Family vaca: Lake of the Ozarks, MO

Phew, it's been a busy couple of weeks. On Friday, June 12th, my brother-in-law got married and it was a little cray cray leading up to it, with all the setting up and details and out of town guests. All fun things, but when you are running on 4 hours of sleep for a couple of days, nothing is fun anymore:) Anyways, the wedding went great and then we took off on our family vacation. We just got back late Monday night and I think I'm still recuperating. 24 hours of total driving, 14 people in one house (13 of which got really sick during the vacation at some point or another), 5 rainy days, 4 kids under 4... It's easy to imagine how it all went, right? But you throw in one pool,  one lake, one boat, one ping pong table, 90 degrees, and a LOT of food and coffee and you got yourself a very fun relaxing chaos:) I always look forward to those times and looking back at the pictures is a little bitter sweet. Already wonder where we will gather as a whole family next. (Last year we were in Charleston, SC... Gosh, how things have changed in just one year.)

And below is a load of pictures...

Annika's first school year in a nutshell

Annika just finished up her last day of the first not quite daycare, not yet preschool school year in her hopefully very long educational career. At what age is it, by the way, kosher to start instilling your goals into the subconsciousness of your kids? Like when you say, you are going to be a doctor or a lawyer? Not that I do that or anything...
Seems like just yesterday I was an emotional wrack, writing this post about her first day.
This school year was great for so many reasons. The best part was when I would drop her off, come home, put Leo down for a nap and have me time. Every Thursday and Friday. For 2 whole hours. All the knowledge and skills Annika got come close second and I'm not even embarrassed to admit it:)
There were other moments worth mentioning too. Like the time Annika picked her nose throughout the entire Christmas performance (1 song), or when she inquired whether her teachers were wearing panties or not, or how she would refer to preschool as work for a while, or call her teachers Mrs. LaFountain and Mrs. LaDampsey all year long (it's just Mrs. Dampsey:)). I'm really going to miss hearing stories about her and having school-related conversations in the car after pick-up. It took her forever to start telling me what she did at school. For the longest time, school was, according to Annika, one big long snack break. But, oh, she would go into such detail about those snacks. Then gradually she started telling me more. First it was tattling (so-and-so pushed me!), then it was bragging (I pushed so-and-so), and then it was denying (I didn't push anybody. No one was even at school but me! We didn't read any books. We didn't sing any songs!). But the most fun part of it all was when out of the blue she would sing a song that I never heard before, or say a prayer that I didn't teach her, or tell me all about how Jonah was eaten by a big fish, or how firetrucks have a long metal ladder to help firefighters save people... It makes me so happy that my independent girl has her own little life that doesn't involve me and that she is happy. Just the best.
I can't believe how much she's grown in one year.

San Diego {according to my iPhone}

We've been back home a few days now, but I swear those 4 days in San Diego were enough to set us on the Pacific time. It's true when they say that one gets used to good stuff fast. Kiddies don't care though and it's 7 am wake up every day. Ek!

But below are a few more pictures from the trip. Since my big-girl camera weighs about 17 pounds, I sort of got over hauling it around San Diego and for the rest of the time my phone became my eye.

Our first day there was jam-packed with activity, but we made the rest of the time pretty laid back. On the second day we toured USS Midway, which is a huge aircraft carrier that was decommissioned from the Navy a few years ago. It was the biggest ship in the world until 1955 and it went through Vietnam war.  We spent about 3 hours on it with our audio guides. Later I also visited the rest of the Maritime Museum, while Greg was in meetings. I toured the Star of India, which is the oldest ship still sailing, Berkely (a really cool ferryboat),  and two submarines, a Russian one and an American one. The Russian one (B-39) was a beast! It's really long and has these round holes in place of doorways that make her even more claustrophobic. I almost had a panic attack, especially when I read that even the crew had trouble with being deep underwater in a long narrow iron tube. You know how they were supposed to deal with it? To shut up and get over it. After I read that, I zoomed towards the open thingie on top and climbed out. Spookie! 

We also spent a lot of time eating in the Gaslamp quarter, running along the harbor, drinking coffee and reading at coffee shops and just wondering around. 

