Monday's Memories: My Favorite Castle and Winner!

We took a road trip to Western Ukraine in the spring of 2004. Turns out, we loved that part of the country because they spoke Ukrainian!! Although Ukrainian is the national language, the street language in Kyiv is Russian. The two languages are different enough to be confusing- like Italian and Spanish. Anyway, we visited a little village called Khotin that is off the beaten trail.

If you enlarge this, you can see that
the date on the sign is A.D. 1002.

At first, it didn't seem like much was here.
We went through this little guard shack.

But when we came out on the other side
and walked down the path a short ways,
this is what we saw:

The pictures don't do it justice.
It was just a hidden gem there by the river-
like we stepped back in time.

The Turks took over this area at one point
and built these structures.

Inside the castle walls.

The Turks added these symbols
in red to the castle walls
(try englarging to see them better).

To this day, this castle remains my favorite out of
all the ones we visited because it's still untouched
by hordes of visitors and the regulations of bureaucracy.

Now, on to the winner of the pysanky egg!

I printed off all of your responses- they were so fun to read!
I put them inside The Boy's Yellow Hat, and ...

Melissa Miller is the winner!
If you've never paid Melissa a visit, you need to do that ASAP!!
She is one of the classiest and sweetest laides you'll meet!

AWOL

We’ve been sick all week. First The Boy got it, and I thought it was allergies. But I woke up Tuesday feeling pretty miserable- enough that I held science class from my bed. Reminded me of all those days I went into school sick because it was easier than having to get things ready for a sub and to deal with the aftermath. Anyway, the girls came down with it and that was what I was afraid of. Thankfully, we have a nebulizer at home now. But I had to take Baby Girl into the doctor 3 minutes before they closed on Friday, anyway. Turns out I should have started it the minute she got a runny nose. At least we didn’t go to the E.R.! (Have I mentioned that I LOVE civilian health care?!? 4 more months of bliss…)

She may not be fond of drinking from a cup,

but she’ll wear that face mask

if she can watch Miss Pattycake videos

during her treatments!

Yellow Hat Giveaway!

If you look over on the side at my archives, you'll see I hit the 1ooth post yesterday. I knew it was coming and I felt a little pressure to have a monumental post or at the least a giveaway. Instead, I talked about {LAUNDRY} and how excited I was that one of four loads actually completed its entire weekly life cycle (pathetic, I know!)! Honestly, I have two friends on opposite sides of the world who are looking for some things I requested that I thought would be fun giveaway prizes and would go along with a lot of the travel posts I have. MK is in Japan and K is in Germany. MK has 5 kids and home schools them all, and K just landed in Germany and is probably still up to her eyeballs in boxes, so I suspect those items will take a little longer to get to me.

In the meantime, I remembered that I had a pysanky egg that I have been saving to give to someone. Pysanky are a national (Ukrainian) art form- they are beautiful!

This is the museum we visited in western Ukraine.

I had picked this up at a craft fair at the embassy
in Kyiv right before we left.

It is a real egg that has been hand-painted, and the colors are so pretty! It is ready to hang, or one could place it on an egg stand (sorry, this little stand goes with one of my own eggs!), or you could even doctor it up a little with a different tassel to hang somewhere.

So here are the rules/way to get entries for this small giveaway:

1. Leave a comment telling me about a neat souvenir you've picked up on a trip of your own = one entry. Don't forget- you don't need a blog to get this entry!
2. Mention this on your blog and link back here (make sure you tell me in your comment) and get a second entry.

I will figure out how to use that random number tool or
have my kids pull a number out of the
Yellow Hat
on Monday, August 31 following the memory of the week!

Laundry by the Number

Yesterday, I...

• washed FOUR loads of laundry.

• I dried THREE of those.

• I folded TWO loads.

• ONE basket was put away.

Anyone else have a successful day?!

Monday's Memories: A Visit to Philippi

Big Girl's Sunday School class has been studying about Paul and Silas the past few weeks. We printed off some of these photos for her to share with her class, and I thought I'd just use them as this Monday's memory.

"Look at these rocks!"
Big Girl (age 2) had no idea those
rocks were the ancient ruins of Philippi!
January, 2005
(once we finally got into Greece)

Ruins of the forum where business and government was conducted.

All roads lead to Rome.

One of the churches.

Off in the distance is where the
river is located where Paul met with
Lydia and the other women.
Acts 16:11

Amphitheater

The jail they believe
Paul and Silas were held in.

