Christmas Eve: playing in the sand // Christmas Day: playing in the snow

On Christmas Eve, our last day in Hawaii, we spent the afternoon at the Honolulu Zoo, the evening sitting on the Waikiki Beach and the night flying back to Portland. While we sat with our toes in the sand, watching people swimming in the Pacific Ocean and hearing people wishing one another a Merry Christmas we felt so strange...we were sitting on the beach in 75 degree weather on Christmas Eve!!! It didn't make sense!

Ieva playing with the goats in the petting zoo

Andrew & Ieva in front of a huge Banyon tree

And then...

We went to sleep on a plane & woke up in Portland where we drove from the airport to Andrew's grandparents home in The Dalles where there was snow on the ground! We didn't exactly go out & play in it (it was a relatively thin layer), but it gave us a white Christmas nonetheless! Yahoo!

A week in photos...

As of yesterday evening, we've been in Oahu for a full week already! And we still have 3 full days left! Woo-Hoo! Below you can see what we've been doing...

FRIDAY: Ieva's first day on the beach in Waikiki

FRIDAY: Hannah, Andrew & Ieva at Hannah's Travel Industry Management (TIM) graduation banquet (Ieva liked the egg rolls!)

SATURDAY: Andrew, Vicki & I hiked to the top of the Diamond Head Crater - the view of Waikiki was amazing!

SATURDAY: We did a BBQ at a park in Waikiki on Saturday to celebrate Hannah!

SUNDAY: We found Hannah in the crowd of graduates!

MONDAY: Ieva playing in the sand on Lanikai Beach in Kailua

TUESDAY: we had plate lunches at the popular Hawaiian food chain Zippys - Ieva loved the pastries!

TUESDAY: Hannah starts to pack her stuff - I guess Ieva's going back in a box!

WEDNESDAY: On our drive out to Waimea Bay on the North Shore, we stopped at Kualoa beach

WEDNESDAY: After playing in the waves, we stopped at Giovanni's shrimp truck for the North Shore's famous shrimp - yummy!

THURSDAY: Ieva & I take a dip in the pool in the back yard of our rental house - notice the owners dogs behind us - Ieva loves them!

Hawaiian Geography

I (Kim) knew very little about the geography of the Hawaiian Islands before this trip. We are staying on the island of Oahu, which is the home of the busy city of Honolulu. Of Hawaii's overall population of 1.3 million, the island of Oahu is home to nearly 900,000. The University of Hawaii is in Honolulu, in the region of Waikiki. We stayed in a tiny 1-bedroom apartment on a busy street a few blocks from the 40-floor hotel where Hannah lived. Honolulu is a city of diversity. On the same street I saw a pick-up truck with 2 big Samoan guys riding in the back, women walking decked out in Chanel from their heels to their jewelry, tan blond guys on bmx bikes with surf boards under their arms & middle-aged tourists with camera dangling from their necks. Not to mention the joggers, the homeless and all the women pushing baby strollers. There were A LOT of people in Honolulu and we were glad to get out of there on Sunday after Hannah's graduation.


We drove the coastal route around the southern end of the island to the much more rural city of Kailua where we're spending the rest of the week. Here, there is more green space than people. There are no 40-story buildings. In fact, the tallest thing I've seen in Kailua's downtown is the 2-story Macy's department store.

Since being here, we've been to Lanikai beach - considered one of the most beautiful beaches on Oahu. On Tuesday we went to Kailua beach - just down from Lanikai - and rented a tandem sea kayak. The waves were too high to go out to the bigger of the 2 off-shore accessible islands, but we were able to kayak to the flat island - a small, flat lava rock island which also houses a bird sanctuary. The kayaking was great, until we were taken by surprise by a wave that knocked us out & over the edge. It's a good thing we were essentially on the beach - close enough for us to provide some good entertainment for the sun bathers watching.
Us at the Kialua Beach

On Wednesday we drove out to the North Shore - the part of the island known for big waves & good surfing. For all our LOSTaholic friends, we went to the Waimea Bay Beach which is across the street from the filming location of the 1st season of LOST. There's nothing left giving us any indication that the filming was done there, but the mountains towering above the beach did look familiar in an eerie kind of way. The waves at Waimea Bay were pretty big - the red warning flags were out on the beach - and gave us some of the most fun wave playing we've had in Hawaii yet! (Don't worry - Ieva stayed on the beach with Grandma & Grandpa.)

