Blah. I don't even know where to start! December was such a blur - and I can't believe we're
halfway through January! Wowzers.
Well, the biggest change, we've left Hawaii. The movers came on December 5th, and packed
up everything in one day! Shocking.
Once they had packed everything, we headed to a hotel, on a nearby Army base, and stayed
there for 2 days. It was actually the same hotel, where we spent our first 2 months in Hawaii.
I took the picture of Dmitri, on the left, shortly after we arrived in HI. He was about 4-5 months old.
For comparison, I took another pic of him, in the same spot - before we left. He was 3 years,
4 months. It is ridiculous, how much he changed!
I wish I could say the move has been easy on him. It hasn't been. Luckily we had our month
long stay, in Utah, to break things up... but he's still homesick. He continues to tell us, he
wants to go back to Hawaii... and I was not expecting that. Mostly, I think he wants his bed
and toys...
Before I get into our time in Georgia... here's a recap, of our last week in Hawaii, and our time
in Utah. Let me also say, that we spent the ENTIRE time we were there, sick. Ugh! I was so ready to leave. Not to say goodbye to friends and family... but to get better!
So our last week in HI, we stayed two days at an Army base hotel, and then about 5 days, at
the Marriott, at Ko Olina.
The Marriott was really nice! The downside though, our room wasn't ready when we arrived,
so they stuck us in a smaller room. Blah. One bed... We did have two nice chairs, so we made
a makeshift bed for Dmitri, that he slept in, a little more than half the time.
The other bad part, we were on the 11th floor!! Ugh! I was so stressed, because our room
opened up to a hallway, that led to a completely open middle. Open, as in you could lean over,
and there was the lobby... 11 floors down! Dmitri, of course, figured out how to open the door
latch, in about 2 minutes... so I was constantly worrying about him breaking out, and possibly
falling. Boo.
My last complaint... we had some heavy rain a couple of nights. We woke up one morning, to
water all over the bathroom! There was a leak in the ceiling... and the paint had started to bubble.
Once the water got too heavy, the paint bubbles split, and water would gush out.
We called the front desk, who told us they'd send someone to come and clean it. Well... that
someone showed up with a hand full of towels. He handed them to Daniel, and left. Mmm... not
the service I was expecting from them... That was on our last Sunday there, I think. All I remember
is, we were gone that whole day, and they discussed moving us - but never did. But someone did
come look at the damage, and then another came and cleaned up the water that kept coming.
Our last week wasn't all ciaos though. We spent some time of the beach, since it was right outside
of the hotel, and also at the new Disney resort. So we had a great time! My one regret {which I knew it would be}, was not getting enough beach time, in the 3 years we were there. But honestly,
the beach is such a production. Getting there, and the clean up afterwards. But we still have our
place there, so maybe between renters, we'll make it back, and makeup the beach time.
These pics are of our first night at the Marriott. We went and walked the beach - not expecting
to get wet - but Dmitri and water... just mix. So before we knew it, he was in the water, soaked.
What can you do, except let him play and splash!
These next pics, are just us, hanging at the beach. Dmitri hasn't had a lot of lunchable experience,
but he figured them out... in his own way. After this pic, he settled for just eating the cheese and
oreos, together :X
Below, making holes in the sand! A favorite beach pass time :)
The next few pics, are us at the Disney resort. We weren't sure, we were allowed to do all the
stuff we did there... but one of the ladies working there, let us in. She then told us to look
around, and try out everything. Well... apparently we were supposed to have wrist bands,
in order to try out everything, and we ended up getting kicked out, after the water slides...
But we did get to see Stitch! Dmitri asked why he was so big... :}
The water slides were a hit, for Daniel and Dmitri! I could not help but laugh, everytime Dmitri
came sliding out the ends! He always had the best faces!!
So at the Marriott, they had these pools, by the restaurant. They were filled with hammer head
sharks, on one side, and tropical fish on the other. We had to check them out a couple of times!
They were pretty cool!
We also checked out the Marriott pool, a few times. Oh my - it was too cold for us! But Daniel
and Dmitri sucked it up for a bit. I chose to sit poolside, and take pictures ;)
One of the days, we headed to Waikiki... and walked along the strip. I do love it down there,
but hate the traffic you have to go through, to get there.
We did happen to see 'Cesco' - Francesco, from Cars 2. Dmitri was in love!
