Wordy Wednesday: Amplexus

Exiting the Botanical Gardens in Yalta, Crimea, we heard the strangest noise coming from one of the ponds. Obviously, we had to join the other curious tourists to find out...

I asked Big Girl if she knew what they were doing {because this topic has been touched on during science this year, I wondered if she'd make any connections...we'd not transferred it to humans yet}. She wasn't sure, but asked me when we got in the van if I knew what those frogs were doing. I told her that I thought I had an idea. Guess what the topic was in Tea Time Tuesday yesterday?! {and because someone will be curious, we have this set and I used book 1 because this conversation was in the planning before this excursion.}

Anyway, being the responsible blogger that I am, I found this technical site that will tell you a little more about our little green friends- see first three bullets. Quite fascinating- who knew?!

All I can say people is to "be prepared" as the Boy Scouts exhort!
You never know when nature will just up and be in your face-
kids or no kids!

Yalta

We hopped in the van on Thursday of our vacation and drove over to Yalta. What a beautiful drive! The cliffs, the Black Sea, beautiful yellow flowers... We had a picnic lunch at the Botanical Gardens.

We had this view of the Black Sea

as we sat under the oldest tree in Crimea to eat. It's a pistachio tree. And other than it providing us with some much needed shade on a blistering hot day, I had no "wow-za!" vibes going on.

We walked around some and had a deja-vu moment
in the bamboo forest.

Too bad they didn't have the same outfit on!

Baby Girl, June 2010

Big Girl, July 2004
Big Girl, June 2010

We had planned on stopping at a palace we had not seen,

but couldn't find the entrance.
Our kids were getting a little delirious....

so we headed back. Without trying to sound snooty in the least, I didn't feel bad about leaving because we've "been there, done that" and had already spent time at Livadia where the last tsar used to live in the summers and where the Yalta Conference took place during WWII, seen some of the other big name places, etc. This time around, we had three hot and tired kids and none of those historical places really held much appeal!

However, a park for kids- which really ought to be called a carnival- in Sevastopol was right up our alley. The Boy was beyond happy getting to shoot a real gun (at about $1.25 for however long it took to empty the thing, they could have done this all day!). You can see how excited he was to shoot Spiderman down with his daddy. And then he told me, finger wagging in mid-air, about all the things he needed to buy for his own mini-arsenal.

As for the girls- well, my youngest wanted to ride the dog on the carousel. Make that one giant stuffed dog. It was thrilling as you can certainly tell from the look on my face.

{'T' picture for Baby Girl's ABC book:
tramvie which rhymes with pie}

I know- you probably only read to the end to see the frogs. I decided they needed a post of their own....tomorrow, folks- "wordy Wednesday" is set to post. And with that, so ends our Crimean vacation. Thanks for tagging along!

Greek Ruins in Crimea

Will this YH vacation never end?!?!

Yes- in a day or two.

I still have a slew of pictures I feel compelled to post on my blog. After all, will you ever get a virtual tour of Crimea again?

After our disappointment over not getting to tour the secret Soviet submarine base on Wednesday (see here if you missed that post), we headed back toward Sevastopol and planned to make a stop at Chersones, an old Greek city. Our GPS was not helpful, so we picked up a guy we had stopped to ask directions from and he got us to the right road (and he did not have to walk so far in the blistering heat!). The ruins here are quite extensive. Our kids loved climbing all over them. As we left, we noticed a sign saying we were not to climb all over them. {Oops.}









Come back tomorrow (or the next day)- we drove over to Yalta and you don't want to miss my frog pictures.

Conglomeration

Uploading pictures takes so long and it kind of wears me out. So I'm taking a break from our Crimean vacation to post this conglomeration {it's such a fun word, I'm using it again} of thoughts:

Do you remember when I said my goal was to make the stoic, unfriendly workers at the grocery store love us? Well, they now do. In fact, if I don't go in for a while, I've had the staunchest of the guards chase me down and ask why we haven't come for so long. And if I'm alone, they always want to know where the children are. We are now on terms where I must inform them if we're going out of town for a while so they don't get offended. Next strategic step...talk about Jesus.

Some time ago a wonderful bakery opened up down the street. They even have chocolate glazed donuts! We stopped in this morning to get some of those to give to our sponsors who are moving back to the States- they fly out in the morning and bless their hearts- the kids have had corn dogs for breakfast because everything is now packed up! I wanted some bread, too, for dinner tonight (they're coming) and I asked for one kind and the workers shook their heads and said, "It's not fresh." Isn't that precious?! They made sure I got fresh, soft bread. I'm taking them leftover brownies from tonight's dessert.

