Sascha's Summer Dance Recital

It was a tap number this time, to a song called "Stupid Cupid". The choreography was really fun and sassy. The girls looked adorable in their red dresses with red ribbons, and their tap shoes. Sascha cooperated with putting on her costume unlike last year, she did complain that the arm bands were itching her, but we told her she wouldn't have to put those on until right before she goes on stage.

She was in absolute awe watching other dancers rehearse when we did a test run at the rehearsal. They did the number twice and the second time she did much better than the first. I noticed that she was getting very distracted standing next to her friend Sadie the first time, so on the actual performance day I asked Miss Jackie if she could separate the two of you which she did.

We got to the Center of performing arts right on time, and Sascha watched the whole first half and was mesmerized by the older dancers. She never complained and while sitting on Baba's lap. During the intermission I took her back stage, helped her et dressed and left you with the rest of the girls to color and have snacks while you all waited for your time to perform. Cameron was a total trooper, the first half he just watched and didn't make a peep. The 2nd half, he got ansy, and I had to distract him with snacks and water, and anything else we could think of. I didn't have to get up with him once to take him outside, he endured the whole thing. I once again felt so nervous for Sascha, I just couldn't help it.

Sascha did great, although she did look a bit frightened while on stage, she danced her little heart out. When we talked to her, she said she had fun doing it, and that's all that matters. She makes us proud every day!

 The performance photos are from the rehearsal

A few after shots taken w/her friends and Miss Jackie

Muchkin and one proud mamma

Proud Baba and Deda

Family Photo

Cameron's First Disneyland Trip

Our Disneyland adventure was action packed. Although it started out a bit slow since we happened to get in line for a ride that broke down, and Cameron wanted to be held by me the whole time or he cried, we didn't let that get us down. After his little nap in the stroller and lunch, Cameron was a total trooper. We went on a ton of rides and happened to be at the right place at the right time for so many events. We had front row seats to the Parade because it happened to be right next to the area where kids got to meet the new princess Merida from Brave. We barely made it for Sascha to meet her because while J stood in that line, we went on the Nemo ride which was one of Cameron's favorites. He also really liked Small world, Pirates, and really loved the show in the Tiki Room. It was actually my first time in the Tiki Room as well. Sascha was super well behaived and went on every single roller coaster ride with us. I think I was more scared than she was on some of them. After Space mountain, she asked "why is it so fast?". She clung to daddies arm, or mine and was super excited after every single one of them.  We got her an autograph book and she was able to get autographs from Minnie, Goofy and princess Merida. She is very excited to start filling it up with more autographs since she'll be going back there with Grandma & Grandpa before her year pass expires.  Thanks to grandma who stayed w/Cameron a bunch of times while we enjoyed a break from the kiddie rides.  We watched the fireworks show and after our last roller coaster ride on the Matterhorn mountain, the kids were passed out in the stroller while we headed out of the park. A very successful day.

Cameron about to get on his first ride... looking not so excited

Goofing off with daddy

Meeting princess Merida

Sascha with Characters    Such a fun day f

Mother's Day and Father's Day

Our Mother's day morning started out pretty low key at home, I got to sleep in, we had breakfast and most of the morning the kids and I worked on a cute little project for Baba. Sascha was extremely proud to give her when we came over, and Baba was just as excited to receive it. The afternoon we went to Coronado with the family to walk around, take photos together, enjoy the sunshine in our beautiful city of San Diego, and have dinner. It was just a wonderful day to hang out together as a family and reflect on how lucky of a mommy I am... having 2 beautiful children, an amazing husband, my parents, sister and family all so close by.

On Father's Day we enjoyed a brunch feast at Baba & Deda's house, followed by playing outside. Then the daddies (J, Deda & Grandpa) enjoyed a few cold beers at a local brewery. It was a relaxing day for Daddy! Sascha made a few crafts, while Cameron enjoyed a nap and we played and enjoyed our time together as much as possible.

We also celebrated the kids half birthday. Sascha and Cameron got a few small gifts, and we took them to Chick-filet to grab a quick dinner and play inside their structure. We also planned a Disneyland outing the day after Father's day and have been looking forward to it for some time. 

 Sascha and I at her preschool Muffins for moms morning. She gave me a cute little bouquet of flowers made out of buttons

Family shots on Mother's Day

3 Moms, + kiddos, +whole family

Playing around with Daddy

Donuts for Dad's at Preschool where Sascha also made a special gift for her daddy

Daddies and Grandpas enjoying a beer at a local brewery

Camping in Seqouia National Park and Rafting the Big 5 on the Kern River

Lucky for us Baba and Deda were willing to stay home with the kids so we could go on this fun little adventure. A guy that J plays softball with has organized this trip for years, but we really never even considered to go until this year, and I am so glad that we went. There is no better way to re-charge than to go someplace like this. No cell phone reception, no TV, no computers, no other distractions!

