In the summer heat...

Right after our trip we headed to Granpa's and Grandma's house. There was a little family reunion of the Franke side of the family. It was the first time in our 7.5 years of marriage for me to meet PJ's cousins and their families.



Ophelia loved the reunion for this reason:



She is such a little water bug!

Then we made a trip lake Buchanan and Ophelia went on a boat ride for the first time in her life. She did not want to keep a kiddie life vest on, no matter what we said, but her floatie swim suit worked for the time being. A new word entered her vocabulary: "waterskiing". She still talks about mama and papa going waterskiing on the lake. Grandma already made sure to get a pair of kiddie skiis for when the time comes for Ophelia :)

All that was back in June actually and now it's July and I realize I haven't taken that many pictures at all. Ophelia and I have been going to the NRH2O water park about once or twice a week. We do it in the mornings, before nap time, before it gets too hot...which is a relative term, because it still is incredibly hot. With each time we go there, she gets braver and braver. Today she went on a long toddler slide all on her own! I am scared to take my camera there, because inevitably Ophelia will want to look at the picture just taken, and water just doesn't go well with cameras. But it's a fun place and I am happy to have the season pass to just be able to go for a little bit at a time.

PJ is gone to Mexico this week. So...Ophelia is in charge :) Here she is taking a picture of us :) Doesn't she look like "the boss"?

Actually she really has been getting into coloring or "drawing" as we call it. It's pretty amazing to see her being completely occupied with it for 20-30 minutes at a time. She makes sure to have a crayon mark in every corner, in every white spot she can find! Today I did have to teach her that we ONLY draw on paper, not on the white walls, or the table, or mama's face...

PJ has been practicing his Spanish a lot down there. He gets to translate for his parents and some more americans who came down there to help out with summer Bible school for the kids in the poorest neighborhoods. Sounds like he is loving it, but we sure miss our papa a lot! Ophelia asks about him at least 4 times a day and today when I was putting her to bed, she gave me a kiss and said "bus'ka papa", meaning "a kiss for papa". So sweet! But I had to tell her to save it for later. We were going to go to Mexico at first, but just didn't feel like 110 heat and no a/c is the best place for Ophelia and me...

Vacationers

I realize this is probably the only time in our lives (or close to that) that we were able take a 4-week-long family trip to Europe. We had a great time! We bored our family to death with all of our vacation pictures, so, lucky for you, you won't have to go through that torture. Here are the best of the best.

Packing up for vacation... Wouldn't it be so nice just check-in the kids on the plane? The trip was was a disaster... Ophelia stayed up almost the whole 16 hour trip, cranky, whiny, and all. Needless to say, PJ and I were cranky and whiny too!



First day in Dublin and already getting into trouble:



Just realized this is the only decent family picture of us three from the whole month in Europe...



Love this picture! My parents look great and Ophelia... well, she is just smelling the flowers :)





Ophelia became a tourist attraction in Stephen Green park in Dublin due to her running after the birds and yelling "birdie! birdie! birdie!". One bird was lucky enough to even get stepped on... People not only were watching her but also taking pictures of her :)



Our trip to Germany was exciting! Despite the scare of E.coli cucumbers and tomatoes in North Germany, we still enjoyed eating out. It turned out in the end that it was sprouts that were tainted and we never ate any. This was in Travemunde in North Germany.



Lubeck, Germany:





Back in Dublin, Ophelia (the blue little speck) running around St.Patrick's cathedral:



The fam:



London trip:





Madame Tussaud's museum. Doesn't PJ remind you of Bruce Willis?





We stayed with my best friend Nastya and her roommate Vlada. They were great hostesses despite lack of toilet paper and expired milk :) They took us to a little town of Rye on the coast of England.







PJ and I took a day trip to Northern Ireland. I didn't know it is a country that belongs to the UK and they use pounds, not Euros.





This is a famous rope bridge right on the coast. If you are scared of heights, you may want to consider never visiting this place.







Giant's Causeway should be considered another great wonder of the world. I am so amazed that something like that was made in nature, no humans involved, all through volcanic lava works, ice, and basalt salts!