I got proofs back from Baby Girl's 2 yr portraits. Sergey handed me no less than 50 pictures. And there were SO many good ones, that it was hard to choose! We'd look and choose, and then I'd stare some more and think of her with that expression here at home and then love that one! Here are the four I let our parents choose from.


My son has a really tender heart. He can drive me batty, but he also melts my heart when he tells me I look pretty or when he offers to share something with his sister with no prompting.

The embassy community is having a yard sale tomorrow {for community members only}. I have two tubs of clothing and toys I am hoping to leave without.

Our ten year anniversary is this fall. We've had the same bedding for 10 years. It's time for a change, people, it's time. I have found what I want at Restoration Hardware. I've been praying for a sale. And that I'll sell a lot of these clothes so I can feel like I'm not paying so much out of pocket- do you ever do little "logic" games like that?

And I'm totally excited to look for some neat artwork in Rome to hang over the bed. We've never had anything up there I've been overly crazy about. Framing here is super inexpensive, so hoping I can score! I have two other framed pieces from other trips to Italy, so it'd be fantastic to add to that collection.

I buy my kids' clothes the year before when stores have big sales. {it's getting harder for Big Girl} Sometimes I forget what I've gotten. I have about 16 long sleeve shirts for The Boy in size 5. SIXTEEN!! Hoping to sell a couple this weekend and some will be saved for gifts. I need to keep a better list. Any suggestions?

I love lists. I just made a new chart for my "mom binder." I can write down what I've ordered online and check off when it arrives, if I send it back, and if the refund has been issued.

My mom has made us dental appointments for when we come back. I can't wait to have my teeth cleaned!

I hung up some artwork on the walls that aren't 3 foot thick cement. It feels a little more like home. I still need to schedule the guys to come hang up the rest.

The powers that be have finally decided it'll be a better use of money to buy two large rugs at about $400 a piece from the embassy warehouse (Mr. YH's office is not on the embassy furniture pool) than to pay $1200+ for one rug from a local place. That'll make things a little less echo-y and homey around here, too.

I was informed this week that they're closing down Big Girl's gym. Just like that. I'll call the coach when we get back to see if they've found a new location. {deep breath}

We're almost out of American diapers. I think I have one more box left. At least I have a month in the States and then we'll see what I can squeeze into some car seat bags on the way home. I'm not potty training until the child tells me she wants to. That's what happens with #3. (she has no interest in the pink potty that I've never gotten back to)

An exciting milestone for Mr. YH and I: we are now the proud owners- free and clear- of the white house back in NC. Praise God! And thankfully, the renters are still paying {mostly} on time. They have a year left on their lease and I hope we can unload it next summer. We'll see. Before I knew Mr. YH would be the one for me, I had prayed for a man that would be good with finances, a generous giver, and had a heart for missions. He is all of these and I am so thankful that he has a great work ethic and that he has a job that allows me to stay home with the kids. I don't think we've had one argument about money- plenty about other issues, but we're of one mind here (he's smarter, though!).

We have our school books for the fall. The government pays for them here because there is no DoD school. Tuition for one of the private schools is $20K/per child/year. Our total came in at less than $1000. Taxpayers, you're welcome.

Mr. YH might be coming home for lunch. I need to look in the mirror before he walks in the door. Have a nice day.

Sevastopol, Ukraine

Fun Fact:
Sevastopol was a closed city until 1996.

You may have heard of recent controversy over the port here: Yushenko, the last president, had said that the Russian Navy's lease would not be renewed and the Russians began building their own. However, when pro-Russia president Yanukovych was elected this past February, one of the first things he did was to extend that lease for an additional 50 years. Our friend Lesya says she thinks that the deal had already been negotiated by this man and his cronies the past 4 years and was simply ready to sign if he got elected.

See the ship in the background?
6 years ago this July, Mr. YH and I, along with Big Girl,
cruised down the Dneiper River from Kyiv to Yalta on that.
On this particular day, however,
we sailed the high seas in the Viking-esque ship for a tour of the harbor.

Where "they" sit to review the ships.

See the "red carpet?"

A very cool ship that had The Boy in awe:
it has a big gun!

An old submarine-

perhaps it used to traverse the waters of
the hidden base in Balaklava.

Of particular significance to The Boy:
Cranky the Crane
Yes, he really is alive!

Giving her daddy kisses.

{Have I mentioned how much we all simply adore Mr. YH?!}

This particular avenue along the harbor may
best be described as an alley where
unsuspecting tourists are accosted by
Ukrainians with exotic animals,
hoping to earn a few hryvnia for the photo op.

Big Girl with a chinchilla

The dumb thing left a little deposit on my child's hat!

Time out for a treat!
Folks, I was so excited to find my favorite ice cream bar:
the MaxiBon by Nestle!
I hadn't had one since we were in Ukraine last time!

The main park was beautiful!
So clean and well-kept!