Acts 16:16-40

What a blessing to have the opportunity to visit a place in the Bible! While we were in Greece, we also visited Thessaloniki, Athens, and Corinth- my Bible reading has taken on new meaning!

A Peek Into Monterey

Last month, it seemed like we had a constant rotation of visitors inside the Yellow Hat. My mom was here for two weeks and a few days after she left, our dear ladies from North Carolina came.


Margaret, Mickey, and Boots (Margaret's 90 year old mother) were my angels in disguise while we were at Pope AFB. We met them at our church and we just adopted each other. They faithfully attended Bible studies I led, watched the children when I needed a break during deployments and that awful year Mr. YH was the wing executive officer, called to check in on me, and were simply good friends to us. These ladies would meet me at the gate of their community and take The Boy to their house while Big Girl had gymnastics. Afterward, they'd feed us dinner. They were our family on holidays. I'm not sure who this last move was harder on! But from the time they found out where we were going, Ms. Boots said she wanted to come back to CA to visit us (they all used to live out here and then retired in NC). So, FINALLY, we got to spend several days with them at the end of their 6 week adventure out to CA and back.

The Coast Guard Pier
has become a favorite
place for us to visit because
it's free and has great wildlife!

Sea Lions at the pier-
they are different from the harbor seals
we see a lot because they have ear flaps
and walk on their back flippers.

Brandt's Cormorants-
can you see the mother and her babies?
(Try clicking on it to enlarge)

This little guy was hanging out in the kelp for dinner-
sea otters are one of my favorites to watch!

Mr. YH's sister flew in for a weekend.
She lives in Palm Desert,
and she loved the cooler weather!

I did not use my zoom lens at all for this photo.

See?!

These babies were on a dock near a boat ramp.
I could have (if I were stupid) walked
up to touch them.

Marina in Monterey.

Stubborn Dutch Girl

I certainly DID NOT add a couple several drops of this

to get this result.

Perspective is sometimes the key to success.
We're taking baby steps.

Have I mentioned she is a stubborn little Dutch girl?!

Show Us Your Life: Baby Shower Ideas

On the docket this week at Kelly's Show Us Your Life:
Baby
Shower Ideas.

I love to entertain and host people in our home. And I am always thrilled to celebrate a new little life! Although this photo is dark, I think you can still see clearly enough to get some ideas. {You can also click on it to enlarge the photo if you wish-you can see the tiny arrangements better that way.}


This shower (above) was given in honor of a spouse in our last squadron. The event was scheduled for mid-morning, so the menu included tea biscuits, puffs filled with chicken salad, quiche, as well as fruit and a couple of desserts. I have found that finger foods or miniature versions of dishes work well and seem to be preferred by guests if they will be holding their plates rather than sitting at a table to eat.

Additionally:

• I like to use my china rather than buy disposable plates. The china is sturdier and this is a special occasion- what better time to use it?! In fact, I have a total of 25 salad plates to my fine china and as many salad forks of the good flatware for the times I host showers, parties, and squadron coffees.
• I love fresh flowers and they can even be given to the mother at the end of the shower to take home and enjoy. I saw a page in Southern Living a few years ago featuring baby shower ideas, and I fell in love with the little silver baby cups holding various floral arrangements. I had one from when I was a baby, and I was able to obtain several more on ebay. All you need to do is cut a block of that florist's foam that holds water and place it in your cup, Use a nail to pre-poke some holes that you can slide the flowers into and add some water. They're so pretty and unique to use on the table or around the house. You could even buy one and give it to the mother as a gift.
  

• A couple of times, I have purchased the little sheer favor bags and put in a couple of the pre-wrapped butter mints to give away as favors. The Dollar Tree has been selling those bags at a good price!
• Depending on the menu, I will sometimes buy placecards and label the food. For this boy's shower I hosted with my mother-in-law, I used baby feet and hand stickers on the cards to add some color and cuteness.
  

• Last, but certainly not least, I love having a short devotional at a shower because God is just so good and what a fantastic time to honor Him as well as encourage all of the ladies present. Sometimes, I'll have small cards pre-cut to hand out and the guests will write a prayer, a blessing, a favorite Bible verse, etc. on them and then I will compile those and a photo of each guest into a book to give to the mother.
  

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,

children a reward from him.
(Psalm 127:3)

Every good and perfect gift is from above...
(James 1:3)