Fabio

So I saw the Armenian's version of Fabio this morning at the gym, or at least He thought so. When I walked in, I noticed him helping a woman get the chair on the bike adjusted. The first thing I noticed about him was the way he was standing. Staturing might be a more appropriate word than standing. He was like a male peacock with his feathers on display, only instead of fethers he had his not so defined muscles... It's not that he was in bad shape, but he definatley wasn't in the type of shape that would make my eyeballs pop in order to admire his physique. I propbobaly wouldn't have even noticed him if he wasn't standing in the middle of my path like a trophy on display. He had thick black wavy hair that reached his shoulders. When he looked at me, he did the head swoosh to the side, so that his hair swept off his not so chiseled jaw line. I did not want him to get the mistaken impression that I had "noticed" him, so I continued on my way to the eliptical machine without a second glance. Well, guess who decides to join me on the popular cardio device next to me? Fabio himself. I continued striding without a sidewards glance. About 2 minutes later he left. Guess he was able to get in a POWER cardio workout in 2 minutes... Later, as I was doing some leg presses, I noticed the peacock lifting weights. The leg press machine is tucked in a little corner, right by the mirrors. I watched through my peripherial vision, all the while trying not to burst into overt laughter, as he did some bicep curls while admiring himself in the mirror. As I lef the gym, compeltley ammused, I realized that Fabio had acheived his goal, he wanted to be noticed. I noticed him alright, though I'm not sure he would have liked my observations.

Tsaghkadzor

     A few weekends ago we went up to Tsaghkadzor. The kids and I went tubing, while Jared attempted to snowboard. Now I use the term "attempted" here for 2 reasons. 1-He was the only one who had ever been snowboarding, so he was instrucing the other 3 Marines on snow boarding techniques. 2-The snow on the mountain wasn't as much snow as it was ice. He made it down the hill 2 times... and the second time he went alone!
     The tubing "hill" was more of a tubing run... there was one path that had raised walls, but again, the path down was compacted snow, borderline ice. When we got to the hill, Van was off! I knew that he would love it. I was unsure how Ava would like it though. (Last year I attempted to take her sledding in Utah. She went down the hill one time. After that she kept telling me, "Mommy I love sledding, but only very slow." So I PULLED her sled back and forth across the bottom of the hill for an hour.) When Ava and I sat in the tube at the top of the ice hill in Tsaghkadzor, I looked down and she was smiling! Good sign! I lifted my feet and we were off! About half way down the hill our tube spun us so that we were going down the hill backward. Even then, the smile remained! When we came to a skidding stop after bumping into the wall at the bottom, I tentativley looked down at Ava to see her reaction. The smile was still there!! She loved it and we ended up going quite a few times. Of course Van never stopped going. He would tube down, attach his tow rope, and by the 3rd or 4th time, the workers would grab his rope off the line and swing him around and down the hill without him having to ever get out!!!

All the tough Marines!

The Ladies!

Going up the Mountain!



Princess Pea and Me!



Check out this ladies heels on the slopes!!
I actually saw 3 girls wearing straight up stilletos, but couldn't get a decent picture.

Miss Ava waiting to go again!

Van getting towed back up the tubing hill!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

What more is there to say? This picture pretty much sums it up! I will be returning to the states (more specifically, the state of Utah)  with both Van and Ava to deliver! Jared will join us for 2 weeks when the baby is born, and then return to Armenia. Because of school, Van may or may not accompany Jared back to Armenia ahead of Ava, Me and the baby.  I would love to hear whether you think I'm having a boy or a girl! Go make your guess official at:  http://www.expectnet.com/games/BabyGumDrop

Toys for Tots

This year we had the privilege of being involved with Toys for Tots. The Marines of the U.S. Embassy, Yerevan collected enough toys to fill almost 12 seabags. We accompanied the MSG Marines to an Armenian orphanage, where we delivered the toys to approximately 160 children. This particular orphanage is home to children under the age of 6, many of them infants. Most of the children had either a disability of some sort, or a physical defect/deformation.