Waimea Bay Beach on the North Shore

Today after Ieva & I got time playing in the pool at our rental house, Andrew, Vicki & I went to Oahu's best place for snorkeling: Hanauma Bay. The landscape was breathtaking and the fish were surprisingly tame. The coral reef was really shallow in a lot of places, making it difficult to not touch it, but the colors & types of fish were amazing to see at such close range.

Looking down into Hanauma Bay - the best snorkling on Oahu!

Tomorrow we'll go back to Waikiki to take Ieva to the Honolulu zoo! More photos to come soon...

Our reason for being in Hawaii: Hannah!

Some of you may have been surprised to hear about our Christmas travel plans to Hawaii this year...but we wanted to be sure you knew that we were here for more than just the chance to learn how to say "Mele Kalikimaka" (Merry Christmas in Hawaiian) & to get tan.

Today, Andrew's sister Hannah graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a degree in Travel Industry Management (TIM). On Friday evening we joined her in a smaller ceremony for her classmates in the TIM program. It was cool to meet some of her friends & instructors & hear about some of her goals for the future when each of the graduates were individually introduced. There was also an incredibly delicious Hawaiian "heavy pupu" or what we would have considered a buffet. On Saturday, we had a family BBQ to celebrate at a local park in Waikiki, complete with marinated raw fish & octopus on Hannah's request. Then this morning we decended upon U of H's campus with a few thousand other family members to watch the ceremony & cheer for our graduate. I had never been to a graduation ceremony that large - despite it being a small one for U of H since it was a mid-year graduation with roughly 1,000 students recieving diplomas of some kind. The commencement speaker was especially interesting to me, as he is a native Samoan and talked extensively about his upbringing there. After the ceremony, we joined in the parade of family members heading to the soccer field to greet our graduates & take photos in 85 degree weather.

In Lithuania, the tradition is to give graduates flower bouquets. Some students will have so many flowers in their arms that they seem almost overtaken by them. Here in Hawaii, the tradition is to give graduates lei necklaces to wear. Hannah was wearing one during the ceremony (as were many students), but out on the soccer fields was where the rest of the "leing" took place. There were even lei booths set up selling leis made out of everything from native hawaiian flowers to shells to candy. It was amazing to see the diversity in them. And, like in Lithuania, some students recieved significantly more leis than others, but instead of having to hold them in their arms, they piled them around their necks nearly covering their faces! Hannah came away with a solid 8-10 leis beatifully decorating her neck.

All in all, it was great to be able to see Hannah in her academic context and to celebrate her accomplishments with her. And being surrounded by the surf, sand & palm trees hasn't been too shabby, either!

Half way around the world...

Our Christmas vacation has officially begun! After over 25 hours of airline travel, we finally arrived in Honolulu this evening. We're exhausted, so we're heading to bed, but we wanted to let you all know that we made it! We'll write more & post photos later! Thanks to all of you who prayed for our travels - especially for Ieva - in general, she did great!

Merry Christmas at LCC!

The annual Christmas program at LCC came & went this past weekend. Over 100 staff, faculty & students were involved in telling the traditional story of Christ's birth through music, dancing and drama. It was a fantastic time and over the course of the 2 evening performances, we had over 1000 people in attendance!

Merry Christmas a little early!

Thanks for the "Buh"

In our last post we talked about our tradition of going to McDonald's for a Pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner (really just a "feels like home" moment) but that's not all the turkey day happenings that we have been able to generate here in our fifth year in Lithuania.
Almost every year we have been able (or suckered into) to cook a relatively major thanksgiving dinner for some group of people be it all of the study abroad students (American students who come for a semester to LT), for our Life Groups (first year student classes that Kim and I taught and are teaching), our friends or this year, our Tri-S group, a small group of American students that we get to play Mom and Dad to for a semester. Beyond that we have the Internet so we can see pictures of the Macy parade and if I want to stay up late enough I can watch NFL games live on a Swedish television channel that we have, so I got to watch Dallas destroy Tampa Bay live along with all of you back home. Things have certainly become more normal but I have to admit (as I am watching Atlanta who just beat Washington live) it sure helps that I can watch American sports from time to time.

