Perfect Birthday Weekend

It is nice when you birthday always falls on a holiday so we typically take a long weekend somewhere to keep trying to remind myself I am young. This year was no exception for another new adventure, this time in Borovets Bulgaria which is a 5 hour drive from home. But before departing I had a wonderful wakeup with cards, coupons and a happy to me song. Pranvera hit me with the perfect present of something I had talked about but didn't quite know how to get nor would I have gone to the effort: a portable tennis net so I can now play on the courts 30 seconds from our house but always have the nets destroyed due to the kids. And for myself I got an software package update to finally get current maps uploaded to our cars navigation system which could have been helpful for this trip as we made a couple errors and had to resort to using our phones and a printout to make the journey.

Since it is Kosovo Independence Day right after my bday Adi gets a couple days off school so we needed to take advantage of the window. The lesson learned here was that when you have a holiday, many others might too. Which was the case for both the UK and Serbia which slams this resort with direct flights and package deals. It is known for having good infastructure and unbeatable prices (especially for UK standards). So the lines on several of the days were ridiculous and all the ski schools full. Luckily we had a local contact of a great instructor so Adi got good equipment ($5/day with helmet) and 2 hours private lessons. By the end of 3 days he was skiing as fast as I could board on the beginner and couple intermediate slops. Was so much fun to be on the mountain with him.

But as any skier knows the amount of logistics can be overwhelming. Lift passes, lines, equipment, crazy beginner skiers all over the mountain etc. But we managed and enjoyed with 2 perfect weather days as well. The huge hotel had a big pool and a little town around it to get some good food (pork finally) and we ran into one of Adi's schoolmates so they had fun playing. Pranvera had the kids sledding on the base of one of the slopes and Adi could take the tow rope lifts by himself to ski till his hearts content. Think next year at 3, will be time to get Rea on the sticks as she seems to be the real dare devil of the family. 

Wintertime in Pristina

Considering that a warm day is 0 degrees, we have certainly returned to a cold winter. But when the sun is shining or we get the kids out to play and enjoy the city lights, fun for all.

New Years in DC

Well I can at least say we had a bit of a holiday for our vacation when we went to the Kaisers to spend 3 nights there including New Years. Andrew and I am are quite close but it has been 2 years since we had seen one another and 4 since the families convened. So we all got to meet Sefi and them Rea for the first time. Not only is their house on the Chesapeake Bay incredibly peaceful but the boys and girls got along great allowing us adults to actually catch up over great home cooked meals and plenty of cocktails. We adventured around the fields, water and forests when it was not raining. The weather even improved to the point that Andrew and I rang in the New Year playing tennis that day. The evening celebrations included a wonderful meal, smores roasting over the fire and the adults venturing out onto the pier for some stargazing and midnight toast (ok so the girls retired slightly early and the boys braved the cold). Most of us were fighting various stages of colds but we managed to maximize our time together before we drove into DC to spend the last 2 nights visiting old friends and family.

The first night we crashed with my cousin Rand and his lovely canine companion Zeus. Nice to see his new home in Takoma Park where we also desserted with old friends the Kauffman's who came in from the suburbs as well as Rick and Sarah and their two little girls who we know from Maputo. Not to mention the obligatory shopping, storage visit and walking to the White House and taking the Metro (have to show our kids something). We also find a great kids playcenter which allowed us to catch up with dear friend Maura. A DC visit would not be complete without seeing Rand's daughters (kids cousins) which was perfect. A wonderful sushi meal and time to catch-up on Kate being an 8th grader and Sohpia's first year at college (I remember when they were my kids ages and I sat for them).

The slightly fewer flight segments should have made the return trip easier but we still had a long 7 hour layover in Frankfurt where we finally boarded our home-bound plane to Pristina. Problem was that a big snow storm had just hit and as we descended to land we had to abort and circle around for a second attempt. At this point we were told if not possible to land we would go to Tirana Albania where we would have to someone figure on how to drive 3plus hours to our home over mountain roads covered in snow and ice. Finally the travel God took pity on us and decided not to have me experience my second diverted flight in one trip and the pilots cut through the storm and stuck us on the runway (one of the only flights in for the next 2 days).

Freezing cold temperatures (high of -10C) have kept us inside for most the past days just trying to keep warm. But with the sunshine and snowsuits we have ventured out a couple times to sled and finally shop for some food. With our heat breaking almost daily it feels like it will be a long winter. But we are non-the-less happy to be back and get the kids started up with school again (as soon as we can find a new one for Rea).

Adi Turns 7

There is no denying that he is officially a big boy. Attending a real number grade, has homework, can build lego sets himself, wants to look good if his 'girlfriends' will be present, and is quickly mastering almost every video game he forces us to download on our iPhones. The challenge with his Dec 21 date is technically we need to plan 3 birthdays. The first with all his school friends before everyone leaves for holiday. And luckily for this it was an easy repeat of last year hosting all his classmates at Maxi Kids right next to his school. The kids can run, play and destroy at hearts content with the staff in charge of monitoring and cleaning up. We just need to provide the food and kids and everything takes care of itself.

The second is that same evening once we get home to have more cake and open presents with Pranvera's family. Quite nice to have his cousins come around and a chance for us all to wish one another a happy holiday and festive New Year before I boarded the plane the next morning (6am) to fly to the States.

And finally a small acknowledgement of his actual day with cupcakes from Aunt Stacey and Grandpa and a day of play at the Magic House (see Xmas blog). As anyone with young boys knows most of his presents were Lego's which magically keep him focused for hours assembling them as quickly as possible and then playing late into the evening. The problem and blessing with our quick departure this year was we left most of these unopened but have been a blessing since our return to Kosovo as the freezing weather and heavy snow has kept us inside for days on end.