Halloween, Thanksgiving and a photo shoot, oh my!

Halloween to my family, is mostly a holiday we celebrated in the United States. However, Day of the Dead and All saints day here in Poland, have long standing roots that don't show any signs of going away. If you were to visit a cemetery on either of those days, you will find them packed with people at all times of the day. People really take the time to prepare the graves of those that have been lost to us and honor them on these days especially. All across Poland you would find literally millions of candles burning through the night; a burning reminder of those that came before us, and a nice way of saying that when we go we will also not be forgotten. 

Thanksgiving is definitely one of my favorite holidays as an American, this is largely due to the fact that I get an excuse to stuff my face with a large variety of food without judgement. Thanksgiving is a great time to sit down with those that are close to you and say a little something about how great it is to have them in your lives, or to be thankful and talk about other people and things that are important. I am thankful for everyone who is and has been a part of my life and for all of those in the future who would want to be my friend and invite me into their lives. When I hear something crash down and break I rush to see if everyone is alright, I don't rush to see if something expensive has been broken. Friendships are the most valuable things in our lives other than our health, but those two items are not mutually exclusive in nature either. I am thankful for American Football here in Poland, it is a great way for me to meet new people and share a love for a sport that was such a big part of my youth. I am, of course, for anyone who knows me, most thankful for my family, who surrounds me everyday with great hugs and kisses.

These two pictures of my girls, along with the new cover photo of our family were taken at a photo shoot in Gydynia. I love taking pictures but professional photographers with studios that do this for a living just make this look too easy. :) We had a lot of fun going through the different poses and backgrounds to quickly come up with a bunch of great pictures. We also took the time to see some friends in the northern part of Poland and give the kids a play date. The kids are growing up fast and bilingual which is great. Lydia who will turn seven this month has to be reminded by Mommy and Daddy constantly to speak English when at home. We absolutely refuse to let her get away with speaking Polish all of the time and not get the benefits of learning multiple languages. I have actually had the benefit of speaking Polish in other countries to people who didn't know any English. Well time to move Mila the Destroyer back to her bed and call it a night myself. bye for now. :)

POLAND 2 - GERMANY 0

Poland -2 Germany -0

Poland -2 Germany -0

Poland -2 Germany -0

Just let it sink in for a minute. :) Well like most people living in Poland I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the game yesterday. I bet someone playing the odds of the game also came out ahead with a nice return on the match. Germany having recently become FIFA World Cup Champions in Brazil, were probably also not expecting to lose a friendly match to Poland because they haven't done so in the past, or at least not in an European Championship Qualifying round. Poland has the ability to take the European Championship, it just has to limit mistakes and make the plays as they come along. Germany and Poland both had shots on goal blocked but Polish people are the ones holding their heads high in victory today.

Poland has a lot of great athletes across the country but there just aren't enough good opportunities for the athletes to encourage them to stay in this country when they get good. I would like to see this country spend some money supporting the athletes, helping them to become the best in the world, and encourage them to be happy staying here. If that is still too distant of a possibility then what about spending some money to get some of the good retired Polish athletes in the world to come back home and be the next generation of coaches? I know this is often a difficult discussion, when I talk to the people of Poland they are very confused with the United States approach of putting celebrities and athletes on the same pedestal. As an American I am often confused with the lack of Business interest in advertising and branding in respect to sponsoring teams and athletes in Poland. The Polish people also have the disadvantage or lack of big college rivalries in sports and lack of sports promotion to students going through the educational system. Sports can lead to personal success but I would argue that they are much more important that just entertainment. Sports are a great system of bringing people together from diverse backgrounds to reach a common goal of winning. Sports teach young people and adults how to work together, how to push themselves, and how to pick themselves up off of the ground when the fall down. The great thing about losing is you get to learn from your mistakes. I hear people sometimes complain that they lost because the other team is bigger or stronger but that is something that you can work on. Most high schools in the US have a weight-room and even if the equipment is old it gives the students an opportunity to make themselves bigger, faster and stronger. I was also very sad to see Poland withdraw its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics due to a poor result in a local referendum. I remain hopeful that Poland will submit a future bid to host the games, summer or winter would be fine :) Well I'm done ranting for now, GO POLAND!