So anyway, back to this years thanksgiving dinner with our Tri-S group. We meet with them about once a month for Spiritual Sustenance and Soup (Tri-S) which is designed to give them a place to chat or vent about their experience with someone older that has probably experienced the same or similar things. Our group is great and one night in early November we were with them and casually asked if they would like to have a thanksgiving dinner with us and they jumped at the chance. So on Friday after Turkey day, Kim and I whipped together what is steadily becoming "Our Thanksgiving Dinner" which included a Turkey, Massive amounts of Mashed potatoes and gravy, a Pumpkin Pie, Green Bean Casserole, New Orleans Corn Pudding, Bread, Stuffing from scratch (thank you allrecipes.com) etc. To some of you that might sound normal but if you've seen our kitchen, it is kind of a feat. We do have the worlds weirdest oven and stove top which is either on High or OFF so cooking things that require delicate cooking conditions is a challenge. However, it was again a huge success and I continue to marvel at Kim's ability to envision such a big meal and to make it happen so successfully (have you ever cooked two casseroles and a Turkey in the oven at the same time?) Ok, so she had some help, but really you have to give her all the credit.
After this meal we still had the Staff and Faculty dinner (Lunch) on Sunday afternoon which is where we all get together as a community and share a big meal and finish that up with decorating LCC's buildings for Christmas. Kim usually is the instigator behind the decorating and was again this year. The process goes pretty quickly when you have 20 people or so to hang lights, decorate fake trees, (Sorry Oregonians, it wasn't my idea) hang garland and other Christmas accouterments.

Overall the season feels like it should. We are reminded of what we have been given, what we are blessed with, what we miss when loved ones aren't here and what we have to look forward to in the future. It was fun this year to have Ieva at a stage where she can enjoy the food too, even if she couldn't name anything that she's thankful for. Although sometimes she is pretty thankful for this thing called "Buh". We're still working on that but maybe she's got it right and "Buh" means "everything" and isn't that what we're supposed to be thankful for anyway.

This post was written by Andrew. He does have a degree in Communication and he does know how to use a computer.

Happy Thanksiving!

You might remember the funny little tradition us Americans here at LCC practice annually on Thanksgiving Day...we go to Micky D's! If you look back at our blog from 1 year ago (click here), you'll see many of the same faces as in this group this year (and some much bigger kids)!

So, while the rest of you back there in America were taking the day off work today, gathering together with your families, eating turkey, watching football and then dreaming of all the great deals you'll get when you get up at 5:00am tomorrow morning to shop, we were here in Klaipeda working a full day & then gathering together with the closest thing we have to family at the closest place we have to America, eating chicken sandwiches and apple pies and going to bed thinking about all we have to do at work tomorrow. Don't worry, though...despite the lack of a long weekend & serotonin-induced naps, we still have MUCH to be thankful for here in Lithuania - with YOU (our family & friends) being at the top of the list.

The next time you pop into McDonald's for a quick meal on the run, please think of us, and remember that we're essentially there with you - just here on the other side of the world.

Happy Thanksgiving, dear ones. We love & miss you all.

The first snow of the season has come, and left us in awe of its beauty.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is the first holiday Ieva has actively celebrated twice. Although, I can't say how actively involved she was a year ago, when she was only 5 weeks old. It's amazing how much a baby changes during their first year...and it's difficult to gauge those changes until you see the contrast - like in these two Halloween photos. This photo was taken from our blog entry one year ago - when we dressed Ieva up like a little leopard and took her to the dorm to show her off. I remember walking around the dorm with Ieva cuddled in the sling across Andrew's chest & students would oooh & ahhh as they'd peer down at our little bundle.

Now, a year later, at 13 months old, Halloween was spent at a party with the Hoelterhoff kids. Kylie lent Ieva her fairy costume so they could match. Ieva had a great time playing with Kylie and Devin & made inked hand & footprint construction paper jack-o-lanterns with baby Maja.





Andrew even got in on some of the fun! We look forward to many more years of Halloween costumes and jack-o-lantern creations!

Fall Break is here!

