Lemonade Stew, Green Beans, and Happy Anniversary!

Ok, we're said it many times before, but we have to say again just how fast time is flying and how well Kate and David are doing. They continue growing like weeds and have changed a bit since we first met just a little over a year ago.

This week we celebrate our first year together at home, but we will still consider Thanksgiving Day as our anniversary since it was on the eve of that day last year we finally made our way home. National Adoption Day also happens to fall on November 17th, just a few days before our anniversary. But before that, we do have a few funny anecdotes to share.

Last weekend was David's first camp out with the Boy Scouts. Bill went along too, dusting off (and squeezing into) his old Assistant Scoutmaster uniform from when our older son Stephen was working on his Eagle Scout requirements. It was a bit colder than usual and there was even some light rain Friday night when they were setting up, but overall things went well. At least until Saturday night's dinner... It was already dark when dinner was being cooked, so David didn't notice that the "water" he was adding to the stew had a slight color to it. Fortunately, the stew was still edible, and one scout said that it reminded him of German Potato Salad since it had a slight sweet/tangy flavor. It won't be added to our outdoor cookbook though...

While Bill and David were roughing it, Cathe and Kate were back home appreciating the warm and dry conditions while discussing a little about impressions of a first year at home. Cathe asked about things the children might have heard since we had heard about all the rumors kids shared about people coming to adopt them just for body parts (sounded like one too many slasher movie plots...) and all that. Kate didn't miss a beat when she told Cathe that she never believed those stories since we were too nice, but she was worried that we might be trying to poison her and David with green beans... You really have to wonder what was going through their minds as they embarked on their great adventure with a couple strangers from a far off land.

Another really neat item to note is that one of our favorite programs, The Amazing Race, visited Kazakhstan. Although they didn't go all the way to Petropalvlosk , the stopover was Almaty. We recognized several sights and enjoyed some of the Kazakh heritage displayed with the horsemen, eagle, and apple orchards. Every time they showed signs or someone was speaking, David and Kate strained to recognize or understand anything. What's "neat" about that? Well, we happened to have been in the exact spot where the pitstop scene occurred and had also seen many of the snapshots they show in the opening sequence. After Almaty, the cast headed off to Moscow. No familiar sights there, but they listened intently for familiar Russian phrases, getting a few laughs at non-translated comments...

Here are a few Almaty sights also shown in the program. The Russian Orthodox church was in a couple views, and the statue was where the Pit Stop welcome took place.:

We saw this statue on one of our walk-abouts, which served as the pitstop marker for the race.

Our Almaty apartment was in the small building in front of the new building, which also was shown in a few panoramic shots of Almaty during the episode...

Soon it was time for our family celebration. Our cake man came through once again with a real winner! He is absolutely amazing and goes into great detail to make sure things are exactly right. He even counted the rays coming from the sun in the Kazakhstan flag, no detail too small!

Our first year has been a good one, with its interesting times. We also asked David and Kate to share what they find most interesting: Build-a-Bear Workshop (Kate), Costco (David), and both really like Toys-R-Us, especially since the "R" is reversed into a Russian "Ya," meaning "Me." Applying the Russian meaning, David and Kate have re-named the chain to "Toys-For-Us!" Gotta love their logic!

Happy Republic Day, Anniversary, and Halloween!

October? Where did it go?

There wasn't one weekend where we didn't have something going on.

Since we traveled up to Michigan for Cathe's HS reunion over Columbus Day weekend, soccer season was cut short. Both David and Kate had great season's and they're already looking forward to next year. To make up for missing the last two games, we loaded up Bob and the kids and headed to Sheridan's for frozen custard. Bob LOVES Sheridan's because they make vanilla "Puppy Cones" which he now consumes in a single bite! He couldn't wait to show us just how happy he was!










We had a great trip, although it was much too short. On the way north we notices the leaves changing from green in Memphis to brightly colored as we ventured into Kentucky, Indiana, then Michigan. Although we have passed close to Mammoth Cave, we had never stopped. Since the kids had never been in a cave, we got an early start so we could stop on the way up, this time visiting Diamond Caverns. Kate had been covering the topic in her science class and both had seen pictures in their science books in Kazakhstan, so they were pretty excited.







It was a steep descent into the cavern. Thank goodness for strong hand-rails!










The view was spectacular and we're looking forward to our next spelunking adventure!


As we continued our journey north, we decided to make a quick pit stop and noticed a Russell Stover candy shop. Our chocolate connoisseur could not resist the opportunity to pose with a sign sporting what is now her favorite slogan!







When we finally arrived in Michigan, we packed a lot of activity into a very short time. Between visiting an apple orchard and pumpkin patch, we also ventured through a corn maze. While Kate relaxed with cousin Elizabeth, David dug worms and demonstrated his angling prowess, catching several sunfish and a northern pike.


Although Fall has oficially arrived and we have seen some heavy frost, we have not seen early snow flurries as we did in early October last year in Kazakhstan. There was no snow, but driving through the mid-south countryside, we did see snow-white fields of cotton waiting to be harvested. Kathe thought it was pretty neat, but David was not impressed. "We saw that in Kazakhstan, " he said.


Kazakhstan Republic Day arrived quietly as we celebrated our one year anniversay of becoming a family with a pizza feast. Was it really just a year ago that we were sitting in the courtroom telling the judge just how much we wanted to be a family with these children? On the other hand, the memory of the judge puting the children through the questioning process and David being absolutely at a loss for words seems like just yesterday. Not once since have we seen our children at a loss for words!

And how could you wrap up October without mentioning Halloween? Both David and Kate knew about Halloween, although it isn't celebrated in Kazakhstan. David also wanted to tell us about all the scarry movies they had watched before coming to America. We told them we would watch scarry movies, but nothing like what they had watched before (we often preface the statement, "In Kazakhstan..." so anyone overhearing us doesn't think we sit our kids down to watch the Saw series). We'll go with more "thill" and a lot less "gore." Early on, they picked their outfits for Halloween: Kate would be the Easter Bunny (does she know that the Easter Bunny doesn't do the Fish Face?!?!?), and David would be a doctor, "Trick-or-Treat Specialist" to be more specific (and asked to have that specialty embroidered on his scrubs too, just in case it would help him get more candy and make up for lost time in the Trick-or-Treat department... It did!).

Another part of Halloween which they had not participated in before was Pumpkin Carving. Both were very proud of their artistic results! They looked awesome sitting outside the front door , greeting all comers. Lastly, David, being the good brother, constantly reinforced with Kate that they had to look both ways before crossing the street so they didn't get squashed like a ghoulish display in a neighbor's yard depicted. (Kate took several looks to be sure that the foot sticking out from under the tire wasn't real!).

Since our first measurements last October, both children have filled out and put on several inches in height. David is now 4 1/2 inches taller and Kate has grown a full 3 inches. It's funny to see them sporting original sets of pajamas which are now "high waters." They continue to amaze us with how much they have learned in such a short time and how well they are doing in school. We are VERY proud of them and hope that we can keep up!