Off the Grid

So, it's been a while...  Working for an accountant during tax season means coming home from work with my brain fried and the thought of doing anything is a little too much to handle.  That means blogging is the last thing I think about.

This was a couple weeks ago (at 19 weeks)

Well, I'm back... and with a little announcement!  This October, a super adorable little boy will be joining our family!  We already know he's going to be an active little one.  His movements have graduated from little flutters to genuine kicks... and they seem to be constant! (2-3/minute most of the time!)  Ben was able to feel him kick yesterday and that was really fun for both of us.  :)

In other news, Ben finished his second year of law school and I lived through tax season working 6 days a week during my first trimester!  To celebrate (and since Ben's internship doesn't start for another week), we've been taking a number of mini vacations.

Two weeks ago, we decided to go on a two day camping trip and spend some time hiking in the mountains.   Well, one "disaster" led to another, and pretty soon we were back in our living room building a blanket fort, but not before we cooked and ate some delicious tin foil dinners in the mountains while fending off smoke and mosquitoes.  Our hike turned into a cuddled up read-aloud session (you know, the kind where you sit up all night reading...) of Enchantment by Orson Scott Card.

Then this past week, we drove down to San Luis Obisbo to visit one of Ben's law school buddies and check out the amazing farmers' market they have each Thursday night.  It was a wonderful and relaxing vacation, spent swimming and watching Star Wars, in which I forgot entirely that I had a camera until the drive home.  We turned the 3 hour drive into something closer to 8 hours as we slowly wound our way up the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping at all the beaches and just enjoying the scenery.  We stopped at Hearst Castle, but decided to make a special trip and spend more time there and instead went to visit the elephant seals on a nearby beach.  Then we ate pancakes and went to bed early.  All-in-all a wonderful trip!  :)

Scotty of the Opera

Dear friends, family, and anyone else who happens to be reading this.  In honor of little Scotty's return home from his mission tomorrow, I wanted to post this video.  Sadly, facebook is retarded and won't let me share it on my blog.  Here's the link.  Definitely check it out - you're in for some laughs.  After two years do you think he'll still be the same?

Scotty of the Opera

Still not really updating, but you have to listen to this song!

So, I realize that I haven't posted for a while and this is really just a cop-out but oh well...  I love Mika and this song is my [not-so-]new obsession.  It's such a great song for a dance party - preferably one late at night in the kitchen, or whenever you happen to be cleaning...  Turn. it. up. LOUD!!  :)




Oh, one more thing - I'm completely in love with the different wall papers about halfway through the video.  :)

Get ready for some laughs!

Have you heard of Kid History?  I stumbled across these little gems some time ago, but then forgot about them.  When I found them a second time I figured I had to share them.

The first time I saw them I laughed so hard tears were streaming down my face!  :)

PS - you should enlarge the videos for the full effect.  

What do you think - are these fantastic or what?!

Ukrainian Adventures part 2 - Holy Water

On our way home from the potato cellars in Stilske, Igor took us on another little adventure.  Apparently there's a little spring of Holy Water in a big field where people picnic in the summers.

Lap number 5!

People go there to bottle their own drinking water from the icy fountain.  While there, many people "take the plunge" and circle the submerged cross in the lower pool seven times, bending down to touch the foot of the cross on each lap.  From what I understand, if you do at least seven laps, it will cure you of whatever might be ailing you (allergies, illness, etc.)


It was a hot day, so we all decided to give it a try, even though walking barefoot in the snow is the only thing that might be as cold.

It was too cold for Anne, so she played in the little trickle where people were filling their water bottles.






 I was holding Mary and she loved splashing in the little waterfall on each lap, so we just kept going around and around.
I ended up doing my 7 laps and then 7 more with Meagan and a few more in between.

 Ella even did a couple laps with us!  

I was actually really enjoying it, but it took quite a while to thaw afterwards.  

The first lap all you can think about is getting out.  

If you make it to the second, your thoughts are the same and you start to wonder if you've gone mad.  