Since Matt & Sage are here with us during Fall Break this year, we've decided to stick around and show them the local sights of Lithuania. We have colleagues who are spending this break in places as varied as Istanbul, Prague, Kiev, Moldova, Bangkok, and the US, to name a few.

We began the break with a couple relaxing days at a cozy "sodyba" or cottage in a small village outside of Klaipeda. The cottage is owned by a family who's kids are both alumni of LCC who Andrew & I know well. They have graciously allowed us to use their cottage free of charge a variety of times, which made for the perfect getaway location for this break! We invited some students who didn't have anywhere to go for the break to join us, which gave Matt & Sage the chance to get to know some of the students we work with. In the picture above, you can see Dori, a 4th year student from Albania, Alex, a 3rd year student from Belarus, and Nadiya, a 2nd year student from Ukraine all playing the game 'scum' that we introduced to them.

The cottage is really nice and very comfortable. It has a huge wood stove that sends heat through radiators throughout the house and kept things toasty as long as we kept it full of wood. It was a good thing, as we woke up this morning to the first frost of the winter! Since the water supply on the property is fed by a small well, we'd also occasionally lose water and have to wait for a few hours for the well to replenish itself in order to supply us with more. We had plenty of bottled water to drink, but had to limit our flushing and showers. The house has a sauna & even a small pool to jump in...but only a couple were brave enough to do it - not because of the cold water temperature, but because of the two frogs we found living in the pool! All of this made the weekend feel more rustic and felt all the more like we were getting away.

We spent the weekend playing card games, watching movies, introducing the students to American food (tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches and tuna melts), enjoying the sauna, and taking walks around the garden and through the woods around the cottage. It was fabulous to take off our watches, lose track of time and relax together for a couple days!

Front-Page Ieva

Today around noon I walked into our cafeteria to have my friend, Ilona, one of the cafeteria employees, wave me over with an excited look on her face. “Did you see Ieva?” she asked me. I was confused – Ieva was at home with our nanny Aurelija. And then she picks up a Russian version of the local Klaipeda newspaper & points to a picture on the front page. “Ieva!” she says excitedly. And she was right...in the lower half of the front page of the daily newspaper was the article & picture you see here. My daughter was on the front page! I borrowed the paper and showed everyone within the vicinity of the cafeteria.

On our way home from work, we picked up 4 copies of the Lithuanian version of the paper, with the intention of giving one to Aurelija. We thought she’d be so surprised to see herself in the paper with Ieva! We got home & I excitedly handed her a paper...to which she responded “Oh yes, I forgot to tell you yesterday.” She went on to tell us that she was on the street with Ieva, on her way to LCC to bring Ieva to us yesterday when a newspaper journalist approached her. Interestingly, her first question to Aurelija was “do you speak Lithuanian?” as she apparently thought she was a foreigner. This makes us wonder if the assumption was made because Ieva was in a backpack (you NEVER see babies in packs here), or because people have seen Andrew & I carry Ieva around in the pack and know that we’re foreigners. Since Klaipeda is a small city, there are different local “personalities” that we’ve gotten used to seeing over the past 5 years. It’s strange to think that we may actually be one of those personalities to the local Klaipedans!
The journalist was doing an article on the lack of schedules of the local mini-buses and she asked Aurelija to pose like she was flagging one down on the street. Even though Aurelija is looking at the bus, I love that Ieva is looking at the camera! We thought you’d enjoy seeing the article, too. We never thought our Ieva would make the front page this early in life...especially here in Lithuania!

My Uncle Matt is here!

From Ieva:
Today, after nearly two months of traveling, my Uncle Matt & his friend Sage came to see me! I wasn't sure what I thought of them at first...they both have big beards and looked a little weird to me, but they've been really nice and I think I'm going to like having them around. Uncle Matt is trying really hard to make me smile. He likes to play fun games like peek-a-boo with me!


Sage is a really nice guy, too. He talks to me a lot and lets me play with his stuff. Today I tore apart a bunch of tea bags he brought all the way from Korea. He didn't mind and said I was funny.
I don't know how long Uncle Matt & Sage will stay here in Klaipeda with us, but it's fun having them here!

Ieva's first steps!

Ieva took her first steps completey unaided today! She's pretty tenative, but with a lot of cheering, hugs & kisses from us, she gets her momentum & has taken up to 10 steps on her own.

