Huntley Meadows

Looking outside our deck, a beautiful view opens up with green trees, little streams and lots of singing birds. I wake up each morning to a chorus of all sort of birds and at night we hear owls hooting in the dark. The temperature around our home is much lower than in the downtown Alexandria because of 1500 acres of Huntley Meadows.The air quality is simply pristine... and no it is not a park. It is a Nature Preserve meaning everything is done to keep people out of it. Sonia on the way to see the Meadows with her princess hair.

She loves doing her hair!

The history states that military had this piece of land until 1975 when it was transferred to the state government. The military drained all the water off it and tried turning it into a flight fields. Then when civil authorities took over they wanted to build a park but beavers flooded a whole chunk of the area. Yes, beavers built this huge dam and flooded everything... I'd say, darn beavers. Now there is lots of them residing fully protected, there is only two ways into the forest and both walks are no longer than a mile; they don't connect with each other. I would think it was one of the cheapest projects that this county has accomplished.

Plus there is lots of super hipper naturalists who are researching effects of deer over population... If you detected notes of sadness, you are right. I think it is a huge loss and if a nature could recuperate itself in such a short time, if there are migrating birds in the Zoo who build their nests next to busy streets, why not turning this huge piece of land into something more? Building a few loops of trails so people could exercise and run in the park, some playgrounds for little kids to explore and learn about nature where kids can feel, touch and play and doing some landscaping perhaps might spoil life for these beavers a little bit... but they would be just fine;-)

For now we take our walks and look at ducks, listen to a choir of frogs, watch beavers, cranes, and hoping to see a red fox...

By the rules Mischa is not supposed to be here at all... however ducks didn't seem to mind him and he was on his best behavior, making much less noise than Sonia.

If there are so much deer why wouldn't they introduce wolves to control for overpopulation? oh, I forgot not everyone is so nature oriented even in Alexandria ;-)

Sonia's room filled with sunshine

Sonia's room is turning lovely! I picked colors for the walls before we moved in. We situated Sonia's new furniture and I am almost done making her bedding. It is my first real pieced quilt; I picked fabric, cut it, sewed it and even quilted the whole thing all by myself. The quilt, snugly super-soft blanket, bed skirt, bedding and window curtains are finished. A small shed on the picture is our small storage place where we keep our bikes and Mischa's food. It is small but we are very glad to have it for all sorts of outdoor stuff. I am still designing and sewing a sham for the pillow. It took a thought and effort to design the curtains and the bedskairt but it is all done!

I am trying to figure out some art for walls and thinking about painting something with Sonia or gluing something fun this fall. The laundry hampers for Sonia and a baby came from TJ Max and add to color scheme of things.

I also found a matching shoe organizer that should help organize little things and some toys.

Sonia moved into her new bed as soon as we arrived here. She still sometimes takes naps in her crib but she loves her new bed.Sonia wakes up and plays in her room in the mornings then she says "Sonia wake up" and comes to snuggle in our bed. I think I am so much into organizing and sewing because it is a part of getting ready for a new baby. This week I plan to start on cutting fabric for baby's new bedding and I hope to get it all finished.

Trips to DC Zoo and week in passing

Mischa is recovering and acting himself once again. Today during dinner he ran out of the back door with one of the silliest of his looks. As upset as I was about him not minding Jeremy or me, I couldn't help but smile at him sprinting away with a funky curl in his tail and a cone head. On Friday we went to a Shar Pei doctor. They told us his eye is scarred up and he will recover from the injury. His eyelids are healing quick and we will drive back to remove sutures next Wednesday.

We ventured out to the Zoo twice last week... all I have to say is that there is a reason it is free. There are no feeders of any kind. We couldn't donate our quarters and feed, pet and make friends with ducks and geese. All animals including cows, donkeys, sheep and goats are "on special diets" and thought of as an endangered species. The zoo also lacks any kind of animal show that we love to see at a Hogle Zoo and in San Diego. Beside this disappointing fact, we got to see a few fun things.

Orangutans walked above our heads and looked down upon human kind.

Turtles and their babies swim in the pond.

Panda bears were resting whole day long and Zoo people watched them on a screen in their special room recording every breath... what a fun job ;-)

Woke up for a moment...

And sleeping again...