So that was our last week in Hawaii. Our ward did sing us Aloha Oe... which is a very emotional song. I seriously tear up, even when I don't know the people we're singing to! But yea... I bawled
my eyes out. We were honestly in the best ward. We loved it, and the people in it :(
Oh - I also took some pics, for some friends in our ward. I hope they don't mind me posting these!
And here's the other family
So the Army booked us on a non-stop flight to Salt Lake. I was dreading it, at first, because I
thought we'd be on there, for SO long! But actually, I think it only added an hour and a half,
to the normal flight {that usually stops in LA or OR}. So it was pretty nice!
Dmitri has turned into such a good flyer! Our flight was over night, and we got to the airport
like 6 hours early - because we had to drop our car off, to be shipped. So we let him run around,
and get a little too wild. But it paid off... because he was asleep, before the plane even took off!!
He slept until the plane landed, and Daniel carried him off, still sleeping! We woke him up, once
we transferred him to the stroller, and he did not believe the flight was over. He kept asking when
we were leaving - and why didn't he get juice and pretzels?!
Daniel's sister picked us up from the airport. I was a bit worried about the cold weather, because
we were going from 80 degrees, to 20... but it wasn't horrible. Dmitri refused a jacket, pants and
warm shoes... instead, he walked out of the airport, in flip flops, shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Oy.
But he didn't complain! He was too busy, looking for any glimpses of snow.
So while we were driving back from the airport, I started to get a sore throat. I thought it was just
allergies... because the air quality was really bad, the first 2 weeks we were there... but my sore
throat continued to get worse, and then Dmitri got it... followed by Daniel :( We were pretty miserable, but it didn't stop us from going out and about. Well, Daniel and I were finally getting
better, a week later, and then Daniel came down with food poisoning! Ugh - he was miserable,
again! Luckily Dmitri and I didn't get the one... but the following week, Daniel and I got bronchitis. Pretty miserable, again! Dmitri seemed to keep the same cold, the whole time we were
there. He also had HORRIBLY chapped skin! So bad, his arms had welts, and his bum was scabbed, because he was scratching his cheeks! Tmi? I felt so bad for him. Lotion helped, but we had to limit his baths, because they were drying him out even more. Blah.
Alright... enough of that, back to fun!
We went one Saturday night, to see the lights at Temple Square. We didn't last long... it was
probably the busiest night downtown... because there was a concert and a Utah Jazz scrimmage
going on. It also happened to be one of the coldest nights. So Dmitri adapted to his jacket and
boots pretty fast...
Random... we took some impromptu Christmas card photos. I wasn't planning on cards, but
I've sent them out, every year since we've been married. I didn't want to break the tradition!
We went to Grandpa Fed's house a couple times. These pics are from a night, where he invited
us over for dinner. Dmitri LOVES his dog Annie. Loves her. I can't even tell you, how many times
he tried to climb on her back, and ride her. She was a good sport...
These pics below, are of Christmas Eve, at Grandma Fed's house. It was fun, to have all the kids
together. They had a great time running around together! Dmitri didn't skip a beat, he laughed
and yelled at the top of his lungs, like everyone else :}
A few days before New Years, we went to Eve - with our friends; Mike, Jennie, Sophie and Addie.
Dmitri could have spent the whole time, in the bounce houses! There were SO many! Even the
adults got in on the action! Daniel and Mike had fun sparing, and going down the slides too.
They also had a huge bubble room! It was pretty cool! They'd turn the lights down, and the music
up, and everyone ran around kicking giant beach balls. Again, Dmitri loved it!
They also had live music, and ice sculptures outside. It was so gross, but Dmitri would not stop
licking the sculptures!! It was so gross... The middle pic below, he had to lick, before he took his
picture. Ugh...
After Eve, we went to the Clark Planetarium, and walked around, then went to a laser light show.
The kids did surprisingly well, especially considering how late it was. Dmitri did better at the light
show, then he does at the movies! Though he did declare, that it was, "a weird movie..."
Another highlight of our trip... Daniel spent the night at Mike's, one night. So the next day, while
they were still playing around, Dmitri and I headed to the Discovery Gateway Museum.
We've never been, but it was fun. He loved the grocery store, construction zone and the ball tubes.
I always thought Dmitri was a docile kid, when it came to playing... but apparently I haven't seen
him play with other kids, in awhile! A few times, some kids would try to take his shopping cart. He responded by giving the STINKIEST stink eye ever! Then yanking it back and telling them no! Oh my. Good?? Bad?? I figured at least he was sticking up for himself...