Despite this being the most normal thing that every kid in the world does, we are so excited for our little walker and couldn't be more proud!

Ieva's friends

Much like us, Ieva now has friends here in Lithuania as well as back in the States. Because of our busy schedules, she doesn't get much "kid" time, but when she does, her closest friends here are Devin, Kylie & Maja Hoelterhoff. In this photo, she was playing with Kylie & baby Maja at her birthday party.

Another good friendship was developed this July with Emma St. Peters. Emma & her parents live in Indiana, but have come to Lithuania each summer to work at LCC and we have become good friends over the years. We look forward to getting the girls together again at Christmas!

This summer Ieva met some friends her age back in the States, one of which is Ava Beasley, the
daughter of our good friends Eric & Kareena who live in Newberg, Oregon. The Beasley's home has become our Newberg home when we're back to visit and since the girls are only 2 weeks apart, we look forward to them growing closer as we we go back for visits.

And if we can count family members in the friend category, Ieva's cousin Elijah is at the top of the list. Ieva & Eli have spent time together in January 2006 when Ieva was 4 months old & again in May when she was 8 months & Elijah was 5 (pictured here).

Ieva is also a big fan of her nearly-15-year old Aunt Ingrid & her 25-year old Aunt Hannah. Ingrid & Ieva got to spend lots of time together this past spring when she lived in Klaipeda for 2 months when Tom & Vicki were volunteering at LCC. Hannah spent as much time as she could with Ieva this summer when we were back in Oregon. Ieva can't wait to see both her Aunts again this December when she gets to see them at Aunt Hannah's graduation from the University of Hawaii.

Speaking of family, the only immediate family member Ieva hasn't met yet is her Uncle Matt who has been teaching English in Korea for the past year. Matt & his friend Sage have recently finished their teaching commitments and are currently in the process of taking the scenic route from Korea to Lithuania (via Japan, China, Mongolia, Russia & Latvia). They'll arrive here in a couple weeks & we can't wait to see them!

Ieva's First Birthday!

Today Ieva turned one!! We had a party to celebrate yesterday afternoon & enjoyed being surrounded by friends. Ieva got a cake of her very own, and I decided to make an apple spice cake with cream cheese frosting rather than the traditional chocolate fare, on the off-chance that it actually contained less sugar than chocolate. Since she had never really eaten much of anything sweet (besides fruit), she didn't know the difference, and loved it nonetheless!

She received a variety of fun & interesting gifts, which have resulted in filling her toy basket even more full than it already was & providing more clutter on our living room floor after she's been playing. But...such is the life of parenthood, right?

A couple of her favorite gifts were the battery-operated toy car she received from Sarah & Maija. My first thought was "Cool! A battery-operated car! Good thing it's not one of those loud, obnoxious battery-operated toys." And then we put the batteries in. Not only does this car drive around by itself, but it also flashes its lights and PLAYS LOUD, OBNOXIOUS music!! I couldn't believe it. No offense, Sarah & Maija - it's a great gift - and one of Ieva's favorites. I'm just thankful that she hasn't figured out how to turn it on & off herself yet!

Janneke & Reuben also gave her a very cool classic wooden rocking horse! She loves to ride it, and has gotten good at sitting on it alone, although she can't get on or off by herself yet. We were also very thankful for the Wolter family opening their home to us to host the party. Our apartment isn't very big, especially when you put kids in the mix, and since they live just across the street from us, it worked out perfectly. They are some good folks.



Then this evening Kim Hoelterhoff invited us over for a birthday dinner with her, Devin, Kylie & Maija. Mark was out of town. She also invited a student named Ieva who was one of the many Ieva's we knew who positively influenced our choice of our Ieva's name because of how sweet she is. We used to call her "little Ieva" because she's relatively short compared to another Ieva who is taller, but now, with our Ieva around, she's become "big Ieva!" We had a good time having dinner together & letting Ieva be princess for the evening!

All in all, Ieva's first birthday celebration was a great time. The only thing that could have made it better was having all her Grandmas & Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles & cousins here to celebrate with her. Family...we miss you! (speaking of family, check out those Cliffe toes!)

Our friend Sarah took this fabulous photo at Ieva's party