We didn't have nearly enough time to see everything (like the much recommended La Jolla and The Coronado Island), but who knows, maybe one day we will be back? Maybe even with the kids when they are old enough to appreciate, say, one of the best zoos in the world:) 

It seriously was like a mini-honeymoon. It was so awesome to not have to split attention with the kids  and for once just enjoy each other's company without being pulled into a million directions. I would recommend trips like that to any married couple with kids. 

Sincerely, your marriage councilor:)

More photos below

San Diego, day I

When a few months ago hubby announced that we were going to San Diego, i was all 'oooo, it borders Tijuana, Mexico, that's cool'. I swear, this proximity to the scariest place (in my mind) was the only thing I knew to be interesting about San Diego.

Boy, was I wrong!

Just our hotel alone has more going on around it than out little village at home has in a year. For starters, it's one of the biggest waterfront hotels on the west coast. There is a tower on top of it which offers views of Mexico. There is the Kansas City Barbecue right across the street, where Top Gun was filmed, there's the little courtyard that used to be a police station in the 30s-40s and still has some original sells for public viewing. From our room we can see USS Midway and that famous WWII statue of a sailor kissing a nurse. 

On our first day, after a delicious breakfast at Brickyard Coffee&Tea. 

Then we did a city tour that included a ride along the harbor. Turns out military is the number 1 industry in San Diego, with the city housing 40% of all US Navy.

We made a quick trip to Balboa Park, which is home to a lot of museums and is a certified botanical garden. Lot's of history in this place. During the war it was overtaken by military. There is this beautiful reflecting pool there, that not only served for physical therapy during the war, but was also used to teach some marines how to swim (yep:)). There are also lots of Spanish style Baroque building that originally weren't meant to be permanent, but were reconstructed to last, because the locals were so enamored with them they wouldn't let them be demolished:)

We then headed to Old Town for lunch at an adorable Mexican restaurant called Casa Guadalajara. So good, oh my goodness. After lunch, instead of returning to our hotel with the buses, we decided to stay and walk around Old Town a little bit longer. A few blisters and some blood on my feet, we took a trolley back to the hotel happy to have gleaned a little history of San Diego.

We ended the day with a waterfront dinner at The Fish Market.

All of a sudden, proximity to the drug cartels of Tijuana is forgotten and I'm so in love with this city, I know I will want to be back. 

a weekend for the win(n)

Last weekend was sort of extraordinary. The weather alone was just the finest, but we also had so much activity that it feels like we can now go another year filled with leisurely weekends, where the only productive thing is to get dressed to go to church:) I'm not complaining, I love those types of weekends too.
For starters, I woke up Saturday morning, swallowed a banana and set of for my long run. 8 miles. In the books. Impressive for me, but not really considering that I have 2 weeks left till my mini-marathon and I'm only at 8 miles. But I think I can, I think I can:)
Right around lunch time, we loaded the kiddos in our bike trailer and went on our first of many bike rides as a family of 4. Annika and Leo entertained each other well. There was this one moment when I looked inside the buggy and saw Annika holding Leo's hand and they were looking at each other and grinning. My heart just about soared off my bike. We had lunch in our little village, rode by the lake, saw lots of people we knew, and visited with friends. Leo successfully passed out on the way home.
After the kids were put down for naps, I made a run to the store, made a salad and a cheesecake for dinner with friends (who, me???) and started painting our front door. It's mint now. In love.
Then we had an awesome dinner on our friends' porch and after that I painted some more, while Greg planted new trees around our house.
I guess I should say it was an extraordinary Saturday, because on Sunday we didn't even get to church. It was a rainy day and all of us had a cozy day inside, complete with chicken noodle soup, whole-wheat biscuits and even a board game.
(photos from last Friday, because I forgot I had a camera during the weekend:))

Easter Sunday

I always remember Easter to be a gorgeous, sunny day. All of my childhood memories of Easter are just like that. I'm not sure if all the 30+ Easters were like that, but I guess that's what I chose to remember. There was this one time I remember in particular. I'm sitting on a bench by my apartment building in Russia. It's early in the morning, but the sun is shining so brightly. I'm wearing a white dress, and happily dangling my feet in the air, waiting for my family. People, wearing beautiful dresses, are hurrying by with their families to catch a bus to wherever they were going. I've come down early because I was too excited to stand in the hallway of our apartment waiting for everybody. And all we were doing that day, was going to the cemetery. That was the Easter tradition in Russia (perhaps still is:)). I'm not quite sure what that means, but I remember enjoying myself.

