YoHoHo!

Hi all,

Rin’s big adoption day came this summer and he decided it would be fun to go on a pirate boat trip up in Annapolis.  He was excited about it for weeks and would ask multiple times a day when we were going.  Guess I need to get this kid a calendar and show him how to read it.  Gigi decided to join us and it was a fantastically fun adventure. 

I have to say that the people who were running it completely made the trip.  They were young, full of energy, and had no qualms about acting completely ridiculous.  I have no idea how they can muster up that much pretend enthusiasm but my gosh it was effective. 

Rinat was so excited when he got there that he could barely contain himself.  He wanted it to start NOW.  (He needs a watch too I guess)  And he wanted to buy everything in the pirate store.  And of course, Gigi obliged with the gift buying at the store and they ended up with a plastic sword or gun for every hand.

Poor Bek was just confused by the whole thing. They did face painting before we boarded, and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.  Not even on his arm.  No one was going to touch him.  He did love the ‘wahwah’ (water) though and he loved the pirate songs they played.  At one point, we water gunned the bad pirate off the side of his dingy and into the water and Bek was very concerned and kept asking “Man go, Mama?”  He was very worried about him apparently.  He does have such a loving heart.  He is very empathetic and does things like see a photo of a dog somewhere that looks sad and he asks “Pantpantsound sad, Mama.  Pantpantsound mama back” (The dog is sad, Mama.  He wants his mama to come back home.) and starts to cry.  I have to reassure him that the doggy will be just fine and his Mama will come back.  It sort of breaks my heart.  He is apparently full of love for both real people and also imaginary animals.   

And have I mentioned that I just love Bek’s hugs and kisses?  They are fabulous, and most of all I love that every single slobbery, smushy-lipped kiss is followed by a hug.  Not a half hearted one but a full-on bear hug that he won’t stop until you reciprocate adequately.  I just love that. 

We also celebrated Peter’s 40^th birthday this summer.  My sweet husband, the best Dad ever, is middle aged.  But he can still hang with the best of them.  I just love to watch my three boys be boys together.  I sort of thought I might feel left out or like I was missing something if I didn’t have a girl but I really don’t feel that way.  I love it actually.  And I can’t imagine my life any other way.  I love all of the sports on TV, the Legos strewn across the floor, the excitement over a construction site, and I love the trips involving pirate boats. 

 

YoHoHo.  Love to all,  -m

Lake Week

Hi all,

After a crazy dorecho storm in DC in July, we escaped the power outages and broken stoplights, the lines at the gas stations and at the grocery store, and the fallen trees everywhere to head down to LBurg for a wedding.  Little did we know that the city of LBurg was even worse than DC. 

 Turns out we couldn’t even get to Gigi’s house the regular way because of so many trees blocking the roads and had to drive around the entire city and come the back way.  And so our plans changed.  Though the wedding was still on, the power was not and I didn’t think it was fair to leave the poor babysitter in the house with no AC (and it was 100 degrees- yikes), no way to cook food, no easy way to get there, no TV/internet/etc.  So we didn’t even unpack and instead we took a leap of faith that the lake would have power (and offered to be the advance team for the rest of the fam) and headed on up to start our week at the lake a day early.  Thankfully, the house was up and running with no problems and we threw on our swimsuits and went directly into vacation mode.

 Our sweet little Bek is a swimming FOOL.  I don’t know how this child came from a landlocked country because he was meant for the water.  Not only is he enjoying floating and swimming around in the water all day long, but this fearless little one is jumping off the dock to no one in particular, going completely underwater and bobbing back to the surface with a smile on his face just to paddle over to the ladder, climb up, and do it all over again.  For hours.  Literally, hours.  And the naps…. They are every mom’s dream.  They go on forever because he is just flat out worn out in a happy worn out kind of way. 

 Rin too is really into the swimming now.  He is a little less scared than he used to be and a little more excited to get out there and swim his little fanny off.  And, oh my gosh, the look on pride on his face just melts my heart.  He jumps up and down and shouts, “I can’t believe I’m swimming Mommy!  I can’t believe it!”  He too wears his little self out and the naps are long and this mommy gets some quiet time.

 I had a whole lot of time off this time around actually.  Kate and Jason played and played for the days that they were here and when they left in came Chris and Meagan to enjoy our air conditioning and power (still none in LBurg), then Ann, and then Tray and his fam.  And of course GigiMar were here for the duration and Gigi was happy to take the early morning shift.  It’s absolutely wonderful to be able to sleep in.  Pure bliss when I can wake up and lie in bed for a while before I have to get up and face my energetic, loud, babies who just want to crawl all over me and tell me every little thought in their tiny non-stop brains. 

