Disney World Day 1

It was a busy day. We woke up at 5:30 am. Kira woke up seconds later. We had to wake up Aaron at 5:50. The taxi was waiting outside to take us to Dulles Airport. We flew Jetblue Airlines to Orlando, FL. That's probably our new favorite airline: spacious seats, unlimited snacks and drinks, tv screens in front of each seat. The kids did great. By tradition we had breakfast at Potbelly's at the airport.
Upon arrival, we rented a car (Nissan Rogue) and drove to Coronado Springs, our Disney resort. It's a moderate category resort, and that's exactly what it was-I don't have anything bad to say and nothing particularly good. Just average. Kira took a nap while Aaron and Cliff checked out the hotel's pool. I never got to see the big pool because the hotel is so big that you'd have to drive from our section to the pool section.  And that day was the only day we used the pool. The rest of the vacation we were busy running the race to the rides:) As we look back we realize that the vacation could have been a bit more relaxing if we didn't make a goal of hitting every ride and beating the crowds, but just letting the kids loose and enjoy the surroundings. Magic Kingdom is a magical place.

Aaron taking a bath after the swimming pool

Kira just woke up from her nap.

Chugging her afternoon milk at the hotel

After brushing up we went to explore our hotel. In the main lobby of Coronado Springs.

Kira's pointing at the fountain. Aaron's looking at all the money on the bottom of it.

That  evening we decided to take it easy and went to Hollywood Studios. We watched the Jedi Training Academy show where they take kids from the crowd (you actually have to sign up the very first thing in the morning when the park opens if the child wants to participate) to train them to be Jedi (from Star Wars). Then suddenly Darth Vader and his Storm Troopers appear and the kids fight him with their light sabers. I thought it was one of the coolest shows. I thought Aaron would want to participate but he said he didn't like the lady (Jedi Master in the  background)because she talks too loud. It was probably the whole show that made him a little timid.

Then we watched Muppets 3-D movie/show, and had dinner at ABC Commissary which we didn't particularly like.

 Spotted the Green Army Man from Toy Story and took a picture with him.

 

Our little Jedi with light saber on the way to hotel

That's how the kids fell asleep that night. I put them to bed while Cliff had to go to Target (we can't travel anywhere unless there is Target nearby because we always forget something)

Disney World Family Vacation 2012

This is just a preview with a couple of pictures. I plan to document this trip and put it in a picture book. Hopefully some time this week. But I know some of you can't wait to see the pictures, so here are a few:

 Aaron with his favorite Buzz LIght Year and Woody from Toy Story

 Cinderella Castle. Cliff's Birthday morning. We're heading to the breakfast with Winnie the Pooh.

 Cliff got a Happy Birthday pin and a card signed by the Pooh and his friends. Cliff was ecstatic!

 Meeting the Thumper

 A picture with Minnie Mouse in Animal Kingdom

And Mickey Mouse

"When I grow up..."

After I refused Aaron another sweet today he told me: "You know, mama, I don't like your rules. I want to be the one who sets the rules in the house" To which I answered: "Some day you'll have kids of your own and you can make up any rules you want and raise them however you deem right but for now I am in charge of setting the rules to make sure you turn out right". Aaron seemed to really like the idea:) So he went on:"When I grow up and have kids, they will eat sweets for breakfast, lunch and dinner, limitless"
Later, when Cliff was giving Aaron a bath and I told Cliff about this conversation, Aaron told Cliff that he will have 4 children: 2 boys, and 2 girls. And that he will be a single dad and that his mother (that is me:)) will help him raise the kids. There was much more to the conversation about the kids (like the names, Ocho Cinco,Jayden, Ashley and Claire, three of which are the names from Aaron's preschool class) but I went on to put Kira down and didn't hear the rest.

Christ is Risen!

What a beautiful day and what a beautiful event happened years ago. This is what the Bible is all about: Christ died on the cross and rose 3 days later to save those who believe in Him from the upcoming wreath for the eternity with God.

The kids woke bright early today which was actually good because we got ready for the 8 o'clock church service without being rushed. Also this morning we discovered an empty tomb in our front yard (I'll post more pictures and comments on that later). When we were setting it up yesterday our non-believing neighbors came over to see what we were doing. Hopefully it served as a testimony of the true meaning of Easter.

