalin to tell the truth, so they created a myth about what had really happened. 60 years later, the truth is now known.

Christmas Pictures

2007-12-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our Christmas day. We had a nice Christmas, even though we missed being with family. Lydia opened some Christmas presents from Mommy and Daddy, and then in the afternoon we had dinner at the home of some friends. Lydia enjoyed being with two other little girls. Maybe by the Russian Christmas (January 7) some gifts from Lydia's grandparents will be here! We put a new video of Lydia saying Merry Christmas on our YouTube site, so if you haven't seen it yet, you should check it out.

Walk on the Islands (12/22/07)

2007-12-26T09:27:00.000-08:00

Here is a slide show from last Saturday, when we took a walk around Yelagin and Kamenny Islands, which are in the northern part of the city.

Christmas on Nevsky

2007-12-20T10:35:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a Christmas party with our co-workers, and on the way home we did a video panorama of a little area around the Ploshad Vostanya Metro station, on Nevsky Prospect. First you see the metro station, then it scans to the square, and finally the Moscow Train Station (Moskovsky Voksal).

At the party, they also sang "Happy Birthday" to me, since yesterday was my (Danielle's) birthday! And, Aaron gets a pat on the back for showing up with flowers for me!

Here's a picture looking down Nevsky, toward the northwest, from where we were standing. It's not the best view of the street, but you can see the colored lights above it. This direction would head toward the Neva River and the Winter Palace.

Thanksgiving & Mother's Day

2007-11-25T10:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Mother's Day! Didn't know it was Mother's Day? It is in Russia! We didn't know it until we got to church this morning (the Nazarene Church across the street), and at the end of the service they had all the mothers stand up, and they gave us all chocolate. We had a good week, and enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with friends here. We had turkey and all the other traditional goodies. I made the pumpkin pies, and I even used real pumpkin. The canned stuff is hard or impossible to find here. The pies actually turned out to be really good! Here are a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving:

Lydia enjoyed lots of attention and playing with the other kids.

On Friday, we had a training session in the morning, and in the afternoon we went to the Russian Museum. It is a museum devoted to Russian art, and it was very interesting. Lydia spent the day with her nanny. Here is a picture of the Russian Museum, which was once a palace. Many of the rooms are very ornate. You can see the top of the Church on Spilled Blood in the background.

Yesterday (Saturday), we took a little trip by electric train to the town of Pushkin (also called Tsarskoe Selo), which is basically a suburb of St. Petersburg. Some people were having kind of a yard sale, which we wanted to check out, and we took the opportunity to check out the Catherine's Palace while we were there. Althought we've heard the inside is beautiful, we decided to save that for another day and enjoy the rare sunshine outside. The palace is surounded by a gorgeous park and gardens, with ponds, streams, bridges, and little islands. My toes were froze by the end the day, but it was a nice walk. Since the sun is always so low in the sky now, it made for some neat lighting in some of the pictures. As you can see in the following slide show, Lydia slept through most of the walk.

New Link

2007-11-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

I have added a link to our You Tube page, where you can watch some cute videos (all of Lydia of course). The newest one is of Lydia counting. It usually goes, "two, tee, two, tee..." Although sometimes, she does include four after three, and if I'm counting with her, she knows that nine comes after eight. I'm not sure where "one" is; everything starts with two! Of course, it's always better to have TWO cookies, or TWO books, isn't it? Maybe that's why she now insists on sleeping with her baby and her monkey (whom she calls "aa-aa.")

Lydia started coming down with a cold again yesterday. It doesn't seem too bad so far. She was coughing today, but didn't seem to be feeling too bad. We put her to bed a little earlier than usual because she seemed tired, but now (9:25 pm) I hear her in her crib talking and singing. At least she's happy.

When Lydia has a cold we get all kinds of Russian advice on what is good for her- warm clothes, especially around her chest and neck, and make sure her feet are warm; honey; absolutely no cold drinks- her milk and juice should be warm; and lots of vitamin C. I guess it makes sense!

Slide Show from Oct. 20

2007-11-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

Here is another slide show from October 20, when we took a long walk around some of the historical sites of the city. Enjoy!

Smolny Cathedral Slide Show

2007-11-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

I figured out how to include a slide show! This one is of the Smolny Cathedral, which is very close to where we live. The pictures are from September 30, and it was a beautiful, unusually sunny, day. (We now realize how unusual a sunny day is!) The fall leaves were very pretty!

Snow!

