It had been 7 years since we last celebrated Christmas with family, and that made it all the more memorable when Jason’s folks made their first trip to Kyiv in December. Winter isn’t the typical tourist season in Ukraine, but the folks braved the cold with us, and were able to experience our normal life rather than the slower pace of summer. This came with the bonus of celebrating Christmas, a visit to the Nutcracker, and holiday shows at the kids’ schools.

Look at this and tell me what you see. Our new pet is named Rorschach because he looks exactly like an inkblot–at least to us! Gazing at our new pet may tell you more about us than about yourself. Although we’d all really love to have a dog, an 8th floor apartment and a traveling lifestyle makes that difficult. So we recently ended up getting an inky-blue Betta fish.Of course, Casey is still convinced that her pet hamster, Reepicheep,* is the family’s mascot. So, for […]

It was a gray day, and Kerri’s absence made it grayer. With another day before she would return from the women’s conference, the girls eagerly joined me in a project, to make homemade applesauce. No one’s heard of applesauce in Ukraine, but for us it brings with it the aroma of the holidays. In the middle of peeling an apple, Casey shrieked and ran to the window. It was snowing for the first time this year, which obviously meant that we needed an additional treat–hot […]

Look at this and tell me what you see. Our new pet is named Rorschach because he looks exactly like an inkblot–at least to us! Gazing at our new pet may tell you more about us than about yourself. Although we’d all really love to have a dog, an 8th floor apartment and a traveling lifestyle makes that difficult. So we recently ended up getting an inky-blue Betta fish. Of course, Casey is still convinced that her pet hamster, Reepicheep, is the family’s mascot. So, […]

Asians have Tiger-moms, Texans have Pageant-moms, and Eastern Europeans have Olympic-moms. We took Sophie to a local rhythmic gymnastics class for 4-year-olds last year, thinking it would be a great outlet for her boundless energy. But we soon discovered that gymnastics here is not about healthy recreation, it’s about winning. As a five-year-old now, Sophie’s trainer expects 15 hours of practice a week. We are not quite that committed and can’t maintain that kind of schedule, so we’re undoubtedly looked down on by the Olympic-moms, […]

It was a cool treat on a hot summer day, but it wasn’t the sweetest melon ever. The last one we had tasted like candy, so we had high hopes. Watch the 30-second video below.