Holidays in Poland

Easter in Poland is a four day weekend full of lots of excitement, tons of food, religion, and fun for all ages. It would take me a full week just to shed the extra few pounds I gained, if I wasn't eating the leftovers. :) Magda is a crafty individual so every holiday she will spend some time with Lydia making new decorations for the house and Easter is no exception. Dying eggs for Easter is a universal hobby but I really enjoy the older traditions in Poland of dying eggs naturally using vegetables. This year we dyed eggs using onion skins, beets and red cabbage. Magda added a cool highlight this year by dipping a needle in wax and drawing on the egg before dying them. By doing this it would leave a pattern without color on the eggshell. I think red cabbage is my favorite source for natural dye, it gives the eggs a kind of blue color which I like.

Magda did another really cool art project this year for Easter but I don't think it has to just be limited to the holiday for a household decoration. The basic idea is to blowup a small balloon. Dip the balloon in glue, wrap the balloon in colored yarn and wait for it to dry. After the yarn and the glue dries, you pop the balloon and remove it leaving the shape of the colored yarn. It is also pretty cool when you pop the balloon because it slowly retreats from it's environment while fighting the glue and trying to stay in place.

In the United States my Easter revolved around searching the house or yard for a basket full of goodies left for the Easter Bunny. I know I am getting older these days and my hair is turning grey, but a part of me really does miss the excitement of searching for what might be found. In recent years I think my favorite Easter Basket treat has been Starburst Jelly Beans. :) The bottom line about Easter is that the holiday is about spending some time together as a family.  

We also just celebrated Labor Day and Constitution Day. Mila the Destroyer even created a Polish flag in her preschool. We went to a few BBQ's over the long weekend and had some guests over at our house as well. Overall it has been a busy few weeks on my social calendar. :) The girls are doing well, and one teacher apparently called Mila the Destroyer an Angel in Preschool?! Well Mila can be an Angel at times and Lydia too, but my girls are born to be wild and I try not to be surprised by their actions, good or bad. For the most part the weather has been good, but a recent cold snap killed some of the gourds we had just planted. We are starting some more plants from seeds inside the house and will put them in the yard soon. The flowers in the yard are coming along nicely and Magda and I planted some more in the yard which I will take some pictures of soon. Well bye for now.

Mila The Destroyer enters preschool!

Any new parent can read the title of my post and realize just how epic this moment is! :) Anyone who reads my blog can understand how important it is to have Mila away from our house where she can destroy and play with other kids her age. Mila is an amazing little girl and completely different from her older sister in many ways. If I had to explain the difference of how my daughters act at home in simple terms, I would say that Lydia is an introvert mostly wanting to be by herself and Mila is an Extrovert wanting to grab your hand and go do something together. The difference in my girls starting preschool is also quite different. When Lydia started preschool in the US she was shy and cried and didn't want us to leave at first. When we started Mila this week for preschool, we brought her inside, removed her hat, and changed her shoes and she bolted before we could even say goodbye. When Lydia was starting preschool we would have to wave to her from the window while one of the teachers held her so that she could say goodbye. Anyone who has had to wave and say goodbye when the child is crying and screaming for you knows just how hard this can be and fortunately we don't have to do that with Mila. Mila the Destroyer is however daddy's girl and will run to me whenever she hurts herself, or is sad, or hasn't seen me in a while and I come home. So I am spoiled with the reaction I get from Mila when I pick her up from preschool. :) Mila with yell Dada and run into my arms to be picked up and hugged. :) Mila was awesome this first week and did a very good job behaving herself. She played well with all the other kids and even behaved herself when eating at school in a group at the table. If she can continue to do well at this pace we might be able to leave her at the school to take naps in a month or so. Lydia is doing well at school and is pretty smart for her age but she has a tendency to want to do her own thing and ignore what the rest of the kids are doing. We will pick Lydia up from school and find out that she didn't do one of the exercises that the other kids were doing and we will have to complete it with her at home. The teachers will also tell us however that Lydia is a very smart kid and is good at math and spelling, so I guess I just have to chose my battles. Lydia loves to color and this week Magda got her this little note book that makes it fun to be a fashion designer, and Lydia has already created several cool outfits, like this one.

The most confusing individual aspect of my Lydia is the fact that she does not like to dress herself. Lydia loves to be a princess, and color pretty things, and create outfits, but asking the girl to get dressed is like pulling teeth. Well I will leave you for now with this picture of Mila sleeping after her first day of Preschool.