At the third lap you start checking to see if your feet are bleeding - because the pain you're experiencing must be accompanied by copious amounts of blood! 

As you round the bend on lap number four, things start looking brighter as all blood leaves your legs.  Completely numb by laps five and six, you think it really isn't so bad and you could probably keep going for quite some time.  

As you totter out after the seventh lap, you'll go through all the pain of your legs coming back to life, so if you make it that long, you may as well just stay in.... a few more laps won't hurt, but they will put off that awful tingly sensation.  

Don't worry - I wasn't the only crazy one there.  One guy went wading in nothing but his underwear!  When someone does that you know they're going to do something great - you can't strip down to your skivvies and not put on some show for all the attention you've attracted.  He did fun little tricks like underwater push-ups between his laps!

Just going in up to my knees is more than enough for me, thank you.  

Ukrainian Adventures part 1 - Stilske cellars

Last week we went on a couple little excursions out of Lviv.  Together with our driver/bodyguard, Igor; Ella, Anne, Mary, Meagan and I decided to brave an hour's drive to find an "ancient settlement."  It was located in a little village called Stilske that was positively charming.  We saw people driving around in horse-drawn wagons and beautiful gardens, chickens on the side of the road, and people out walking their geese!

The tourist website it was listed on had a picture like this one, and gave this description: "We start our trip at 9 A.M and depart to the Stilske complex which is located near Mykolayiv in about 40 km from Lviv. That is definitely a unique place, as its' origin comes from VIII – middle XI centuries. Despite of the magnificence and historical value, this place isn't so popular among tourists. The capital of the Great (White) Croatia was located right in this area. The city was really huge at that time: fortified square came up to 250 ha, length of the arbor and defense walls – about 10 km. To compare, Kyiv of that time was only 9,8 ha in square. The difference is gigantic."

It made it sound like we were going to visit some ancient caves that people lived in centuries ago. Stilske was not easy to find, and after stopping for directions multiple times, we finally found it...

The "ancient settlement" was a bunch of root cellars cut in the side of the mountain where people (currently) store potatoes and other vegetables for the winter. So maybe they were caves that people lived in once upon a time, and finding a farming community's vegetable storage might have been a bit disappointing when we were expecting the former, but it was still pretty cool.

More pictures of Stilske....

The village

Gardens

 The local church

Cool Houses

What's your type?

Yesterday was hot.  I mean, almost unbearably hot, and since we didn't have our driver we decided to stay home and do as little as possible, so as not to sweat any more than absolutely necessary.  :)

Sitting inside like that led to some great discussions, one of which was nature vs. nurture and personality differences.  We decided to take a personality test.  Have you heard of Myers-Briggs?  It's a really good personality test.  We took the test here.

In one of my Child Development classes, we discussed the idea of Nature vs. Nurture in great detail.  Personalities are all different and while some aspects are learned, others are most definitely inborn.  Understanding them better helps us to better understand ourselves and in turn become better people.  It's easier to see our weaknesses and work to improve them.  It's also nice to see our strengths laid out in front of us.  I also think that understanding the different personalities of our children can make us much better and more effective parents.

I don't believe that taking a test like this is or should be used as an excuse for doing (or not doing) certain things.  Saying things like, "it's just how I am" or, "that's just my personality" is incredibly immature and irresponsible.  However, I do think that it can be beneficial to learn and understand more about your "personality type."

My Myers-Briggs personality type is INFP - the Dreamer.  A few descriptions of this type are here, here, and here.  It's actually really interesting - I feel like it fits me almost to a T.  However, I've definitely noticed other "learned characteristics" not on the list that have helped me overcome improve some of my weaknesses.  Some of the lists are fun because they list some famous people - real and fictional - with the same personality type.

Just a couple from my list are: Homer, Mary (mother of Jesus), Shakespeare, Neil Diamond, and the one that excited me most (from the fictional list)... Anne of Green Gables!  (ok, I am a little obsessed)

So, what's your personality type?