March Pictures

March has been a busy month here. We all got sick with cold starting with Kira and ending with Aaron. And right when Aaron was on a mend, Kira got sick again. And after 4 days of being fever free she started running fever again (the 3rd time). The doctor prescribed her Amoxicillin for suspected sinus infection, and after taking it for 5 days Kira developed an allergic reaction. And though she's been off the antibiotic for over 36 hours she's still all covered in rash and hives. Poor girl.
This morning the kids and I started planting our garden in the backyard. So far we only planted 8 bushes of strawberry and 5 different types of herbs. And of course, of all the days, tonight they predict frost at night:( Aaron was such a great REAL help. The plan was to put Kira down for her morning nap and spend this time with just Aaron in the garden. Kira didn't take her nap so we had to take her along. Being tired and sleepy though she was clingy and all she wanted was to be held. So I was holding her with one arm and digging holes in the ground with the other:) Maybe tomorrow we'll be more successful with her nap and get to plant some flowers on the side of the house.
Aaron is on a spring break from preschool and we have some plans for this week to have fun.
New pictures are uploaded in the new album to the left.
(BTW the "L" key on the computer doesn't work well, so if you notice any misspellings, please bear with me:))

February-March Update

Kira had her routine check up at 15 months. She remained in 95% for height but dropped on a chart for weight. She didn't gain anything in 2 months since her last check up where she was 25-50%. So now she's 10-25%. She is increasing her Russian vocabulary and she likes repeating words. We started learning shapes and colors and she is getting better and better with matching wooden puzzles. She loves doing whatever Aaron is doing and often tries to immitate his behavior which is why I often remind Aaron that he's responsible for whatever behavior she learns.

Aaron continues going to preschool and enjoys it very much. God has blessed us with Aaron's good health this winter and he only missed 1 day of school earlier in the year because he wasn't feeling well. We signed him up for 4 days of pre-K for the next year and I am hoping Kira will be taking 1 long nap a day by then so I can spend one-on-one time with each of them.

I had a parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago with Aaron's teacher and received a great report on Aaron. The teacher showed me his work with coloring, tracing, following direction, cutting. She said Aaron does excellent on those tasks. He loves doing crafts and experiment. He's patient and not impulsive. I asked her to elaborate on that one. And she said that when someone does something wrong, like takes a toy away from him, he doesn't hit but tries to resolve the issue peacefully with words:) He likes to help and is very independent (hmm, not sure about the last one:))

Here is a sweet story about Aaron:

One day we went to the park with Aaron and Kira. Aaron was running around and I was following Kira everywhere. She wanted to play on a dinosaur where 3 other boys (about 3 y.o.) where playing. They told her she couldn't play there because there wasn't room for her. When the boys moved on to another swing I put Kira on the dinosaur. The boys came back and basically pushed her out of the swing. As she was walking away (careless about the fact that the boys took over the swing) Aaron ran up and I said: "See Aaron, Kira was playing there and the boys pushed her out". I wanted to see his reaction. I looked at Aaron's face. There was definitely some extensive thought process going on in his brain:) He looked at Kira, then at the boys, then back at Kira, picked up some mulch and headed towards the boys. I knew exactly what he was going to do:) I said: What are you doing? And he answered: But they hurt Kira! I said: Drop the mulch and tell them not to do that anymore. He put on his angry face and approached the boys: Do not every push my sister again, do you understand? To which the boys answered: Yes. We won't do it again:)

Aaron's Russian has been suffering some in the past month. For no apparent reason he started speaking more English (even to me!) than Russian. As Cliff reminds me every now and then: Russian will NOT be his primary language because he lives in America. And I agree with that. But my fear is that eventually he looses his Russian completely if nothing is done right now. So, I have been working on that.

On Saturdays I take Aaron to a swim class while Cliff watches Kira, who is most of the time asleep. It's been so good to spend morning with my boy. He does really well at the pool. We're taking the class together but I think the next class he will be ready to do by himself.

The weather has been beautiful the past week and we spend a lot of time outdoors. I need to start preparing my garden for planting some tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and herbs. Just need to find time for that.

February 2012 in pictures

New pictures are here