The Post Where Summer Ends And School Begins

I am very familiar with the cycle of our school years and summer vacations. We always so look forward to the summer break and all the fun things to do, then get a little disenchanted with the unstructured days and then it's time to go back to school and packing lunches. As the kids are getting older, though, it seems to me that I like to keep them home more and more. I don't mean HOME home, but around, hanging out with friends, playing at the park, staying up late, etc. I know that they thrive in social settings though (even Mark, the self-proclaimed introvert).

In any case, our summer has come and gone. And we did get a lot of fun things done, but I was horrible at documenting any of it, but particularly the everyday life. I should be snapping pictures right and left, but unfortunately, this is all I've got, pretty much.

Yes, the pool picture! At least the kids went to the pool together a couple of times (most of the other times they were there playing with their friends).

And once in awhile, they just read. You can tell this picture was taken at the end of August, but it is true, they did read more (especially Katya).

Oh yes, we celebrated Ukrainian Independence Day by joining our North Carolina group of Ukrainians at Falls Lake Park. We couldn't stay for a very long time as we had some other commitment that same day, but it was still so good to connect with something so familiar and special to me. Just hearing the language is so comforting. 

I tell Katya she should add a Ukrainian flower wreath to her hair accessories as she looks so cute in it. 

And then the exciting day came! First day of school! It fell on Aug 26th this year. Alex started 9th grade and Katya started 11th!! They took the bus together and at least acknowledged they belong to the same family when at school. 

And then two hours later, Mark gets to leave for his school. This was the first day of his 5th grade! The last year of Elementary school. AAAHHH! Mark was very excited and let me walk to the bus stop with him (then realizing he is the oldest kid on our side of the street, so he's been walking to a further bus stop just so he could wait around with his buddies and older kids;). His teacher this year is Ms. Beickert. 

That's me trying to "run" after Mark as he is walking to the bus stop. 

And finally, a picture of his bus that looks like any other American school bus, but this is just for memory's sake.

Our excitement was not over! On the first day of school, right after Katya walked in the door, we drove to Garner DMV where we had an appointment for Katya to take her driving test. It had been exactly a year and one day of her getting her permit, so she was ready to get it done. And she passed with flying colors!!! Yay! 

So now we have a third driver which is convenient! But I am waiting still to buy a new minivan for me so that Katya could get our old one:) For free! Lucky duck...

So this is how our summer wrapped up and school started! One thing for sure--I gotta cherish our summers...we basically have only one summer left with Katya still at home and not getting ready to leave to go somewhere.

Lyana. 

Our Fun Guy

Oh yes! Indeed Robert turned FORTY!!! 

We wanted to celebrate our amazing husband and tato (dad) so we got him some cinnamon rolls for his grab-n-go breakfast as it was a workday, and then waited with excitement for the evening as we took him to one of his favorite places--Bad Daddy's. I love that place too as they have yummy huge salads.

He's known me for almost half of his life!

Who cares that you can't see Robert's face--you can see his favorite treats--anything with peanut butter!

The kids actually picked out his gifts this year. 

And I got it super easy this year as I just told him his gift is a new bigger TV, so he had to go pick it out:)! 

Just for fun, I dug out some of the previous years birthday pictures! Here is the first time we celebrated Robert's birthday together in Utah.

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And then in Florida, as we had just barely moved to Fort Walton Beach and I was pregnant with Mark. Not sure about the cake situation there.

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And then a year after we moved to Japan.

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And then in England!

36

Finally, in North Carolina.

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Back to 40.

And his favorite gift was the birthday card I gave him with two dogs riding in a car (one dog, presumably Robert) is driving while the other dog (me?) has this very scared look on her face. In any case, for some reason it was just so hilarious to him that we all laughed and laughed for a long time, and we still don't know why we laughed! 