My camera ran out of the battery but we witnessed a cheetah eating her lunch, then stretching and coming next to us to drink some water from a pond. We also spent a bit of time at the bird house and saw a keeper feed the birds. If you know Sonia, you will know that watching birds is much more exciting than watching cheetahs.

We saw a pretty toucan and lots of whistling ducks. It all turned out fun and we are becoming accustomed to a whole "preservation" theme of this Zoological Park. NO more pictures!!!!

Sonia made people laugh in Costco last week. She pushed a fully loaded shopping cart all by herself. Some people thought the cart was moving on its own. It grew little legs, I suppose ;-)

On Thursday we went to the river to let Mischa ran free for the first time since he got bit. He looked funny with his Elizabethian collar on; because of it he coudn't see a thing and ran into trees, branches, and a highway. We called him a "Cone head" and Jeremy ran out in the middle of the road with words such as "We just paid a whole a lot of money... you are not about to get yourself under a car." We had to let him ran because he had to go. Mischa never can go on the leash and was holding everything since Monday. We are pround of him for being so potty trained and not ruining our house! Sonia chased some ducks into a river.

Today Jeremy and I gave talks in church and now I am hoping our good luck of not speaking in church for six years will continue. I made a promise after teaching RS lesson that I won't make any comments for the next two months to compensate for this Sunday ;-) However, I really enjoyed Jeremy's talk today and hope maybe he will receive a calling while we are here.

Grateful for my husband and filled with sorrow

I dislike huskies. Our neighbors husky bit me in New York and almost bit Sonia. They seem nice. They are fluffy and act like puppies but they are unpredictable and bite with no warning. People tend to forget how closely they are related to wolves. Last night we took Mischa to a local off leash dog park. Two men and a women came in with a white husky. They didn't do much about controlling their dog until it was too late and Mischa was torn apart. We rushed him to the local animal emergency hospital. His eye all the way to the cornea was sliced and he required immediate surgery to patch up his inner and outer eyelids. The eye itself also suffered damage but we are hoping it will heal. Mischa is back home with us. Sonia kept asking where he was last night and I was missing his snores. Jeremy picked him up after surgery at 4 am.What amazed me was that husky owners didn't show any concern for my dog and claimed that Mischa bit their dog's tongue. I couldn't help but laughed at them wondering if maybe their dog bit himself while slicing my dog's face... white muzzle, mouth and teeth were covered with Mischa's blood. It was almost too much for me to check and inspect for bites this wolfishly looking dog that tried snapping at me. I checked him and no, there was no bites.

Needless to say they refused to pay a hefty medical bill; we are filing in the small claim court today and they will be forced to take responsibility for their dog actions. Thank goodness Jeremy knows what we need to do next!

Good news is that Mischa is recovering fast, he eats, drinks and doesn't like to be left home alone. He still makes very tiny whiny noises and stares in the corner of the room at times. We hope to keep him safe from scratching his stitches and he is scheduled to see a Shar Pei doctor this Friday.

Fun in the rain

Venturing out and riding our bikes to the Potomac river last week turned into an adventure. On the way there it was hot and humid. I felt a bit exhausted when we got there.

First time riding somewhere is always hard for me... maybe because I don't know how much strength I need to get back home. Jeremy got some cake bread at the gas station and Sonia fed mostly the geese and the ducks and perhaps had a bite or two. Geese were a bit wary of Mischa but wanted a treat.

On the way back we faced a huge storm with lots of rain pouring over us. Jeremy said it was just as wet as when you swim in the pool. I was glad it was a warm rain. We laughed and kept going. Mischa greatly benefited and smelled good for the whole day after such a nice shower.

We also discovered another playground close by that has less mosquitoes. Sonia loves walking there,

running with her little duck

We tried out a huge slide.

Jeremy went first and got a little stuck on the way down. Sonia climbed all the way up but decided to take stairs on the way back.

This weeks joyful moments and crazy doings kept us busy and happy. Sonia washed strawberries and peaches and helped me clean kitchen floor. She also helped papa to cut grass, picked it up and put it in bags. She has been little helper with the best attitude and willingness to help at all times.

