No Excuse

Ok, I know that this page hasn't been updated in a while...and threre really isn't an excuse. I could find time once a week at least to jot down something so I can look back and remember what we did, what we looked like, how we played etc...

I am growing a baby! Inside my tummy--that takes some effort! And there are 3 other boys around here who are always expecting me to feed them! I do have an excuse!

Well, I did take the time to upload a few photos....I want to try and go back and put more--but here are some. Enjoy!

Click on the picture for more!

Weekend at Government Camp

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What an amazing weekend we had at Government Camp on Mt. Hood! Kirsten (tubing down the tube hill that we build ourselves in the front yard) invited us up to her mom's home in Government Camp. The little ski village is right at the base of Ski Bowl (downhill skiing) and next to some beautiful cross country ski trails-- if you are brave enough to forge the trails yourself.


Here is Kirsten's Mom--Grandma Jeanne. She is such an open and inviting person and shared her entire home with us and another family who also have 2 kids--a 5 year old and 10 month old. It is pretty brave to let into your home a 3 and 5 year old AND two curious 1 year olds who explore pretty much every nook and cranny. On top of all that--she didn't even know us until we drove up with our pillows and pajamas! She (and her family) is a rare altruist.


It snowed and snowed and snowed the entire time we were there, from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. The branches were hanging so low, almost vertical, from the heavy snow. And the snow was piled on, defying gravity.

Alyosha is "cleaning the snow" off of the fence.

The snow plow comes twice a day to clear the roads and at least once a day to clean up as much of the driveway as it can get to. So, the front yard has a 20 foot (at least) snow mountain--a perfect mountain to make into a tubing hill! Going down on one tube is good, but if you get two, you fly (and bounce). Jen's fun is bouncing down the hill.

Roma and Luka are sitting in their snow cave. On the second morning, the snow plow completely covered our wonderful tubing hill. So we decided to turn it into our igloo apartment building.

Luka LOVES the snow. He was warm and dry sitting on his little sled wrapped up by the sheep skin. He just sat and enjoyed the snow falling down on his face, the perfect little snowflakes hitting every millimeter of his little face. He watched the two older boys jump and play on the sledding hill and shovel the snow...next time he will be right beside them.

Alyosha was like a camel in the desert eating the snow. (to understand you have to see the Planet Earth series and the wild Bactrian camels--who eat snow little by little to survive) He kept saying that he wouldn't eat too much, only a little at a time like the camels do.

Jen cross country skiing. You have to really know where you are going--I went when the tracks were already made by a local. The danger is that this field isn't actually a field; it is a swamp. A swamp with little creeks and deep holes that you could fall into unaware because it looks like a beautiful flat meadow. Roma decided he would go early in the morning--and Kirsten offered to guide him through the meadows full of pot holes. (8 ft. deep pot holes) They made it back from the 2 mile trip just fine.

Alyosha got caught by Papa, eating snow. He tried to explain about the camels in the desert, but Papa hasn't seen that Planet Earth yet.

Luka is going to be our downhill skiier--he practiced all weekend on the stairs. He is already an expert at 'down stair' skiing.

Here is Luka in his little waterproof pouch we made for him from old waders filled with sheep skin.

Romka grilling the shashlik that we made for dinner on Saturday night. It was delicious!

Here is Rachel and Kirsten--all getting ready for dinner.

Notice the snow? It literally snowed the entire time we were on the mountain. Nice puffy white snow--

Here is a pic of the house we stayed in--it is almost necessary to have a warm place to go when you are playing in the snow with little kids! This was ideal--just down the street are literally hundreds of people clamoring for parking spaces and looking for the best sledding spot. We are so grateful!

Here is the downhill ski slopes--Grandma Jeanne's backyard.

The car ride home. I think that this is the face of someone who really loves the mountains.

Женька с детишками отправились в Эстонию

Сегодня утром первыми словами заспанного Алёши были: "А где мои билеты?"

Хорошо, когда все путешественники встают с правильной ноги и вообще в курсе происходящего.

В Портленде шёл дождь, в который так хорошо уезжать, настроение было на подъеме, вещи были заранее упакованы накануне, поэтому отъезжающие не спеша позавтракали, проверили наличие паспортов и пелёнок и отправились в аэропорт.

Когда Алёша заносил в машину свой маленький чемоданчик на колёсах, то попросил, чтобы его (чемоданчик) кроме Алёши никто не трогал. Мы как-то не обратили внимание на эти слова, о чём немного пожалели в аэропорту. Уже проходя перед кассами авиалиний Алёша остановился и тихо сказал, глядя на чемоданы, которые забирала служба безопасности для досмотра и отправкой как багажа: "Я не отдам свой чемодан им". Мы его успокоили, что мол его чемоданчик это ручная кладь и он всегда будет с ним. Однако при регистрации на рейс всю ручную кладь нужно было взвесить и прицепить наклейку, то бишь чемоданчик надо было отдать тёте, причём с подозрительным немецким акцентом. Неожиданно для всех, включая весь персонал Люфтганзы и пассажиров, Алёша, вцепившись в свой чемодан, дико заорал во всё горло и бросился бежать из зала регистрации.

В конце концов Алёшу вернули с чемоданом, но наклейку так и не смогли поставить.

Ну, будем надеяться, что полёт пройдёт удачно: 9 часов до Франкфурта, 6 часов во Франкфурте, пару часов до Таллинна и потом ещё часика 3 до Силламяэ.

Спасибо Олежке за встречу моих цыганят в Таллинне.

Trillium Lake

Мы уехали на озеро Триллиум в Орегоне. Вернёмся в воскресенье вечером. Телефоны недоступны.

We are off to Trillium Lake, Oregon. Coming back on Sunday evening. No cellphone connection.

More on The Secret

Maybe it isn't such a good idea to watch The Secret and allow attraction to affect your everyday life like I have been talking about. Here is what happened to us this weekend:

It was supposed to be a 3 day weekend for us. Romka took off on Friday so that we could go visit a friend who moved to Yaccolt. We were going to spend a wonderful day outside in the gorgeous weather and the kids were going to play together like angels and we were going to grill our dinner over the fire--the idea was perfect. Then, I am not sure why, except for the fact, maybe, that the friend that we were going to visit has a broken hand and foot and if there was anything that she needed help doing we would of course do for her--but, Romka took a sick day instead of a vacation day.

Well, as attraction laws work, Romka attracted himself a real sick day. He got to deal with 3 sick people at home, with liquids and foods flying out of their bodies in various directions. He got to spend half his sick day cleaning up puke and the other half of the day in the Emergency Room.

We are all better now. Over our stomach virus--and Roma never got it. Let me suggest the next time you are really sick, take a vacation day -- you will be automatically better and maybe some plane tickets will just fall into your lap.