Our trip back was hard and long. Ophelia did sleep a lot though. Unfortunately it was on my lap... She was so exhausted on the last leg of the journey, car ride from airport to home. But the minute Ophelia got back home and saw all her toys, it was like Christmas morning! She got so so excited! Every toys she picked up, she exclaimed "Wow! Cool!". The living room was a disaster:



10 things that I learned during the last month:

1. Always buy an airplane seat for your 21-month old.
2. Benadryl works for some kids, but for some it does not...Ophelia falls into the latter category.
3. Vacations without kids are awesome!!! (PJ and I went to Germany and to London on our own while Ophelia stayed with grandparents in Dublin)
4. It only takes 4 weeks for a 21-month old to start speaking Russian when immersed in it.
5. Mom's cooking always tastes better!
6. When in Dublin, always carry an umbrella with you...or better a rain poncho. And summer temperatures are 50-60 degrees F! Now that I am sitting in 100 degree weather, I can't believe that 2 weeks ago I wore jeans and long-sleeved shirts.
7. When they say London is expensive, trust them! It's true! It is ridiculously expensive...
8. Germans are extremely punctual! To the half minute...
9. Ophelia's new favorite dessert is whipped cream from a can.
10. I am getting old and stuck in my ways...meaning that I'm having a hard time leaving the comforts of our home for a long time and I am happy to be back!

No.1 reason we moved to Texas...

is family :) And no.2 reason (at least for me) is the weather! I love how nice and warm it is right now. I don't mind the heat at all. In fact, I would much rather be hot, than cold. And snow to me is fun only when you're on vacation, instead of having to shovel it out of your driveway. So, me and Ophelia have been enjoying the weather and spending a lot of time outside lately. Here is Ophelia visiting our friends' house. My visiting teacher and good friend Rashae was so nice to help me out and watch Ophelia while I finally cleaned the house. It has been rough with PJ gone all the time. Usually he takes her to the park or something while I clean and he hasn't been able to do so for the past month...so thanks to Rashae we are back to a clean and neat home :) These picture are from that day:







Here is Ophelia "blowing" bubbles. How nice it is to make bubbles with a push of a button, instead of getting all soapy and blue (from the lack of oxigen).





Poking at the ground. Next scene was her putting that dirty finger in her mouth... Oh, kids... Gotta try it all, I guess!



Got this cool car at a garage sale for $2 bucks. Ophelia loves it. Well spent $2, in my opinion.



When mama goes to work, the sequel: Last Saturday when I was working, PJ took Ophelia to the mall, which she loves. She runs around like a mad person, babbling along and pointing at things as she goes. She loves to play at the little inside playground. All the climbing equipment/toys are made out of this rubbery soft material, so Ophelia tested it... She fell face first into one of those objects and her little nose was red for 3 days after that. I thought that she will have to go to nursery with a black eye, but luckily it was just red:



Mother's day was spent quietly at our house. We went to church. In nursery there were 16 kids which overwhelmed Ophelia (yeah, I would be overwhelmed too!). She has been having a rough time with transitions for some reason. Like switching rooms or activities...she does what she's been told, but with eyes full of tears and fear. Wonder what that's all about, but hopefully with less kids and more nursery days, she'll get better.

After church, I took a nice mother's day nap, while PJ played with Ophelia (that was the best!). All I wanted for mother's day was cream puffs and eclaires and got them! Both chocoloate covered! I loved it! Best present ever! Ophelia enjoyed it too:



Here's Ophelia with her best friend, Emma. She loves playing with her and I hear about Emma at least once every day. Last Thursday, while PJ and I went to the temple, Ophelia spent time with Emma. The whole ride there she repeated : "gostee Emma", which means "visiting Emma" in Russian :). She also says and signs: "play Emma" and "play friend".



One day we visited the Fort Worth Zoo again. Ophelia is getting more and more into different animals. But also she wanted to run around the Zoo...like a mad person. That girl just has a lot of energy!



Her favorite place was the bird cage with parrots and parekeets. She thought it was awesome to be able to feed the birds. I am pretty sure she poked every single bird's head with her food stick. She would shove it into one bird's face for a second, then to another birds, then to the next. So sweet of her to make sure all the birds got a bite to eat :)



Ophelia is 20 months old this month and as a proud Mommy I gotta share that she can count to 14 all my herself! The amazing thing is that I didn't teach her that... Sesame street did. Not the new one, but those good old episodes that PJ used to watch when he was a kid. Pretty amazing! She does love watching TV, which we are struggling with, because if she could, she would watch it 24/7. I hear at least 5 times a day her ask: "Elmo, okay?". So, for now we set a limit of only 1.5 to 2 hours per day and only educational stuff or Russian cartoons. She also can count to 10 in Russian. And she can sing her ABCs!