Nothin’ much really happened while we were there.  But it was a good kind of nothing.  The kind of nothing where I get to read an entire book, where my blood pressure goes down, where I get to sleep the kind of sleep when I feel truly rested.  No nightmares (and I am plagued by them) no stress (aside from the stress of raising kids) and no drama.  Having nothing going on is pretty great as far as I’m concerned.

Love to all,  -m

Kaz Krazy

Hi All,

Just a few days after the end of school, after a 9 hour journey to Sandusky,Ohio, (we do love our road trips!) we were again amongst our Kaz peeps.  This time, it was for Kazapalooza- the weekend for Kaz adopters. 

We once again got to spend time with the friends who we met in Astana and Karaganda adopting our kids and those we have gotten to know virtually online.  It was the first time we’d seen Mike/Jen/Matthew since Astana five years ago when we were there adopting Rinat.  But we picked up right where we left off again just as we do every year with all of our Kaz friends.  We greeted each other like family being picked up from the airport and at the end of dinner on the first night my cheeks were sore from smiling so much.  It was bliss.

And the whole weekend was more of the same.  Just pure happiness to be there with these people who we have come to know so well over the last few years.  Rinat would wake up saying, “I’m so excited!  It’s Kazakhstan Day today!” every morning and he would rush us along until we finally bumbled our way down to breakfast where we kept our eyes out for families like ours.    

I just love that all these people from across North America with not a ton in common come and are best friends because while we may not live in the same place, have the same interests, or live the same sorts of lives, we all have this one overriding thing that we all share- the love of our Kaz kids and the country they come from.  It trumps all of those differences.  And, I have to say, that I know people out there who are not interested in keeping their children connected to where they are from and I just don’t get it.  But these KP peeps, well, we are a whole different breed.  We revel in it.  We roll around in the Kaz like pigs in a mud puddle, soaking it up and enjoying the feeling of being literally covered in Kaz.  We have the TShirts, the necklaces, the wristbands/earrings/hairbows/hats.  I am surprised that no one thought to tattoo themselves (oh wait- our friend Tony did!).  Everywhere we go, we see someone with the golden eagle and we know “they are one of us” and we give that little knowing smile or nod to acknowledge each other. We are proud of our adopted heritage and want our kids to be too. 

Our two year old was so riled up all weekend that he could hardly stand it.  He just bounded from one admirer to another, smiling and giving hugs to anyone who asked.  Everyone falls in love with our little guy the second they meet him- which is sort of standard- but there is just something that fills my heart when I see him palling around with what I think is an older version of him.  I just love to see him fit in so completely with his fellow Kaz-ites (OK, that’s not a word, I know.).

And the world couldn’t get any better than Rinat’s voice whispering in the dark over and over again to himself as he tried to go to sleep, contented lilt in his sweet little five year old voice, “I love Kazakhstan, I love all my Kazakhstan friends, I want to come to Kazapalooza every day, Ilovekazakhstan.ilovekazakhstan.ilovekazakhstan” until his little brain finally gave out and his breath slowed for the first time that day and he fell deep asleep. 

The water park was an absolute blast and the kids went bonkers for it.  We spent all day on Thurs outside with our friends from Karaganda, all day Friday inside, some more inside on Sat before the luncheon, and then we left the hotel grounds and headed off to check out one of the Great Lakes in the afternoon.  We hopped a ferry to Put-In Bay with all our Astana friends where there was Pirate Fest going on.  My kids are both pirate obsessed.

We wandered a bit until the little ones started to get hungry and we stopped at a seafood place on the water.  The kids were contentedly playing and the adults were enjoying a beverage and we all sort of stopped and looked around and someone raised their glass to toast our clan and said “Did you ever think five years ago that we would be sitting here together in the middle of Ohio with the kids playing like they are all best friends?”  Our friend Annette added that she hoped we would all still be here 30 years from now doing the same thing and I completely agree.  These people are our family.  Like our kids, we don’t share the same blood, but we sure do share the love and we want our kids to share it for a lifetime.  They were each other’s family before we even met them- and I think it is important for them to carry that link with them throughout their lives.  And I hope with all of my heart that they do.  I know I will do my best to support and encourage it by any means necessary.  And Kazapalooza is the perfect vehicle.  All in all, it was a wonderful, exhausting, exhilarating and fantastic weekend and we feel so fortunate to be a part of it.

Can’t wait for KP 2013.  See you guys in Texas…

Love to all, -m

And I just love my little backseat comedian.  He makes the hours fly by.  When he's not tired, hungry, dirty, wet, or bored that is.