Journey to the Colder Side of the Earth: Summer!

For us, summer is a blessing and a curse. It's nice to have the time to travel and get things done that we have put off (dentist, repairs, etc) but we also both go crazy if we don't have something to do. :-)

Luckily, there are a few things that we have been involved in that have helped us keep our sanity this summer. Matt is tutoring one of our upcoming 7th graders twice a week. He's been working with the student on reading comprehension, how to tell what is important, context clues, etc using the history text.

Another "event" we've involved ourselves in this summer is baseball. Twice a week anyone who is in the city can show up at a park on our island and our friend Jarod organizes a game. Sometimes we have huge teams and sometimes the teams are small but it's a lot of fun and we also pull in students from Russian school and from homeschool groups in the city. Matt has been catching and I have been making sure no one gets hurt thus far.

The two boys at the forefront of the picture are Korean and Japanese and they are very good! It was actually quite a surprise!

Matt catching

Jarod pitching

One of our favorite 8th graders and one of the smallest 5th graders. :-)

I love how we play within this complex of apartment buildings. It really is very pretty in its own way.

This year we were able to go with another family to the beach here in celebration of the Fourth of July. It was a wonderfully clear day and we grilled and the kids played in the water (we're a little too creeped out to get in the water ourselves!).

In a weird turn of events a bride and groom rented a horse to drag out into the water and take pictures with. She did not seem to confident on the horse! :-P

The boys grilling

Matt, Marc, and his youngest son playing football

Lovely view

Their daughter made a very elaborate fort, complete with landscaping. It was very impressive by the time it was done.

Today we went to see the "International Buddy Bears." As stupid as the title is it is actually a very cool project to promote peace and nations working together. Countries can get a fiberglass bear and they have someone paint it in a way that represents their country. They were very cool and we loved seeing the different ways people chose to represent their country.

Matt and the US bear

Ukraine

Chagall was from the Ukraine and so it has a very Chagall-esque style

Sri Lanka

Cuba, complete with cigar

Malta

If you click on it you can see the detail work. The island itself is the necklace the bear is wearing.

Moldova

While Moldova may not stand out in your mind this was by far the funniest bear we saw. The guy on the stomach is pointing it out on a map and saying "Here's Moldova!"