We are slowly but surely organizing our home and our lives here in Alexandria. We both are speaking in church this weeek... i really need help with that ;-) plus they asked me to teach RS lesson on the same Sunday... I wonder how not to tire everyone out. My plan is to give Jeremy as much time to speak as possible ;-)

Belle Haven with its peace and comfort

Unlike the West coast that carries past and present of Spaniards, East coast looks up to English and French: "Belle Haven's" beauty is green and subtle. It gets hot and humid but the sun is quite merciful and summer thunder rains visit often. Our church, next to Potomac river, is built in the colonial style and people are wonderful. There was one things I have been told today many times.... "Your husbands hair, hmmmm. He is not in the military!?! So what brings you here?" I think most young couples move to Belle Haven area are in the military. Older folks come from all walks of life and we even have a retired Airforce One pilot who happens to be in the bishopric and who asked us to speak in a couple of weeks.
Jeremy has been asking me to cut his hair for a while and I need to get to it because it already curls up ;-) I think it is cute. Sonia's hair was done and she felt like a princess today.
We accomplished so much in the past week including finding bigger bed that fits all three plus Sonia. Again Jeremy found an amazing deal from a super nice hotel in the area that bought king size beds and then changed their minds before even using them. They decided to get custom size beds for additional luxury. Well, we greatly benefited! They also gave us a free new luxurious feather duvet, free delivery, mattress pad and feather pillows. It is my birthday present and Jeremy's Father's Day gift. Needless to say what joy it has been to sleep once again in one bed ;-) The bedding is also great.... Martha Stewart collection on sale at Macy's! I still need to decorate windows with matching curtains and put up some pictures. Our bedroom feels cozy, like home again.

Thank you, gi gi

Today we got a card from great grandma Wilder. We didn't get to visit Gi Gi while in Utah because we had to move too early and all our plans fell through. Sonia loved little huggie bears on the card and we are sending our thanks to Gi Gi ;-)

Serious business

Right next to our Woodstone townhouses we found an apartment complex with wonderful amenity -- a pool. Sonia has been talking about going swimming since we landed in Virginia. Today was her lucky day. Jeremy was excited too and they got right down to super important activity leaving me to enjoy their successes. If you don't know, Jeremy is super qualified to teach swimming with about two decades of experience; his former jobs involved even saving a life of a fifteen year boy while on duty.

Jeremy was determined to make this activity worth his while while Sonia was having way too much fun. I loved watching both of them:

Synchronized bubble blowing was easy because Sonia practised it with her mom in the tub for more than two years.

Floating on the back was easy too because that is how we wash our hair in the tub.

Then things got a bit more complicated: doing Big Arms.

She kicked across the pool many times.And she asked papa swim about five laps. He also had to do some cool flip turning for us.
Sonia had such a good time with her papa that she is still asleep and it is now 5pm. They shared lots of laughs even though pictures indicate Jeremy's concentration and seriousness. It is so good to have papa coach Sonia this summer. I think by the time August comes and we sign up for mommy and me, Sonia will be an expert.

cooling down in DC

First couple days we, including Mischa got around in the moving truck; Jeremy spent three hectic days finding a good car for us. He found a nice 2003 automatic Hyundai for only $3500... from a wholesaler. The guy was from Afghanistan and was only making $200 on it... I love driving this little black car!!! We ventured out to see DC sights last night. First we saw WWII memorial and neglecting the warning sign at the fountain Sonia stuck her little toes into the water.

Natural history museum turned out much smaller than in New York and much less interesting than the Bean museum in Provo. They don't have fun diorama displays or story times for tots here. All animals are encased in the evolutionary displays... way too high for Sonia's eyes to see and get involved.

We found Hirshhorn sculpture garden tucked next to the National Art Gallery land and spent some time at the fountain cooling down. There also was this two-way mirror by Dan Graham that Sonia turned into a little house.

Papa "Come in!" Sonia can open and close the sliding doors all by herself.

Mama "Come in!"

After taking a little break, on we went to see the capital or mostly the fountain next to it.

Soon a nice little family of ducks with mama, papa and many quite grown up ducklings joined us; Sonia fed them all of her gold fish.

Mama duck was cautious of Mischa but couldn't pass a treat like that ;-)

On the way back I let Mischa run off leash and he chased birds and squirrels right on the mall to the public's full delight and Jeremy's pure horror.