Going Out Like a....

LION!!! Yes, it is snowing heavily yet again here in Kyiv.  I am a broken record, no?  I have run out of things to do in this apartment with Gio. So far this morning we have baked and decorated two dozen cupcakes for an Easter party tomorrow, cleaned and replaced the slipcovers on one of our couches, read "Owl at Home" all the way through 4 times and is currently upstairs, naked, cleaning one of our icky trash cans in his tub.  Now we are going to hop on the metro and then sled the rest of the way to school to do an egg hunt with Grace on the playground.  I suppose some of the eggs will not be discovered until May (or when the snow melts, which ever comes first!).

Here are some shots from our last week together....

School was called off on Monday due to snow (no one can ever remember this happening at Gio's school before!), so we headed out to do some bowling.  Not only is Gio' form superb, but that combo of pirate pjs and bowling shoes is really stunning.

Sometimes Gio's ball took a loooong time to go down the lane (bouncing back and forth between the bumpers). 

A terrific snow fort was created near our apartment- Gio helped make the walls even taller!

Gio's school reopened on Tuesday- here is the entrance to the gym!

And his playground- sort of hard to get to the swings!

School morning wake ups continue to be a challenge.  This is how I often find him, with every soft item in his room keeping him company.

While Gio snores Enzo rests on his snow pillow on our balcony.

Besides cleaning out icky garbage cans, Gio is also really good at some other chores.
 Here he is resting in between salad spins.

Our rose coloring project.  Thanks to my friend Charlotte's amazing blog:
http://ciburbanity.com/2013/03/26/old-school-science/
which gave me the inspiration!

The next morning..... The green ones on the end here are our best performers and Gio is thrilled as he created the green himself mixing blue and yellow drops.  He is really excited about this color math as green is his "most favorite"!

Easter shopping here is a challenge because (1) Ukrainian Orthodox Easter does not arrive until early May and (2) the shelves are still filled with Christmas stuff.  This is the opposite strategy of the US where shelves have holiday candy months in advance but then get stripped the day after.  

I did finally find this assortment of semi-Easter stuff- all ceremoniously dumped in a corner- very Ukrainian style. 

Out of desperation I decided to get Gio's summer cut done yesterday just hoping that maybe it would make the snow melt. No luck- we woke to heavy snow this morning.

For your listening "pleasure"....

Gio's class performed a rocking rendition of "Gangnam Style" yesterday in gym class.  Gio is the one in yellow crocs and a red-blue shirt.....

Our dog walker Lucy spotted this car last night while outside with Enzo.
Who knew there was another Gio in Kyiv?!

Living in the City Center

I have often been jealous of my many friends here who live in lovely big houses outside of town with gardens, pools and oodles of room. And I have often cursed our 59 steps up to our apartment door. Today I want to give our city center apartment a huge hug. We are in the midst of a monstrous blizzard- on day 2 with no end in sight. At least 3 feet of snow has fallen as of Saturday night with massive 6 foot drifts all around.  Many cars are completely buried and traffic is crippled with roads filled with abandoned cars and trucks.  On one busy road just outside of town a 14 hour traffic jam was finally relieved when they cut a hole in the center guard rails and allowed the cars to escape.  Paolo left ours last night in the Podil neighborhood after being stuck in a jam for nearly 2 hours.  Luckily he was near a metro station so he hopped aboard and road home in style. It is a 3 minute walk from the train to our apartment- such a blessing on days like this.  Last night we headed out in the raging storm, walked for less than 10 minutes (some of those underground) and were able to enjoy a lovely dinner at one of the city's finest restaurants.  Today we hopped onto the metro and within 20 minutes we were donning our bathing suits and got to spend 4 hours splashing about at Dreamtown's water park, Gio's favorite place on earth. Here are Gio and his best friend Grace having a blast in the very warm water....  

Paolo was able to rescue our car and it is now parked happily under our alley's tunnel.  Since all of the cars parked next to our apartment are completely buried we are not blocking anyone by parking there.  Lucky us!  And another hug I want to give?  To our trusty Volvo.  Living in Kyiv these last 3 winters, and especially this one, has shown me how very important it is to have such a reliable car with excellent snow tires.  Seriously, this car has never failed us.  Blizzards, hazardous drives over the Carpathian Mountains, unpaved roads, whatever.  

No one is happier about this weather than Enzo. The boy was built for just this sort of thing. 

Two hearty Kyiv-ites intent on a game of chess right in the middle of day #1 of the blizzard. Believe it or not, these two were right back at it on Saturday afternoon (day #2)! And for those of you wondering why I was even out in all of this, well, remember I have a 120+ pound beast who (1) LOVES snow, and (2) does not use a litter box! 

Gio's favorite playground on Saturday morning.  By Saturday night the swings were completely buried. 

Our beloved babuska statue. 

Enzo and I spent 2 hours out walking this morning. We explored the abandoned botanical gardens and made the first tracks at 6AM.  

