Happy New Year and Merry (Orthodox) Christmas!

Happy New Year and a Very Merry Orthodox Christmas to everyone!

Although this is "technically" David and Kate's second Christmas at home, they both said that it seems like their fist since last year was just a blur and they had been home such a short time.

With many takes and some help from a neighbor, we got some great Christmas photos, and even "Bob the "Rein-dog"got into the spirit of things. (doesn't he look happy?!?!?)

Our ambitious travel plan was waylaid by wintry weather. Due to winter storms, we had to delay departure by a day and cut out the DC portion of our trip. Instead, we visited the St. Louis Arch en-route to Michigan. They both thought that the Arch had to be something out of a sci-fi movie instead of being something they could actually visit. We even made the trip to the top and enjoyed the view!

Although we had planned to visit the Smithsonian since "Night in the Museum II" was filmed there (expected release May 2009) and Ночь в Музее (Night at the Museum) is one of their favorite films, we'll have to save that for another trip... Instead, we enjoyed wandering through the Museum of Westward Expansion. David did his best Grizzly impression, but Kate wasn't thrilled with Lewis and Clark's 19th century "Laptop Computer."

By the time we reached Ft. Wayne, Indiana it had started to snow and the roads were getting slick. David and Kate got to witness firsthand what happens when someone is driving too fast and hits their brakes... While stopped at a traffic light, we watched a car slide through sideways then overturn when it hit the snowbank. A true testimate to the effectiveness of seat belts, the driver climbed out unscratched, despite his car being a total loss. After a short delay while waiting for the police to arrive, we were back on the road and arrived safely.

Both enjoyed playing in the snow and building snowmen, but David was disappointed that the snow wasn't deep enough for him to do the back flips he loved to do in Petropavlovsk. Kate's snowman looked great Christmas Eve when grandpa's little tree was lighted up, but even better at sunrise on Christmas morning.

Christmas morning was an exciting event, and both could hardly wait to empty their stockings to see what Santa left. They didn't quite understand the "Lump of Coal" (chocolate of course!) that they each got, but all the adults had a good laugh!

In addition to the gifts and all the great meals (Cathe's mom loves to cook and puts out an incredible Christmas spread!), we brought along a gingerbread house kit. We all had fun decorating it, but Kate could hardly wait for the most important part: Eating it!

Sadly, it was time to head south all too soon. Fortunately, vacation wasn't over yet... We still had New Years to look forward to and a visit by Cathe's brother and his family. We didn't go to visit Elvis, but did have fun feeding the local ducks (an armada arrives as soon as they hear the rustling of bread wrappers). As you can guess by Kate's lighter attire, it is MUCH warmer in Memphis than Michigan!

We also wandered down Beale Street and took in the sights.

Meanwhile, Bill has been checking the weather daily in Petropavlovsk (enter "Petropavl, KZ" in the MSN weather page for current readings) and has gathered a few interesting factoids:

• On December 21st, sunrise in Petropavlovsk was at 9:47 am, sunset at 5:03pm (7 hrs, 16 min)... Memphis was 7:05 am and 4:52 pm respectively (9 hrs 47 min)
• First day in KZ with readings below freezing: Sep 28th (Oct 28th in Memphis)
• There has not been a temperature reading above freezing since Dec 7th when the high was 34F. (Dec 27th reached 71F in Memphis)

As they would say in Petropavlovsk, "что за холода!" (it's cold outside!). No wonder they keep the buildings so warm as a defense against the winter cold. 8-)