Visiting the Infant room was heart-breaking. Although it was obvious that the caretakers in the orphanage tried hard to love these children, there were just not enough arms to hold the babies. The infants just laid there in those little cribs, looking out at the world. It was disconcerting to see so many babies and hear no crying or fussing.  Some of the small infants had serious Cleft Palette issues, one was defiantly Down Syndrome, and they were all beautiful. As I left the room I had tears in my eyes, wondering how any mother could give their child away just because they were different. I have never in my life wanted to so badly to reach out and hold a child other than my own, just for the sake of showing them affection.

This little boy was the sweetest little thing I have every seen. From the moment we walked into the room, he had a smile on his face. He walked over to me and reached for a hug. He just held on for almost a minute. Then he wanted to show me his toys. He put it so close to my face that I could not really see it, so I peeked around the bag and started the ageless game of Peek-a-Boo. He thought that was HILARIOUS! He laughed and laughed, over and over and over. I would have stayed there all day if I could. His laughter was magical.

This kids were all very well behaved.

Ava joined in during the singing of "Jingle Bells," dancing with the other children, although she confided in me later that they didn't know the "real" words to the song. (They were singing in Armenian!)

Christmas 2010

As Jared and I were wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, I was devastated to learn that Van's big main Christmas Present was missing. We ordered him "Cabela's Big Game Hunter" when I found a good deal on it in August, along with a Wii. When I ordered the game I didn't even think about the "gun" causing problems with the pouch, but was informed by a friend that she had a package flagged for illegal shipping after she had ordered water guns from the states. So when the package with the game and "gun" arrive through the pouch with no problems, we were super excited. We tucked the game and the Wii into the back of a closet so they would not be accidently discovered before Santa had a chance to bring them on Christmas. So there we were, Christmas Eve, pulling presents out of the closet, and the "big Game Hunter" game had disappeared. The Wii was there, but no game, no gun.

So Christmas morning arrives, and the kids excitedly ran down the stairs to see what Santa had left for them. Both kids were pretty good about taking turns, finding presents with their names on them, and handing presents to each other. When Van and Ava opened the Wii, Van flipped out! He was so excited, and the first thing he said was, "Awesome! Now I have to find the present that looks like "Big Buck Hunter" because I KNOW Santa brought me that game to play on the Wii!" :( We had to explain to Van that Santa told us that the game must have fallen off his sleigh, because he had meant to bring it to him. Van was disappointed but replied that he understood. He is such a good kid. So we finished opening presents, Ava was super excited about all her new little Princess dolls and dress-up clothes. After the excitement of opening presents wore off, Van immediately wanted to set up the Wii. Jared pulled it out of the package, and Van grabbed the remote and little thingy that pugs into it. The waited patiently as the wii booted up, and..... nothing. An ERROR message flashed across the screen. WHAT!?! So Jared got another game.... ERROR, DISK COULD NOT BE READ. Tried the third disk, same thing. So he put in the Wii sports disk that came with the Wii. It started, Van played for about 10 glorious minutes and the stupid thing shut off. ARGH!!! What a freaking disappointment. After the Christmas weekend we called the company we bought it from and they said since it was outside the 90 day return policy, there was nothing they would do. Anyway, I think the only member of the family not disappointed was Ava. So Christmas night I got a phone call from my friend Nune. She has been helping us find a healthy kitten, a harder feat here in Armenia than we would have ever imagined. She found one!! So we were able to have a good end to a not so great Christmas!! We named him Zeus. The name of his Breed is a "Turkish Van." Although the Armenians claim that this is impossible, since the Van region is Armenian, not Turkish. (It was 'given' to Turkey by the Russian Tsar after World War I) Anyway, Van thinks it is pretty cool to have a cat whose breed is the same as his name!!

Christmas Morning!!

So excited to see what Santa left!

Waiting patiently for his turn to open a present

Van's reaction to his new air-soft gun!

Opening her new Princess Castle!

Opening the Wii

Jared's gift from me - a 60 year old camera in amazing condition,
complete with 4 cartridges that will take actual pictures

My gift from Jared! I love it!

Playing with her Princesses!

Helping Van put together his
awesome new Battleship game!

Looking for the hidden pickle...

Ava won the prize this year!!

Armenian Snow white...

Complete with hooker shoes!

Zeus, our new Turkish Van Cat

He is so tiny, he weighs 1/2 a pound!!