Just as I expected, Easter this year fell on one of those gorgeous days, without a cloud in the sky. Leo was sick all weekend so I stayed home with him, while Greg and Annika went to church with Oma and Opa. Then everybody came home, we had a delicious lunch with yummy ham and let Annika hunt for eggs in the backyard. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting out of that, but the little candy-obsessed lady would pick up an egg and before you could even blink, open it up and stuff its contents into her mouth. 

Now that I think of it, that is exactly what I expected.

All week I was trying to talk to Annika about Jesus and the meaning of Easter. Once she asked me, "Where is Jesus?". After I said "everywhere", she goes, "Wow, that is a lot of where!"

Yes it is, dear, and it is GOOD! 

We are so thankful for the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Thankful for the Resurrection and the promise of eternal life. 

Leo is 6 months old!

I say this all the time, but I'm once again flabbergasted... dumbfounded... and stupefied at how fast children grow up. It seems as though just yesterday morning Greg and I woke up in a hotel room at 4 am to drive across highway to the hospital for my 5:30 am C-section. I can even feel the butterflies I was feeling then. I was so so SO nervous about that surgery and was mentally rehearsing a speech in which I professed my undying love for Greg and Annika, and how I wanted him to find a good mother for our kids if I didn't make it, and how he should never ever wash whites and colors together. I know! But what can you do when you are 39 weeks pregnant in the middle of a very hot summer and it's 5 am and you haven't eaten nor are allowed to eat for the foreseeable future? Pregnant + hangry+ no coffee. A gallon of fluids via an IV did little for me, except maybe made me so swollen that even my ear lobes looked pregnant.

Then they made me walk to the operating room in that gown that had no back. But at 5:30 no one cares (a little part of me did though, no coffee and all). The OR was so cold, my top and bottom teeth couldn't find each other, much like my thoughts. I was so nervous I could barely talk and I kept asking if it was normal to feel so nervous and if I was going to die. Then the anesthesiologist gave me the spinal block and it worked before I even counted to three (mississippylesly). And I repeatedly asked if I was very exposed and if everything was going according to the plan.

I knew I was being cut by the smell of the burning flesh. Awesome! To keep my mind off of the smell, I asked Greg to tell me about work, because that always makes me snooze:) I didn't.

That part was quick and then the doctor and the nurses started pushing on me something awful to get the baby to come out. I thought a car was driving over my chest and all of a sudden I couldn't breathe and once again started asking what was going on and if I was dying. I wasn't. Praise the Lord for the most comforting anesthesiologist who stood by my ear and told me things like, "this is supposed to feel that way... your O2 levels are perfectly normal... it will be over in just a couple of minutes". And it was and we heard a tiny squeal and then it was all a blur of people spilling out stats, one of which stood out the most  - A BOY! 

And I did die, of love and admiration. And I die every time I look at his sweet face that I kiss a million times a day.

Little 6-month stats:

He is a very chill little mister, much like his daddy, who loves observing everything around him, adores his sister (and has a healthy fear of her too:)), sleeps very well (7:30-7:30, sometimes with a little snack once + 2 one-two hour naps), and is a champ eater (95% for size). He sits up and grabs everything in his sight and promptly puts it in his mouth. He can roll, but doesn't like to, much rather prefers lying on his back and chewing on his own toes:) 

the one with the cute naked girl

Like in "The one with the ugly naked guy", only not?
(You get it? My anti-Friends husband didn't get it, so I have to ask...)