On our second outing at 4PM the snow was up to my thigh
and even Enzo was having trouble getting around.

Here is where we normally park our car.  These cars may not escape until May or June. It turned out to be lucky we had to abandon our car near the river last night as now it is safely parked in the tunnel just to the left of this photo.  Tomorrow we are going to drive our landlord to the grocery store since his car is the one in the middle here! 

Gio loved this and insisted I take a picture.  He predicted it will take "a million hours plus 4" to dig it out.  

This is one the MAJOR roads in Kyiv at 4PM today. Yep, those are skiers.  

Something else I love about living in the city center?  Our neighbors, including our landlord who lives in the apartment across from ours.  The two-building complex where we live contains about 10 apartments.  All of our neighbors are local families, some quite poor, others firmly middle class.  No oligarchs here with flashy LandRovers and obnoxious attitudes.  Everyone around us is friendly, amused by Gio and in love with Enzo.  Our dog is like a celebrity, greeted by name whenever he walks by and is showered with affection.  Yes, in general Ukrainians are very tough and stone-faced, but in our little pocket here on Gorkogo we are lucky to be surrounded by a warm, welcoming community.  There are many things I will NOT miss when we leave Kyiv in the summer of 2014, but shutting the door of #17 (and walking down those 59 steps) for the last time will be hard on all of us.

A Scatter-Brained Post

We are well into our 5th straight month of hard winter, which I think explains entirely the following:

1) My lack of motivation to take pictures or find anything of any interest to write about (okay, grammar police, about which to write).

2) My skin that has gone from pale to translucent.

3) The near gag reflex I have now when I see my huge black Patagonia coat and floral Boggs boots. I am thinking of burning them both when and if spring actually arrives.

4) My complete disdain and boredom with winter driving.  I think nothing now of heading out in a raging snow storm and am in awe that our tank-like Volvo is still functional after going over (and into) the crater-like potholes on every single road here.

5) My utter disinterest in the blizzard expected to arrive here tomorrow and dump over 2 feet of snow. What's two more feet, anyway? If I had been in Washington and this prediction had been broadcast imagine the utter panic and the chaos at Safeway.  Here, no one even bats an eye.  Well, we did receive a warning from the UN about a "cyclone" bearing down on us and to be cautious about our driving.  Okay, okay, so I will turn on my headlights and brake a bit earlier tomorrow....

Here, then are a few photos from the last week, in no particular order and perhaps of no particular interest....

Enzo, smelling riper than any 120+ pound beast should smell that sleeps on your bed, was subjected to a 4 hour session at the groomer.  Here he is sleeping off the trauma.  

Gio met up with his best pals Wilsy and Grace at a local Irish pub for some banana milkshakes and coloring. Never too early to introduce pub crawls to pre-schoolers.  

Refusing to pay any attention to the overnight snowstorm and to the blizzard predicted, the park authorities decided it is now spring and began to install the ice cream and beer kiosks.  

What qualifies for sheer excitement and raids on a supermarket here? Not snow predictions, certainly, but instead the discovery that Megamarket is now selling string cheese that actually tastes as good as the stuff in the States.  We expats cleared the place of its inventory within 3 days! And yes, I took this photo illegally but for once the Megamarket security drones were looking the other way. 

Gio's current obsession?  Wonderwoman.
 Yep. He is completely smitten.
I think I know what his Halloween costume will be this year.....

It is time to renew Gio's passport.  Here he is at the ripe old age of 6 days. The passport does not actually expire until December but with only one blank page left I think it is time.  

His new passport photo.  The hair gel was done at his insistence. 

Look!  Grass!!!!  Yes, we had quite a bit of melting this week, all in preparation for the cyclone/blizzard coming our way. 

If you look really really carefully you can see green shoots coming up out of the snow!

Enzo's favorite spot in Kyiv.  He and I head here to the abandoned botanical gardens every afternoon. So much to sniff, so many furry friends to meet, so many icy paths for me to slip on.   

And here are two random shots of our refrigerators (yes, we have two). This happens to be my favorite part of PEOPLE magazine and MTV Cribs- when they show the inside of a celebrity's fridge.  So here, a peek into a non-celebrity's.  This one is the "adult fridge."  Yes, there is quite a bit of alcohol, but this is a family blog so I did not show what is packed into the upper shelf and fridge door (not to mention the freezer!)

And Gio's fridge.  The usual kid stuff, including those yummy cheese sticks! 

Ciao for now.  Forgive me if I resist a post about this weekend's coming storm. I hope this is the last shot of snow I post for a long long time.  

Gio's Musical Talents

Well...the title may be going too far, but here he is singing along to his beloved 'Backyardigans" DVD while we were stuck in horrible traffic this morning....

Sorry to be slow on blog things lately.  Just at the end (we hope) of a very long Ukrainian winter and lacking in inspiration right now.  We promise more excitement to come with a visit from Angelo, more time outside soon and another trip to the US in May.... Happy Birthday, Nonno, who turns a very young 71 today!