Christmas in TN

Nate's parents moved to TN this summer and then Nate's brother and his family followed in October. Nate's sister and her family was already living there. Therefore, it made sense for us to travel to TN to celebrate Christmas with all of them. We played lots of games and watched a lot of football together. Nate and I had some BBQ and went to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. We were able to go to Christmas Eve services at the church Nate's parents and brother attend. We also went to a play place and the Science Museum with all the kids. It was so fun to catch up with everyone for an extended time. Chase got to hang out with all his cousins together and had a great time!! We seemed to have escaped Covid this summer only to all come down with it during this trip, unfortunately. Even almost 4 years later, Covid still seems to be affecting our lives and get togethers. 

Thanksgiving in NE

[Previous trips to NE: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013]

This year, we decided to join Nate's whole family in Nebraska for Thanksgiving to see his grandmother. It was very fun to see both sides of the family and celebrate Thanksgiving together. There was also some Nebraska football watching, peppernut making, and going to a jumping place together. It was really fun to catch up with family!

Two more San Diego trips

[Previous trips to San Diego: Spring 2023, 2021, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, beginning of 2017, end of 2015, 2014, 2x in 2013]

This fall, I was able to go to San Diego twice more. In October, my mom had a special birthday party that I flew out to attend. We stayed in Carlsbad near the beach and got some really nice sunsets. We also saw the partial solar eclipse. The party was super fun! In November, I had the opportunity to go to a conference in San Diego. After the conference ended, Sakina flew down for the day to see me and spend the day together. While in San Diego, I also had the chance to catch up with Angela, Stephanie, Terence, Paul, and Kerri, which was super fun. It was great to be able to go to San Diego 3 times this year! 

Flag Halloween costume

[last year's siphonophore costume]

This year, Chase had a very specific idea for his halloween costume. He memorized all 194 country flags and quizzed himself for weeks leading up to Halloween. He then designed a costume with all the flags together on his sweater and each flag individually on his pants. People could point at any flag and he would tell him the country. To make the costume, we put the flags together on PowerPoint and then printed them on fabric by Spoonflower. We then used two-sided iron on paper to iron on the fabric on the paper and then iron them onto the pants. Chase cut out each flag for the pants and arranged them all before ironing them on. I wish I had a picture of the process but I was busy helping Chase with the iron. 

Chase had a lot of fun wearing his costume for his Friday school party, for his school parade, and for trick-or-treating with his friends. 

Latest Family Photos

[Previous family photos: 2021, 2018, 2018, 2016, 2015]

We wanted to update our family photos. We used the same photographer and park as 2 year ago. We so loved how these turned out that we ended up buying the whole gallery. 

Edit: We used these photos for our Christmas card this year. Thankfully, this year I didn't forget the T in Christmas as I did a few years ago. :)

Fall Corn Maze

[Previous corn mazes: 2022, 2021, 2012]

This year, it was Laura and Boris who joined us for our annual corn maze. Once again, we went to Treat Farm and found all 6 obstacles in about 2 hours. We did right hand rule and found the exit before finding the other obstacles and had to go back in, just like we did last year. We had a great time! And are continuing our tradition with Boris and Laura from 2 years and 11 years ago! 

Fire & Ice Festival in Rhode Island

[Previous New England activities: 2022 day trips, fall 2022, summer 2021, winter/spring 2021]

My mom had read about the Fire & Ice festival in Rhode Island and was excited to go so we all joined my parents for a weekend trip to Providence. It was nice to meet up and hang out with Olga there as well. We arrived in time to go to the RISD museum, where Chase found a hippo that is similar to the ones in the Louvre and Met. Once it started getting dark, we saw the lighting of the cauldrons, and walked around the river with the lights and boats. It was a very fun atmosphere! The next day, we went by the Stonington Light House and Palmer House, before stopping to get some baked good at Sift in Mystic on our way home. 

Summer Crafts

[Previous Chase crafts: 3D printing, snow globes, siphonophore Halloween costume, Octopus]

Other than 3D printing which he is still very much into, Chase also had a few other crafts this summer. 