Time Out for Mama

After Ophelia got a bit better, we headed to Oatmeal. It was a long-awaited vacation for me. PJ stayed home to study for his finals, writing papers, and working on projects. Me and Ophelia were by ourselves all day long anyways at home, so why not hang out with the grandparents instead? And Ophelia and I both had a great time! She is just always so good at Grandma and Grandpa's. Not sure, if it's because she is always stimulated, so there's no room for tantrums and such, or if it's because there are other people than me around, so she doesn't act up...I don't know, but Grandma and Grandpa think she is an angel...and I get to see her other side at home...
The ride there was a bit stressful. I had to pull over about 4 times to calm Ophelia down, fix her covers, or give her Tylenol. As I was pulling over for the 4th time (at a fast food place parking lot), I was at the end of my patience, so I said a prayer and stopped the car. Ophelia was acting like she was done riding in the car, did not want her paci or blanket, so I took her out and held her in my arms for maybe 3 or 4 minutes as we watched the cars ride on the highway and then, MIRACLE, an answer to my prayer, she pointed to the carseat, so I strapped her back in, gave her her paci and plankie, we started driving and I did not hear a peep until we reached our destination! Prayers work!

Here are some pictures of when we went to visit some neighbors in Oatmeal to look at their newly born baby goats! They were so cute! Ophelia was thrilled! She also loved their dog and enjoyed hanging out with everyone on the porch.







While Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed their little angel, I enjoyed my time off. I spent a day shopping, got a hair trim, and went to San Antonio for Time Out For Women. It was my first time and I loved it! Here are some pictures:





It was fun hanging out with these wonderful sisters, laughing together, eating good food, staying up at night laughing, and getting emotionally+spiritually recharged at the conference. My favorite speaker was Sheri Dew. Something that stood out to me was that: Heavenly Father has high expectations for us but he know we can do it, he is cheering for us louder than all. We all have to deal with "not ideal" circumstances sometimes. She talked about striving to be influenced by non-worldly things and remembering the influence we have on others. Another great speaker, Emily Watts, was amazing at speaking on the "habits of happiness". Kris Belcher presented a message on overcoming life's challenges through faith in Jesus Christ, as she shared her experiene of becoming blind while still a mother of 1 and 4 year olds. The whole conference just made me even more grateful for my blessings, for the wonderful people in my life, and for Heavenly Father and his infinite love for us.

It was such a fun trip all together. A long-needed time out for me, that's for sure!

First ER visit...

and hopefully the last one too... Easter weekend we had all these plans to go on a date and then go to our friends' house for some grilling abd easter egg hunting. Instead we spent it at home, watching Elmo (of course!) and being really sick. Ophelia started having fevers on Thursday night (101-102), Friday I took her to the doctor's who told us she has a really sore throat, with tonsils the size of cherries and that she is developing an ear infection. With a prescription for antibiotics we left the doctors office. Here is Ophelia after we were back from the store/pharmacy:



I felt so bad for her. The doctor recommended to let her body fight and not to reduce the fever, which left her feeling very miserable, tired, weak. She was just laying there and not reacting much to anything going on around her. We did cave in and gave her medicine when her fever reached 103. She totally felt better then. But then Saturday came and Ophelia wasn't any better, in fact, she was worse: fever was up to 105 and at night she just could not go to sleep. We even tried driving around until she fell asleep, which worked for like half an hour after she was back in her crib. She was just screaming and screaming, nothing could console her. All she wanted to do was watch tv. And the more she screamed the worse her throat hurt (I assume, because her voice was getting raspier). Anyways, by 2 in the morning, I decided to take her to the emergency room. I thought maybe there was something else wrong, something more serious. To my relief, there wasn't, but Ophelia did get a steroid medication, which helped the swelling in her throat to go down. She seemed to almost immediately feel better. She also got a bunny out of our ER trip, which made her night :) After we got home, she fell asleep just fine, and the next day and thereafter only got better. Now she is as healthy as can be and what a blessing that is!!