Robert had other big plans for his 40s that didn't work out because of of his brother's schedule, but he is not giving up yet. He will just need to come up with something grand and go for it to commemorate his love of the outdoors:)

We can't start to list all the ways how we love and appreciate Robert! We are so happy he is ours and happy that he is strong and healthy and knows that forty is such a wonderful age! He always has so many new ideas that he wants to get done--it's refreshing:) Scheduling them in in his life is not his forte though, so that's why he needs me-haha:) 

Happy birthday, Robert!!! 💗💗💗 

Winston -Salem 2019

Third year in row, Mark and I get to go to Winston-Salem Open-- professional tennis tournament. This year we had to go on a Wednesday, as Robert's birthday fell on the day we usually go (the quarterfinals day).

We arrived to the venue at around 1:30 to check out the booths and maybe see some famous players warm up (we didn't:)).

It was HOT. Good thing I stopped by H&M at the mall on the way here and bought a hat (I accidentally left my at home!) or I would have died in the sun. 

We watched the first match between American Johnson and Norwegian Ruud (Mark was rooting for him;)) in the VIP seats as during the day session no one really cares where you sit. It was awesome! We got to be on TV (as Katya reported to us diligently:))

Shortly after the first match we walked over to the doubles court but only got to see one game before all play was stopped because of a massive thunderstorm brewing really close by. 

We ran to the car just in time as it started POURING! We knew that matches will be delayed so we drove to grab some dinner and by the time we came back, matches resumed.

We got to watch Shapovalov defeat Kecmanovic. Shapovalov is from Canada but his parents are Russian. 

So right after the match, we happened to be in the right place in the right time by the main court as Dennis Shapovalov exited the court. A crowd of people swarmed him, of course, Mark and I were nearby and as we were really close to him, I just said in Russian, "Dennis, could we get a picture with you?". He right away looked up at me and asked Mark to stand by him. Mark got his tennis ball signed as well!!!

He was soooo excited!! 

Well, our experience was not quite over yet!

Although delayed, we had the pleasure of watching Coco Gauff play Ashleigh Barty in an special, first time in Winston-Salem Open history, exhibition match.  Coco has become super famous as the youngest American this summer to go very far in Wimbledon and Ashleigh Barty is #1 in the world at the moment (she is from Australia).

For this one, we couldn't really sit wherever we wanted as people actually had to pay lots of money for good seats. So we found our average seats and then Mark went down closer to find a much better spot on his own:)

It was a FUN match! 

This is Coco! She is awesome! She is so young yet so real and is such an awesome example to so many young players!

And this is Ashleigh, who also has a very sweet and humble personality which matters so much to the fans. 

The match was a lot of fun to watch, they even turned on some music to entertain the audience. I don't even remember who won, but that's why it was an exhibition match. These players are top notch and it was fantastic to see them in action! So much talent!

Mark was fortunate to sit really close to the court exit (strategically placing himself on the very edge). He managed to get Coco to sign his tennis ball!!!  

Look at that! 

Lucky kid! 

Finally, it was getting super late (like 10 pm...) and we decided to watch the first set of the last match where American Sam Querrey was playing. We bought our traditional bucket of popcorn and enjoyed the cooler air of that North Carolinian summer night. (whoa, what happened to Mark's ear here?;))

And the tradition lives on!!! Winston Salem, we'll be back next August!! I hope.

Lyana. 

How Robert Is Staying Young!

I figured this post has to be the one I post BEFORE the post about Robert turning forty-hehe. He's had a busy summer--working five days a week, half of the days having an hour long commute, managing to entertain his family and serving our community.

These pictures are out of order, but kind of help me highlight some of the happenings in his life.

In July, Robert drove to Virginia, to SVU, to pick up Katya from EFY (Especially for Youth church camp). He ran into our old friends from English days--the Williamsons. Always so fun to see them!