LPG tank and snow tires poor Californian Chevy is adjusting :)

After driving around Poland for six months with only a gasoline burning American truck, we made the decision to convert our Chevy to a hybrid. For my American friends who complain about high gas prices, we pay around $6.78 per gallon of gasoline in Poland. I made my truck a hybrid,and it now has a 100 liter LPG tank. The cost of LPG comes to around $3.32 per gallon which would put it more in line with that we were paying for gasoline in California. It cost us about $1,600 to do, which I think is good deal and will definitely save us more in the long term. I don't drive as much as what I did in the US, but the $150 fill-up was pretty painful and has been financially draining. Our Chevy is doing great with the new tank and doesn't have any loss of power while burning LPG.

I have also purchased my first set of snow tires. The new tires cost about $1,200 and was by the way a family and friends price! For my San Francisco Bay Area friends snow tires are only necessary if you have a jacked up pickup truck and you want it to look even bigger and more cool, but for my Polish friends snow tires are necessary if you want to drive anywhere in the winter. On the first real snow-day I picked up Lydia driving in what I would consider near white-out conditions without snow tires. It was a very slow, slippery and tense drive for only being about a mile, or two. Large parts of California would have been shut down in that mess and many places closed, but in Poland it's just another school day so it's better to be prepared. The snow season appears to be over for the year but I will probably wait a few more weeks before I swap out my snow tires for regular ones. Last year we had a heavy snow that came just before Easter and I really don't want to be stuck spinning around because I was impatient. I gave Chevy a bath the other day by taking her to one of those self-service car washes where you get to play with the pressurized sprayers and choose water and soap and wax to wash away the filth and give a shine. Beastie came out looking good and I was told that I really need to do it more often or face the consequences. Beastie by the way is what we call our Chevy because she is much bigger than most of the cars in this country and we have a hard time parking her :) Most of the trucks in this country which are made by American companies or are brought from the US have camper shells on them, I would like to take mine off to give Beastie a more original look but I have to figure out where I can put a big ass camper shell without trashing the yard. The other option would be to rent space somewhere to put the camper shell, but of course I don't want to spend a whole lot of money doing that. Well things are going well and we are all keeping busy, I promise more pictures will be coming to keep you feeling like you are here with us :)

Spring is back and so is my blog!

The snow and ice have been gone for a few weeks now and new plants and flowers are popping up all over the place. For someone who enjoys gardening and watching things grow I really enjoy living in a place that has four seasons. To translate for my friends living in the San Francisco Bay Area this means that white fluffy stuff falls from the sky and doesn't disappear until it is warm enough outside to melt. The snow creates a kind of reset button for the yard. There is a period of time when rather than watering or planting things, you get to take out the shovel and clear a path in the snow from the house to the car and around any doors. I am also amazed to find out that this climate has a lot of very hardy plants that actually survive this extended freeze quite well. For example we have a ton of strawberry plants coming back to life that were completely buried under snow for a long time. I know my California strawberries would have all been completely dead.

The raspberry and quince bushes that I planted in the fall are starting to show buds and leaves. There are also daffodils and crocuses in bloom around the yard. We also bought plenty of new bulbs and irises that we planted in the fall, so it is kind of like Christmas when we watch them pop out of the ground and bloom.

My girls are growing up quickly too. Little Mila the Destroyer turned two earlier this month and she is speaking more words in both Polish and English. Mila the Destroyer has a firm understanding of the words 'No' and 'Nie' and likes to upset mommy and daddy with her eating habits. I call Mila a forager because she has a tendency to wander around the kitchen and dig in the cupboards to create a meal that is balanced to her liking. She will ask for a particular food because she likes the packaging or just likes to see the container open and then she is immediately uninterested in the contents. She will also make you peel bananas thinking that she will eat them and then will proceed to have a floor protest when you try to actually give it to her. When you give Mila the Destroyer a bowl of Cheerios in milk she will go and get a straw to suck the milk out and then eat the Cheerios over the next two hours. The good news for little Mila is that being that she is two years old we can now enroll her in a local preschool and will be doing so, soon. Mila the Destroyer will have the pleasure of trashing her sisters old stomping grounds here in Poland :) I think she will be starting out with partial days at the school for a while before she is adjusted to being away from us but she should do well there. This will be a great opportunity for her to have other people explain to her not to break, climb or throw things and learn how to interact with other young kids without beating them up :)