And no, by the cute naked girl I most definitely do not mean myself. (If my jelly belly had hands it would have slapped me on the face and ordered to get over yourself, Lena!)
The other night, after putting Leo to bed, I found Greg sitting on the floor of our bathroom with a drink in his hand, keeping Annika company as she was going potty. The two were having a grand time talking all things farts, poops, and politics. When time came to get into her jammies, Annika informed us matter-of-factly that she had to run around naked for a bit. O-kay! She was totally serious and when we asked her why, she said, "Because I said I have to run around naked for a bit." Duh! And so she did for 10 minutes. 10 glorious minutes complete with little feet making circles around the house, happy squeals, and oh my gowsh, the cutest joggling buns I ever did see. Then, panting and with rosy cheeks, she was ready for her diaper and jammies. She was satisfied and ready to hit the sack. She was out in no time.
We have much to learn from that girl. She knows how to unwind for the day. All we do to unwind is watch some Netflix over an alcoholic beverage. Surely not as fun. Unless it's Jimmy Fallon that we are watching. Hashtag old farts, hashtag couch potatoes, hashtag quit spelling out hashtag...
So anyway, as soon as I finish typing this and take a shower, you know what I'll be doing. 

the one with random numbers and random pictures

6 children, 12 adults, 5 hours, and 4 total naps. 3 cartons of eggs, 24 french toast slices, 24 tart shell desserts, 5 cartons of strawberries, and cups of coffee too numerous to count. Zero meltdowns. Several dirty undies, though.
Nope, not a week's worth of life. Just a Sunday brunch at our house. I live for these brunches, even though every time I confirm to myself that I'm a terrible hostess.
I forget to introduce people who don't know each other. I never have enough plates/forks/glasses/coffee mugs. I had napkins today and I considered it a success. I put people to work. Thanks, Kirbs, for making all those toasts. Thanks, Linds, for making the sausage links. Thanks, Aaron, for making bread. So basically I just provide the house, the table and the chairs. And I don't even have enough chairs for everybody. Somebody send me to an etiquette school!
People continue to accept our invitations though, so it must not be as bad? Or maybe it's just my husband's charm and free coffee? I don't know, but I'll take it.
I love having people at our house, whether it's just a couple of friends, or a group so big, you aren't sure you've had the chance to chat with everybody. As we were sitting at our table today, chatting, too full to get up, I caught myself listening into several different conversations. I wasn't particularly following any of them, because it's kind of impossible with several topics going on at the same time. Or simply because I'm just such a lousy listener? Scratch that, let's go with the first excuse!!! So I just sat there, smiling and feeling happy, like a fool:) I thought  to myself that I should really try to stay in touch with these people forever. I thought that I should be a better friend to all of them. I thought that I should probably be a better listener. I thought I should check in with friends during the week too, to see how there jobs were going or just to say I miss them. I thought I should probably stop eating. And for heaven's sake, I should definitely buy many many more chairs.
Some more random pictures, why not:)

Chicago Weekend for the Win(n)

As I was nursing Mr. Leo before bed tonight, I was browsing my phone (I usually read some smart book during nursing... no I do not!!!), I looked at my photo stream and was disappointed at the number of photos I took while in Chicago this weekend. My first thought  - fail. Because we all know that the level of success of a certain endeavor is determined by photo documentation of that endeavor.   No, it is not. Because yucky weather notwithstanding, it was a positively successful weekend not without some new experiences.
First, there was the "almost bribery" of a Chinese consulate worker, who helped us out with my brother-in-law's passport situation. We didn't intend to bribe at all, just wanted to thank the guy and make it "worth his while" for coming into work after hours. But he refused our Target gift card. He may have been worried about getting caught on tape accepting something, but I'd like to believe he was just acting out of the goodness of his heart. Ashley and Weishan should be about an hour away from Shanghai as I type this, thanks to the honest and kind Chinese consulate worker, who probably got a lickin' from his wife.
Then there was my first ever bathroom nursing. Standing up. My arms were shaking , but it could have been worse actually. Thank you Mr. Leo, for being a speedy eater. And thank you, Target, for your semi-clean spacious family restrooms. (Would you put a bench or something in there though?) I don't know about you, but this seems like a big deal to me.  Is a "Seasoned Mom Club" a thing? 'Cause I feel like I've just become a member.
One of our goals for the weekend was to get Greg a new wardrobe. I was planning to not shop for myself, but to help him. But you know that feeling when you walk into a clothing store and everything goes blank in your mind and all of a sudden you come home with a bunch of crap you didn't need? Yeah. Me! Neither!

So yes, two and a half iPhone pictures only, but we came home from Chicago with some money to spend at Target,  a new-found level of motherhood, and bunch of clothes that we don't need, but must have if we don't want parenthood and small town living to completely turn us off fashionability... Fashionhood? Fashioning? Agh... too late...