Family Life

So much has happened since I last posted, this is going to be a long one. We had Ruslan’s birthday, end-of-year field trips/BBQs/parties, Ruslan’s kindergarten graduation, our 17th anniversary, our first camping trip with our son and Father’s Day. In looking at all of it, I just have to say how happy I am. What a great family and a wonderful life! I am having so much fun and know that I am abundantly blessed.
We kept Ruslan’s birthday a little bit low-key this year. We took him to a carnival with his little Russian-speaking friend, Anton the weekend before his birthday and unveiled his new bike when he got home, then on the actual day (Tues, June 5th) we brought cupcakes to school where he was king for the day. Later in the afternoon Noah came over and we all went bowling and had a few more presents with cake and ice cream. Ruslan loves to bowl; it was his 2nd time and with bumpers, he is not half bad. Even though we thought we were keeping things relatively low-key overall, we almost overwhelmed him with new activities and gifts.
Ruslan was so proud of himself for graduating from kindergarten. He really does do his best to participate in as much of the class activities as he can. He struggles to fit in and communicate. His struggles often break my heart, but I am always impressed at his resilience and fortitude.
We also kept our anniversary low-key. We debated on getting a babysitter, but both decided that we really didn’t want to be without Ruslan, at least not just yet. We spent a nice day together bike riding as a family on the Foster City levy and then we went to dinner at a family style chain restaurant. We don’t go out too much these days, so it was a treat for all of us.
Camping with Ruslan was really great. He wasn’t really sure that we were going to spend the night in our camper, he kept thinking we were going to eventually go back home. He was a little afraid, but when he realized we were altogether in the venture, he settled into it. Most of all Ruslan loved swimming, riding his bike and he particularly loved the campfire, especially the smores (don’t we all).
The Sunday morning of our camping trip was Father’s Day. The campsite we were at had a pancake breakfast in the lodge. Ken went to pay and was really excited that the fathers got to eat FREE. That was Ken’s 2nd best gift. His first best gift was a beautiful tile that Ruslan painted for him. It had a steam train and a rainbow. Ruslan knows that his Poppy loves trains. Ken is going to hang it in his office at work.

Ruslan is such an awesome little boy. He is speaking more and more English everyday. It is really funny when we hear him repeat phrases that we know he has picked up from us, (or from a video). Lately, he has been saying when he gets a little frustrated “Great, just great!” and when he embarks on something like taking off on his bike or jumping in the pool, he says “Start your engines,” from the Cars DVD. Overall, we are all understanding each other better and better. A strong bond of love is developing. Ruslan loves to hug, kiss, and blow kisses. Today, we went to a children’s theme park, Happy Hollow where Ruslan was caught blowing me kisses from one of the rides by another mother. She was quite impressed. I told her that he is like that all the time. It is amazing how much has changed in the last couple of months. I am wondering what I will be posting in a years time. Just like Mary, I’m keeping all these things in my heart (Lk 2:51)

Memorial Weekend

We had a busy weekend having fun as a family. Friday night we went to the Giant's baseball game with Katie, Noah and big Ruslan (a friend originally from Russia, who just happens to have the same name as our son), and 'Hello Kitty,' who is Ruslan's kindergarten class's teddy-bear mascot. The kids draw names to see who gets to take Hello Kitty home for the weekend. Ruslan was so excited that he got picked. We had to do some fun stuff with Hello Kitty so that he could take pictures and add it to the Hello Kitty scrap book at school. Everyone enjoyed the game, including Hello Kitty. There was a amazing fireworks display after the game in honor of Memorial Day. What a great night! Our other events this weekend included bike-riding around Foster City on Saturday and a visit to the miniature steam trains in Tilden park in Berkeley on Sunday. We have included some pictures of our great weekend for your viewing pleasure.

Ruslan went to his first kid's birthday party this afternoon. We weren't sure about taking him till just recently. He has been struggling to interact with the kids in his class other than his one Russian-speaking friend, Anton. Anton was sick for a couple days this week and it forced Ruslan to branch out a little more. He actually had a couple of play dates this week with some of the other kids while Anton was out. One of them was the cutest little girl named Padina. They walked to the playground hand-in-hand. They were so darling. The birthday party he went to today was for a little girl named Sara, with a princess theme. Ruslan was a little dismayed when he walked in and saw all the girls in their princess costumes, but just in the nick of time a few boys showed up which helped him feel a little more comfortable. The parents of the birthday girl assured me everything would be alright, so I nervously wrote my cell number down for them and left him there. It was nice to have a couple hours break, even though I was thinking of him the whole time. I notice that whenever I am not with him, I worry and think about him. I guess it is a new mom kinda thing. Anyway, no one ever called me and by the time I came back to pick him up he was running around with the other boys having a great time. When we said our evening prayers tonight, he was able to pray for many of his classmates by name.