We played at the grocery store for a long time... and even went back a few times.
More construction work...
Here are many of phone pics... I have more, that might make it to the next post... Hopefully they're self explanatory enough :}
Christmas was great! I opted to video it... so I didn't get any pictures!! Dmitri was SO excited, that
while he was opening presents, he'd forget names of things! LOL he'd go, "LOOK! SANTA BROUGHT ME THIS, THIS, THIS GUY!"
I also made Christmas dinner, for my side. It turned out pretty tasty! That night, we went to Daniel's dad house - and Christmas Eve dinner at his mom's.
Some more highlights:
- New Years Eve, we spent at Daniel's sister's house, setting off fireworks.
- Date nights!
- Birthday party, for Dima's friend Olive
- Daniel and his twin sister Liselle's 31st birthday! We haven't celebrated it
together, for awhile
- Dmitri and my mom, getting locked in our room, on one of our date nights.
- No snow... good and bad. We wanted to play in it, but it was nice not having
to drive someone else's car in it!
- Dinner and hanging out, with some of our favorite Beairds!
- LAN party for Daniel
- Dmitri getting LOTS of cousin playtime!
- Dmitri getting to spend a lot of time with his grandparents {probably our
favorite thing!}
- Being under 100 days left of pregnancy!
I haven't blogged much about this pregnancy. There's just been a lot of 'life' going on. But I'm 27
weeks, and feeling good!
I still need to call, and get an appointment, at the hospital here. But since I'm semi caught up
on blogging, I hope to have a post, all about her!
Here are some pics, from our 20 week ultrasound.
So that's that. Georgia has been good to us so far! We were picked up at the airport, by our friends,
the Nixons. We had dinner at their house that night.
We've also spent time with our friends, the Calls - and I've already met a lot of people in our new ward! Dmitri also had his first day of Sunbeams today... the first part wasn't so successful, but the
second half was good! He also has his friend Ava, in his class, so that helps! But more on Georgia later!
halfway through January! Wowzers.
Well, the biggest change, we've left Hawaii. The movers came on December 5th, and packed
up everything in one day! Shocking.
Once they had packed everything, we headed to a hotel, on a nearby Army base, and stayed
there for 2 days. It was actually the same hotel, where we spent our first 2 months in Hawaii.
I took the picture of Dmitri, on the left, shortly after we arrived in HI. He was about 4-5 months old.
For comparison, I took another pic of him, in the same spot - before we left. He was 3 years,
4 months. It is ridiculous, how much he changed!
I wish I could say the move has been easy on him. It hasn't been. Luckily we had our month
long stay, in Utah, to break things up... but he's still homesick. He continues to tell us, he
wants to go back to Hawaii... and I was not expecting that. Mostly, I think he wants his bed
and toys...
Before I get into our time in Georgia... here's a recap, of our last week in Hawaii, and our time
in Utah. Let me also say, that we spent the ENTIRE time we were there, sick. Ugh! I was so ready to leave. Not to say goodbye to friends and family... but to get better!
So our last week in HI, we stayed two days at an Army base hotel, and then about 5 days, at
the Marriott, at Ko Olina.
The Marriott was really nice! The downside though, our room wasn't ready when we arrived,
so they stuck us in a smaller room. Blah. One bed... We did have two nice chairs, so we made
a makeshift bed for Dmitri, that he slept in, a little more than half the time.
The other bad part, we were on the 11th floor!! Ugh! I was so stressed, because our room
opened up to a hallway, that led to a completely open middle. Open, as in you could lean over,
and there was the lobby... 11 floors down! Dmitri, of course, figured out how to open the door
latch, in about 2 minutes... so I was constantly worrying about him breaking out, and possibly
falling. Boo.
My last complaint... we had some heavy rain a couple of nights. We woke up one morning, to
water all over the bathroom! There was a leak in the ceiling... and the paint had started to bubble.
Once the water got too heavy, the paint bubbles split, and water would gush out.
We called the front desk, who told us they'd send someone to come and clean it. Well... that
someone showed up with a hand full of towels. He handed them to Daniel, and left. Mmm... not
the service I was expecting from them... That was on our last Sunday there, I think. All I remember
is, we were gone that whole day, and they discussed moving us - but never did. But someone did
come look at the damage, and then another came and cleaned up the water that kept coming.
