First Day of School 2009

Polo Shirts - Check
Transformer Backpacks- Check
Summer Tans- Check
New Lunchbags- Check
Jealous Dog (in door window)- Check

Presenting one Fourth Grader and one Second Grader ready, but not "overly excited", to return to school.

Can't you just see the "Joy" on Nikolai's face!

Summer update

So as everyone can see by my lack of upkeep of the blog for the summer, I will retrace the main reason for the delay.

In mid June, I traveled to Las Vegas for a work conference.
I returned for a short period, before departing to Denver with Oksana in tow to visit my brother, SIL and niece.
After a whirlwind trip to Denver, I returned home for a few days at the beginning of July.
July 5, I left for a work conference in New Orleans for a week!

I came back for a week to work and take kids to Doctor appointments; then we packed up and left on July 18th for Orlando returning on the 27th.
On July 31, I headed out again, this time to Michigan for some family reuniting and blueberry picking. Needless to say, by that Sunday I had a raging fever, my body was exhausted!

On Saturday, August 8, Vitaly turned ten years old. I can't believe I have a pre-teen! We celebrated his birthday and enjoyed catching up with some friends.

As I take a big breath, I am happy to say that I will not be traveling anymore, at least through the end of August! I will enjoy these last few days of summer, and even take a day off to really enjoy a summer day with my children, before school begins in less than two weeks. The summer has literally flown by me!

The Final Florida pics

Masha with a cold beverage, hot sun and great pool- can it get any better!

Ukrainain Angels Reunion 2009

Valerie, Oksana and her Ukie Best gal pal Z!


Cool Dude

Downtown Disney

Cinderella and her Prince

Valerie treats the kids to a Disney Pez (she is soo sweet!)

Princess Oksana

A Ukrainian Rose

Discovery Cove Florida - in pictures

We LOVED LOVED LOVED Discovery Cove in Orlando!
Valerie and Masha swam with the dolphins
We swam in coral reefs among manta rays, beautiful fish and even sharks nearby.
Vitaly and Valerie did the (what felt like) half mile lazy fresh water river about 15 times and enjoyed every adventure!
We loved the stingray lagoon and swimming all day and the food and drink was great!
A great time was had by all in this little piece of paradise hidden inside of Orlando.

Masha, Valerie and the gang!

Florida: Seaworld

SEAWORLD: What a great time touching dolphins and stingrays, riding the rides, and watching Shamu and the other shows! Fun was had by all (especially getting drenched at the shamu show!)

Florida (in pictures) days one and two

We arrived in Florida after 15 hours (but a rest overnight) to meet our dear and best friend Masha and her daughter from Ukraine. Here are days one and two... more to follow (click the pics to make them larger :))

Our Condo Pool (Vitaly, Valerie and Masha)

Nik " I am Pedro your Pool boy- do you want a swimmy or perhaps a cold beverage with an umbrella?"

A Ukrainian beauty at 11 and having the most amazing adventure of her life! (Considering she has never left Urkraine until now!)

Daddy does the slide (mommy NEVER did! Scary looking after all!)

Masha LOVED RED LOBSTER the last time she was here. Called it her favorite restaurant ever! So of course, we took her back to her fav and she LOVED it even more. I think it was the shrimp scampi!

Of course we needed a group shot (Minus me the typical photographer)

And what cannot finish a photo shoot without the bunny ears! (your classic picture for years to follow!)

bad words

As I was sitting and talking to some newly acquired friends at the pool, Oksana runs up and says,

"Mommy, Vitaly said a really bad word!" "
"He said a really really bad word!"
"Not stupid or shut-up, but the really really bad one! Like the one you say all of the time Mommy!"