2007-11-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

Here is the view from our living room window two days ago, and it still looks much the same! It snowed a little on Sunday, but this was the first snow to stick around. Yesterday there was a nice light snow falling all day. We felt like we were having the real Russian experience, walking down the street in the afternoon with the snow falling. The snow quickly melted and turned to slush on the streets and sidewalks, but the trees and parks looked pretty. Our cultural training session for the afternoon was cancelled, so we visited the Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospect. It is still a working orthodox church (so it was free to get in!). There was no service going on at the time, but there were many people lighting candles in front of the icons, or praying and kissing them. This was a new thing for me to see! It was beautiful inside- unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures. I didn't have my camera anyway, so it was just as well. If you want to see a picture of it and read some information, you can go to http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/kazan-cathedral.asp .

I had another new experience on the metro ride home. It was rush hour, the most crowded time to be on the metro. We waited with the horde for the train to come and the doors to open, and as soon as the last person exiting the train stepped off, we all pushed and squeezed onto the train to fill every possible space with people. Aaron and I got separated and I was smooshed up against someone sitting on the opposite side of the car (I had a hard time keeping my bags from hitting the lady in the face.) This was a bad situation, since we were getting off at the next stop, and I had several layers of people to get through to make my way out the train doors. When we stopped, Aaron was able to slip out, but I couldn't get through! I tried hard to push people out of the way, and say, "izvenitya!" (excuse me), and I finally got to the open doors. Unfortunately, this was at the exact moment that the next flood of people started streaming into the train car, and I had to back up or risk being trampled. So, I yelled out to Aaron that I would be back, and I had to get out at the next station and then take the opposite train back. Not really a big deal, just an interesting situation. I need to learn how to say, "I'm getting off at the next stop," so that I can get reshuffled and closer to the doors when I'm in a big crush like that. The most interesting thing is that with all the pushing and shoving, no one gets upset or starts swearing at each other. Everyone just keeps a straight face and acts like nobody else is around, even though their body may be in contact with 5 other bodies at one time. It is just accepted as normal, because it is. It works the same way squeezing onto the escalators. If you can get past any notions of personal space, it's not too bad.

2007-11-06T10:49:00.001-08:00

Here are some more pictures! First, one of the views up and down our street, and what our stairway looks like inside. On the outside entrance to our building, you punch in a code for our apartment, and it rings our "domaphone." We can then pick up the domaphone, ask who is there, and push a button to open the door. Then you would come up the stairs to our apartment.

Next, some pictures of the park near our apartment. Lydia loves the sliding board. You can also see her see-sawing with her friend Abby. The last picture in the collage is of the main park entrance.

And finally, some street views near the park entrance. There is amazing architecture all around the city.

More pictures!

2007-10-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

Here is our living room. You can see we have a nice large window, and a large storage cabinet area. You can also see the great drying racks you can find here. Most people don't have dryers, but these racks work quite well in the winter when the heat is on in the buildings. Most apartments are quite warm (some people say too warm, and you can't control the temperature).

Here are the rest of the rooms in our apartment. The washing machine is small compared to American standards (and it takes about an hour and a half for one cycle), but we are so thankful for it, since I don't think there are laundromats here. We are also thankful for the new toilet, which you can see is MUCH nicer than the old one. Lydia's room is currently occupied by a friend from central Asia that is staying with us, so you can see Lydia's crib in our room. We currently have 2 single beds, but we plan to push them together and put a large mattress on top to make one larger bed.

Welcome to our Blog!

2007-10-22T02:48:00.000-07:00

Hello! Thanks for checking out our blog! Our hope is that it will help you to experience a little bit of life in St. Petersburg with us! First, a picture from our trip here. This was our flight from the US to Frankfurt, Germany. Lydia and another little friend had great beds to sleep in on the way. They slept a little (think slumber party!). So Mommy and Daddy also slept a little!

Now for some pictures of where we live! This picture shows the hall of our apartment, looking towards the entrance. Then you can see the close up of the inner door, which Aaron had to smash open with a meat mallet, after we got locked inside our apartment, and our friend and the landlady had to climb in through the window to try to help us!

If you come inside our door and turn left, you would see the entrance to our living room.

Straight ahead, you would see the door to our bedroom, which you see in the picture below on the left. There is an old freezer in the hall, which probably doesn't work. There are all kinds of odds and ends that were either left here by tenants, or belong to the landlady. Lydia's room is to the left if you are facing our bedroom, and if you turn right, you see our toilet room door straight ahead (below, right).

If you go toward our toilet room, the kitchen is on the left, and the bathroom is on the right. Now for the kitchen:

Everyone seems to have these great dish racks in the cupboard above the sink. -->