Our last week wasn't all ciaos though. We spent some time of the beach, since it was right outside
of the hotel, and also at the new Disney resort. So we had a great time! My one regret {which I knew it would be}, was not getting enough beach time, in the 3 years we were there. But honestly,
the beach is such a production. Getting there, and the clean up afterwards. But we still have our
place there, so maybe between renters, we'll make it back, and makeup the beach time.
These pics are of our first night at the Marriott. We went and walked the beach - not expecting
to get wet - but Dmitri and water... just mix. So before we knew it, he was in the water, soaked.
What can you do, except let him play and splash!
These next pics, are just us, hanging at the beach. Dmitri hasn't had a lot of lunchable experience,
but he figured them out... in his own way. After this pic, he settled for just eating the cheese and
oreos, together :X
Below, making holes in the sand! A favorite beach pass time :)
The next few pics, are us at the Disney resort. We weren't sure, we were allowed to do all the
stuff we did there... but one of the ladies working there, let us in. She then told us to look
around, and try out everything. Well... apparently we were supposed to have wrist bands,
in order to try out everything, and we ended up getting kicked out, after the water slides...
But we did get to see Stitch! Dmitri asked why he was so big... :}
The water slides were a hit, for Daniel and Dmitri! I could not help but laugh, everytime Dmitri
came sliding out the ends! He always had the best faces!!
So at the Marriott, they had these pools, by the restaurant. They were filled with hammer head
sharks, on one side, and tropical fish on the other. We had to check them out a couple of times!
They were pretty cool!
We also checked out the Marriott pool, a few times. Oh my - it was too cold for us! But Daniel
and Dmitri sucked it up for a bit. I chose to sit poolside, and take pictures ;)
One of the days, we headed to Waikiki... and walked along the strip. I do love it down there,
but hate the traffic you have to go through, to get there.
We did happen to see 'Cesco' - Francesco, from Cars 2. Dmitri was in love!
So that was our last week in Hawaii. Our ward did sing us Aloha Oe... which is a very emotional song. I seriously tear up, even when I don't know the people we're singing to! But yea... I bawled
my eyes out. We were honestly in the best ward. We loved it, and the people in it :(
Oh - I also took some pics, for some friends in our ward. I hope they don't mind me posting these!
And here's the other family
So the Army booked us on a non-stop flight to Salt Lake. I was dreading it, at first, because I
thought we'd be on there, for SO long! But actually, I think it only added an hour and a half,
to the normal flight {that usually stops in LA or OR}. So it was pretty nice!
Dmitri has turned into such a good flyer! Our flight was over night, and we got to the airport
like 6 hours early - because we had to drop our car off, to be shipped. So we let him run around,
and get a little too wild. But it paid off... because he was asleep, before the plane even took off!!
He slept until the plane landed, and Daniel carried him off, still sleeping! We woke him up, once
we transferred him to the stroller, and he did not believe the flight was over. He kept asking when
we were leaving - and why didn't he get juice and pretzels?!
Daniel's sister picked us up from the airport. I was a bit worried about the cold weather, because
we were going from 80 degrees, to 20... but it wasn't horrible. Dmitri refused a jacket, pants and
warm shoes... instead, he walked out of the airport, in flip flops, shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Oy.
But he didn't complain! He was too busy, looking for any glimpses of snow.
So while we were driving back from the airport, I started to get a sore throat. I thought it was just
allergies... because the air quality was really bad, the first 2 weeks we were there... but my sore
throat continued to get worse, and then Dmitri got it... followed by Daniel :( We were pretty miserable, but it didn't stop us from going out and about. Well, Daniel and I were finally getting
better, a week later, and then Daniel came down with food poisoning! Ugh - he was miserable,
again! Luckily Dmitri and I didn't get the one... but the following week, Daniel and I got bronchitis. Pretty miserable, again! Dmitri seemed to keep the same cold, the whole time we were
there. He also had HORRIBLY chapped skin! So bad, his arms had welts, and his bum was scabbed, because he was scratching his cheeks! Tmi? I felt so bad for him. Lotion helped, but we had to limit his baths, because they were drying him out even more. Blah.
Alright... enough of that, back to fun!
We went one Saturday night, to see the lights at Temple Square. We didn't last long... it was
probably the busiest night downtown... because there was a concert and a Utah Jazz scrimmage
going on. It also happened to be one of the coldest nights. So Dmitri adapted to his jacket and
boots pretty fast...
Random... we took some impromptu Christmas card photos. I wasn't planning on cards, but
I've sent them out, every year since we've been married. I didn't want to break the tradition!