Robert was able to help with the Boy Scouts trip to Charlotte's White Water Rafting Center. Not many pictures, but super fun memories. I am glad he came back home without any substantial injuries, as, apparently, their rides were a bit crazy sometimes:)



A couple of weeks before his birthday, Robert got a bunch of friends together and went disc golfing at Harris Lake Park. It's his new hobby and a good way to hang out with some good guys on Saturday mornings.



And on another Saturday, he helped our Scouts with another Eagle Project that needed completing. Lots of other leaders showed up to help with the project, which is always so wonderful to see. Alex is working on his Eagle Project at the moment and should be done by December.



For our Ridiculously Fun neighborhood event, we needed to bring a dessert. Not having much of anything but bananas Robert made one of his most amazing creations! Banana cake!:)

And then we hung out in our front yard waiting for the neighborhood kids to stop by to play our game (three legged race).  This awesome event is part of our neighborhood fun every summer. Mark loves participating with his buddies:) Over a dozen houses participates, setting up their own challenges/games and kids run around the neighborhood completing them.

Finally, one night, Robert took us all to Pittsboro for dessert at the Soda Shoppe. We have heard lots about it but this was the first time for us to actually go there. Yummy huge milkshakes! Delicious ice cream:) They have real food too, but we had dinner beforehand...probably some vegetable soup, if you were to ask my kids;).

And so Robert's fun continues. I hope he organizes one of those guys only trip to go kayaking somewhere in West Virginia--soon! There are lots of new great things happening in his busy life this year, so stand by:)

Lyana. 

Alex Is Amazing!!!

Sup everyone, it's Alex here, you know, that tall guy with glasses who seems to keep getting taller with every blog my mom writes. I'm 6' 1'' now, which seems like it would help me in swimming, right? Wrong! This summer I did swim team for the 3rd year in a row (Get it, row, cause I also do...you know what, forget it) and this year I was a volunteer coach, particularly for the 6 and under age group.  It was a blast and I met so many new people, as well as reunited with old friends from previous swimming years.  I also won the Harloff award, and I'll try not make it sound super grand, even though it was, but it's the award given to the swimmer who displays the most team spirit, integrity, character, and represents the team the greatest.  I was really proud of that one.

Another great thing I've done this summer is that I've started going busking in the downtown area of where we live.  The realty place in downtown Apex closes at 5, so we talked to them and they were super happy to allow me to set up right in front of their property, which was conveniently located right beside this awesome ice cream place.  I wasn't expecting much, and the first time, I just sang random songs, but after only 2 hours, I'd made 91 bucks, so I was really surprised and excited to do it again.

I still read books. 

And then we went to cow day at Chick-Fil-A.  'Nuff Said.

I guess Alex left this post half way finished and then I added more pictures from his August adventures. 

First of all, this has to be put on record--Alex loves salads! He is the only one who will enjoy a big bowl of green salad just as a snack. Albeit, he loves his feta cheese too, but I don't care:)

Alex's grandest adventure came in August when we, very last minute, signed him up for an EFY session at BYU--that's Especially For Youth church camp for a week in Utah. They had announced a week prior that they wouldn't have EFY sessions like this any longer, so we figured we should probably send him to just to experience it. It all worked out because our friends, the Woolies were also flying to UT and the dates fit in great, so he could tag along with them on the flight and then stay at the Farnsworths' house for the extra couple of days before camp started. Besides, Andrew Farnsworth was also going to EFY at the same time as Alex, so it ALL worked out perfectly. 

Alex was ecstatic to leave and be independent!!!

He was gone for 12 days and we actually missed him very-very much!!! We had almost no piano playing in the house...

But when you ask Alex, he would tell you that the week at EFY was the best week of his life so far! And not only because he stayed up late into the night chatting with new friends;).

This is the picture of Alex leaving for UT. So excited!! 

So yes, this was a random admiration post for Alex, and he deserves every praise in it. As a middle kid, sometimes it's hard to get a ton of attention, especially when you are easy going and well tempered, am I right?

Lyana.