Lessons Learned

Yesterday was a beautiful day, and we headed down to Hyde Park, NY to meet up with the Zbrzeznys.
We went to tour the FDR house and museum, and then onto the Vanderbilt mansion.

This was their 'modest' home, compared to the Biltmore. It was a mere 56,000 square feet and only had 14 bedrooms. A shack, really.


I learned three very valuable lessons.

1. Taking pictures of/with small children is nearly impossible. Someone always has a runny nose, a scowl, or is not looking at the camera.


2. There exists a vicious species of people, kidhater-sapiens. These people believe that children should remain indoors at all times, never being brought out into public. Their parents should also not dare to venture out of doors, lest they be verbally berated and given lots of stink eye.
Mysteriously, kidhatersapiens seem to have been born as adults, since they clearly were never young themselves. They do not procreate and produce more of the mystical creatures known as "children".

3. When going anywhere with a child still in diapers, always, ALWAYS bring an change of clothes. I will spare you all photographic evidence, but suffice to say that Michael had to ride home in only his diaper.

And no, #3 has nothing to do with #2.

The Great Outdoors

After living in the middle of a concrete jungle, it is so refreshingly wonderful to be able to walk out the door into nature. I love being outdoors, and I believe it is very important for children to appreciate the wondrous Earth that mother nature has provided.
I love being able to take the kids outside to collect leaves & acorns, hunt for insects, & roll around in the grass. We look for deer, woodchucks, & frogs. We listen to the birds serenading us as we enjoy the fresh air blowing in our hair. It won't be too long before the leaves all fall away, the animals curl up in their warm dens, and the ground is frozen solid.

No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, and we decided to head into the City.
We planned to visit the Statue of Liberty, and spent the whole morning building it up for Kate. We told her about the history of it, how we were going to get there (car-subway-ferry), what it looked like, etc.
Then we got into the city, saw the signs pointing to the Brooklyn Bridge, and opted for Plan B: Walking over the bridge into Brooklyn, eating pizza, and doing some more walking around. Kate kept asking why we were not going to see the "statue delivery" any more. Such is life when you tour with the Saevas. Food usually trumps everything. We figured our kids better learn early.


The Brooklyn Bridge. Erected 1883.



Manahattan Skyline.


Did you know Michael is a gifted artist? He had to abandon this project when the cops showed up though.

Wordless Wednesday

What happens at dinner when a certain 2 year old does not nap (due to his sister/roommate's constant jibber-jabbering):

This American Life

American life is not good fodder for blogging. What do I write about?
The fact that Kate gets confused at school when the teacher asks about their favorite holiday and Kate answers "Italy" while the other kids say "Christmas"? The fact that we are still living in temporary housing, while we burn the pavement looking for that perfect house? Or perhaps the fact that Kate has suddenly developed a keen interest in All Things God since she has been at her (Catholic) pre-school. Today at lunch, Kate asked me where God was. I replied that He is everywhere, and she skeptically looked at me. "Even in the refrigerator? What is He doing in there?". Or how yesterday, she asked me if God wore Princess underwear?


We took the kids into the City on Sunday. We were going to visit the Central Park Zoo, but decided to bag it in favor of just walking around and eating at Shake Shack. Kate and Michael had their first milkshakes, and both seemed to approve whole-heartedly.
After we parked and walked out of the garage, Kate was gobsmacked at the skyscrapers. I realized that she had never seen one, as they do not exist in London (Europe?). She kept asking why the buildings were so tall, and how they were built that way.

We took the kids to Central Park and let them play at the playground for a couple of hours. There is a huge rock, perfect for scampering about, and Kate had a blast.

London Homesick Blues No More

I've neglected this blog lately, but as most of you know we've been busy crossing back over the pond.

I made a Stars & Stripes cake for Kate to share with her classmates for her leaving day.



We had to say goodbye to her wonderful teachers, and we were all more than a bit sad. Her school in London was phenomenal, and the teachers were so wonderful. We loved having her in a Montessori classroom, and she positively thrived there.




The movers came to pack our house, and it is absolutely amazing how quickly your life is reduced to just a bunch of boxes. I'll spare you all the trials and tribulations of an international move with 2 small children and 1 dog, but suffice to say that it requires a lot of paperwork and a few headaches.






Finally, the big day arrived! We were lucky to fly first class on Virgin, which meant we got to spend the day in the Super Pimp Virgin Lounge at Heathrow. This lounge has consistently been voted as the best airline lounge in the world. Of course, we spent most of our time in the closed-off children's room, but even this was so much better than having to hang out in the airport. Danny & I each got spa treatments while we waited for our flight, and the kids got to play with toys and run around an burn off some energy.




The kids both took a nap, and then were remarkably well behaved for the rest of the flight.




Of course, this could be part of the reason:




We are pretty strict with the amount of TV the kids can watch, but these rules go out the window while on airplanes. There was on demand children's shows, and both of the kids wanted to watch Yo Gabba Gabaa over and over and over. I've heard from my friends that this show is addicting, and it certainly held true for the Saeva kids!


Oh beautiful, for spacious skies



Finally, we arrived at JFK airport and only had to wait 2 hours for our luggage. Welcome back to the US!!


We are so happy to be back in America, although there are certain things I do miss about living in London. We've been getting acclimated to our new home and doing the important things that Americans do like going to Wal-Mart, finding Mexican Food, drinking copious amounts of Iced Tea, re-learning how to talk too loudly in public, watching ESPN, and driving everywhere. I made Danny go through the drive-thru of a restaurant just because we could. I LOVE LOVE having a car again!!

Foxy Lady

London has a high population of urban red foxes. Some estimates put as many as 10K in the capital city. When coming home after dark, it is not uncommon to see one prowling around the neighborhood, looking for food. Foxes have even snuck into the Houses of Parliament, where one was found asleep on a filing cabinet. Another broke into the grounds of Buckingham Palace, reportedly killing some of Queen Elizabeth II's prized pink flamingos. One time, we went the park and there was a fox hanging out in the middle of the afternoon, just chilling. Totally not bothered by all the loud children and people around him. I was surprised at how bold he was.

Lately, we have had our own personal fox peeking into our garden every morning.

Here (s)he is on the back wall of our garden:


In the above photo, he was actually hanging out close to dinner time. So the kids were up to see him, and Kate was most intrigued. We have read a lot of Beatrix Potter books featuring the sly fox, and Kate thought he might be looking for Jemima Puddleduck in our very own backyard.