We went to Grandpa Fed's house a couple times. These pics are from a night, where he invited
us over for dinner. Dmitri LOVES his dog Annie. Loves her. I can't even tell you, how many times
he tried to climb on her back, and ride her. She was a good sport...
These pics below, are of Christmas Eve, at Grandma Fed's house. It was fun, to have all the kids
together. They had a great time running around together! Dmitri didn't skip a beat, he laughed
and yelled at the top of his lungs, like everyone else :}
A few days before New Years, we went to Eve - with our friends; Mike, Jennie, Sophie and Addie.
Dmitri could have spent the whole time, in the bounce houses! There were SO many! Even the
adults got in on the action! Daniel and Mike had fun sparing, and going down the slides too.
They also had a huge bubble room! It was pretty cool! They'd turn the lights down, and the music
up, and everyone ran around kicking giant beach balls. Again, Dmitri loved it!
They also had live music, and ice sculptures outside. It was so gross, but Dmitri would not stop
licking the sculptures!! It was so gross... The middle pic below, he had to lick, before he took his
picture. Ugh...
After Eve, we went to the Clark Planetarium, and walked around, then went to a laser light show.
The kids did surprisingly well, especially considering how late it was. Dmitri did better at the light
show, then he does at the movies! Though he did declare, that it was, "a weird movie..."
Another highlight of our trip... Daniel spent the night at Mike's, one night. So the next day, while
they were still playing around, Dmitri and I headed to the Discovery Gateway Museum.
We've never been, but it was fun. He loved the grocery store, construction zone and the ball tubes.
I always thought Dmitri was a docile kid, when it came to playing... but apparently I haven't seen
him play with other kids, in awhile! A few times, some kids would try to take his shopping cart. He responded by giving the STINKIEST stink eye ever! Then yanking it back and telling them no! Oh my. Good?? Bad?? I figured at least he was sticking up for himself...
We played at the grocery store for a long time... and even went back a few times.
More construction work...
Here are many of phone pics... I have more, that might make it to the next post... Hopefully they're self explanatory enough :}
Christmas was great! I opted to video it... so I didn't get any pictures!! Dmitri was SO excited, that
while he was opening presents, he'd forget names of things! LOL he'd go, "LOOK! SANTA BROUGHT ME THIS, THIS, THIS GUY!"
I also made Christmas dinner, for my side. It turned out pretty tasty! That night, we went to Daniel's dad house - and Christmas Eve dinner at his mom's.
Some more highlights:
- New Years Eve, we spent at Daniel's sister's house, setting off fireworks.
- Date nights!
- Birthday party, for Dima's friend Olive
- Daniel and his twin sister Liselle's 31st birthday! We haven't celebrated it
together, for awhile
- Dmitri and my mom, getting locked in our room, on one of our date nights.
- No snow... good and bad. We wanted to play in it, but it was nice not having
to drive someone else's car in it!
- Dinner and hanging out, with some of our favorite Beairds!
- LAN party for Daniel
- Dmitri getting LOTS of cousin playtime!
- Dmitri getting to spend a lot of time with his grandparents {probably our
favorite thing!}
- Being under 100 days left of pregnancy!
I haven't blogged much about this pregnancy. There's just been a lot of 'life' going on. But I'm 27
weeks, and feeling good!
I still need to call, and get an appointment, at the hospital here. But since I'm semi caught up
on blogging, I hope to have a post, all about her!
Here are some pics, from our 20 week ultrasound.
So that's that. Georgia has been good to us so far! We were picked up at the airport, by our friends,
the Nixons. We had dinner at their house that night.
We've also spent time with our friends, the Calls - and I've already met a lot of people in our new ward! Dmitri also had his first day of Sunbeams today... the first part wasn't so successful, but the
second half was good! He also has his friend Ava, in his class, so that helps! But more on Georgia later!
SO MANY CHANGES!!
ReplyDeleteWe miss you over here. I love reading up on your life. More on Georgia, and if your stuff arrived safely.
ReplyDeleteRemember: expect things to be broken, but they will fix them.
Yes we miss you back here in HI. Last week on the way home from church Parker asked why Dmitri wasn't in class at church, it made me so sad to tell him that he wouldn't be coming any more. I hope all your stuff gets delivered soon, that will help a lot to make GA feel more like home!
ReplyDeleteReading the first part of your post made me a little sad. But onto new adventures.
ReplyDeleteDo you know get to have your dogs live with you guys?