We left Friday morning to drive up to Seqouia National Park with a super packed car, friends, and all the gear. Our drive there was pretty good up until we hit a ton of traffic and realized that the was a huge fire and a section of the I-5 was closed because of it. We took a nice little detour to the west, through dirt roads and some ranch houses. At one point it looked like we were driving right into the fire... because the cloud was above our heads as well as in front. Then we were detoured once again to go up the mountain east of the 5, and from there we had an amazing view of the fire. I later found out that more than 650 acres burned! So that made our drive up pretty eventful and a lot longer than expected. We still were able to make it up to our camp before dark, to set up tent! It was way colder than we anticipated, so I layered like crazy, but was still cold. Half of our food froze because it was next to the dry ice, so our dinner was pretty quick and not the greatest, but it was camping to the expectations weren't too high. We even fit a little night hike in to go to the trail of 100 giants. It was pretty amazing to see such massive seqouia trees, not to mention to check out the one that fell just last winter. The size of the roots and the tree itself are indescribable. There were millions of stars up in the sky and we laid on the road and just stared up marveling in it for some time, looking for shooting stars. 

The next day we embarked on a day hike. It was about 4 miles down, and then that same 4 miles back up. We crossed a creek multiple times, saw a few little water falls, but mainly just enjoyed the peaceful nature and being in the presence of something that is thousands of years old. We stopped for a lunch break and headed back up to our camp site. Beers, dinner, and smores and good company were enjoyed. Did I mention how cold it was!? When we woke up early the next morning to pack up and head to Kernville for a our rafting, the temperature read 37 degrees! Brrr... 

We made it to Kernville on time, and spent our Sunday rafting before heading home. The rafting was a lot of fun. It was called the big 5 because on this particular part of the river you hit 5 big class 4 rapids. There was a scary class 5 rapid which we had to skip on by carrying our raft over it. We were bused over the site where the rafts as well as our guides were waiting for us. Once we went over all the rules and etc, we were on our way. We stopped for a lunch feast in the middle as well as a little cliff jumping. I really wasn't planning on doing that, but every person in my boat went off to jump so of course I couldn't stay behind. It was a 25 ft jump and the whole way up I questioned doing it. It was definitely an adrenaline rush. J did a front flip, while I ran and jumped feet first. We wrapped up the rafting, got bussed back to the shop and had a nice early dinner near by with our whole group. Great times! Now we are really looking forward to the back yard camp out coming up on June 23rd with the kids! We even bought a new 6 person tent to try out before we take it on an actual camping trip.

Our Day Hike -  I don't think we've ever hiked with 17 people before

Bon Fire, Smores and friends

18 Months - A year and half already?

Yes, it happened again, I blinked and the little monkey grew into a little toddler! You are such a little boy now, full of spunk and personality. You are talking so much more now, saying a ton new words and repeating new ones every day which never stops surprising us. You started at the Russian daycare where Sascha used to be, and adjusted surprisingly well and fast, considering you are a bit of a clinger.

You love ALL balls, small, big, everything you point to that's round is a ball. It's definitely been an obsession for some time now.

Your stats are:
Weight - 21.8 lbs - 15%
Height - 32.5 inches - 54%

Even though you are considered "small" or "skinny", you eat very well. You try different things we give you and don't cause too much fuss about it... unlike Sascha. So feeding you is actually not too bad at all. Your absolute favorites are bananas, avocados, but like I mentioned you will eat pretty much everything including soups, oatmeal, rice, chicken, hummus, eggs, you even like my bean and cheese burritos. If you see us eating, you will usually come up and start pointing at it like you want a taste. A little while ago I started juicing lots of greens, and sure enough you love the juices. I do usually sweeten them up for you and Sascha with fruit, and unlike her you down those pretty fast.

You love throwing balls, and daddy has been laying on the floor with you teaching you how to throw a ball straight up into the air. He has started to train you into a little baseball player at the age of 1 and half. Daddy is convinced that you are a lefty, although I have noticed that you often move the ball into your right hand to throw, but I guess time will tell. You point at everything that looks like a ball and say "ball". You're also a good little kicker, you trail the ball and kick it right along.

You love saying "mine" or saying "give" but in Russian. Bye, bye. Hi, Mommy, Daddy are the usual words we hear you say and every once in a while you'll repeat a few others. We are still working on you being able to say Sascha.

My active little boy, who loves running around, and already starting to climb onto all sorts of things. You have such a little personality already. When you get frustrated, you definitely show it. If you don't want something you will push it away, and sometimes throw it a few feet in front of you. Since you are still not able to communicate very well, it can be pretty frustrating to you and us both to try to figure out what it is that you want. Sometimes it's food that you see, sometimes it's just you wanting to be able to feed yourself with your own spoon. You have definitely learned a few signs, "thank you", "please" are the most important ones, and when you do use them which makes me very happy.

The cutest thing in the world to us is your sweet smile. You are such a happy little boy. You love giving us hugs, kisses, and even blow kisses to others. When you see me come pick you up, you run towards me, and as soon as you get to me, you run towards the kitchen to get a cookie, once you have your cookie you want to be picked up immediately. You blow Galia a kiss good bye, and wave bye to other kids and we get on our way.

Photos from an outing to the Lake Poway. It's been hard to get decent photos of you, because you are constantly moving, but a few of these turned out pretty cute.