All summer, Chase was obsessed with collecting 4-leaf clovers. He managed to collect quite a number and then dried them in a book for a week each and laminated them together. 

Chase also was very into making a donut pillow. We went to a fabric place to get the colors he wanted and then he used the sewing machine to make a donut. He was going to add some sprinkles to the top so I was waiting to take a picture of that, but he never ended up doing that before using it as a pillow, so I never got a finished picture.

Family Reunion

This summer, Chase had a unique opportunity to have all his grandparents together. Amy and Tony were visiting us and seeing our house for the first time. We took a walk with them in New Haven and at the beach, did an escape room, and played lots of games together. Then we had my parents over for BBQ and had a chance to take pictures together. Chase was so excited to have everyone together. 

 

Europe Summer Trip

[Previous trip to Barcelona: 2017] 

[Previous trips to Paris: 2019, 2015]

[Previous Swiss content: Part I, Part II, Part III, with Olga, Part IV, Lyon, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, and Part VIII; and Activities Nearby I, Activities Nearby II, and Activities Nearby III]

This summer, we wanted to travel to see my family and visit our friends in Switzerland. My family is living in Barcelona so we thought we could see them and then go on to Switzerland and stop in Paris on the way. My grandparents decided to move back to Ukraine in April so we didn't get to see them as planned, but it was still a nice chance to catch up with the rest of the family, especially because my parents and brother came out also. 

In Barcelona, we hung out with them at their house overlooking the city that had a pool for Chase to swim in. We went on a tour of Park Guell. We also walked around the city and then went closer to the water and walked all the way to the beach. One of the nights there was the celebration of St. John's Eve or Midsummer and there were fireworks that we saw very nicely from the house. We went to the science museum with Marko. And, on the last night, we even had a chance to play Space Catan. A very fun time with family and in Barcelona. 

After Barcelona, we flew to Paris. We had a hotel in the south of the 9th arrondisement, walkable to most things we were planning to see. We saw the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. Chase enjoyed the hippo in the former (similar to the one that's in the Met) and van Gogh and Pompon in the latter. We walked around a lot: to the garden of the Tulieries and to Notre Dame and to the Eiffel Tower. Chase was insistent on climbing up the Eiffel Tower, which we did. Overall, we had a great time in the city and were reminded of our time there together about 8 years earlier.

Finally, we made it to Switzerland by train. We stayed with Oksana and Italo in Lausanne, and then stayed with Christine and Yordan above Morges. We had a great time catching up with friends and colleagues. We also spent some time at the lake side both in Lausanne and in Morges. We went to the natural history/science museum with Marko and Sofia. We walked around Morges with Theo and Emil and their parents and then went to see Chase's schools and daycare and our old apartment. I stayed a few days later and had an American 4th of July BBQ. It was so nice to catch up with friends and reminisce about our time in Switzerland. 

Top: Chase at the playground he used to go to; Chase near his first school where he did 1P and 2P; Middle: Chase at his second school where he went 3P; Chase at the chocolate place we used to go to a lot on Sundays; Bottom: Chase on the rock he used to climb on as we used to walk by the post office; Chase overlooking the fence to the daycare in Morges he went to after school and during school breaks.

Fixing our fence and getting mini-splits

Our fence was rotting and sliding down the hill behind our house. We got some quotes to fix it but they seemed very high since the metal posts were still well anchored. So, we decided to fix it ourselves by getting some panels from home depot and replacing the damaged panels ourselves. Nate used some power tools to saw out the section of fence where the tree was in the way. We lined everything up to hang correctly on the existing posts and were able to fix the situation without too much trouble. This took us two-three weekend afternoons and coming in at $70/panel ($280), some long screws ($10), and hauling away the old damaged panels ($50). Much better than the 2.5-3K we were quoted for similar repairs. And now we have the satisfaction of a job well done.

The other thing we're planning this summer is installing mini-splits to have some more air conditioning in this house. We are going to do 1 head in each bedroom and 1 in the TV room and 1 in the living room, all those 5 will be hooked up to 2 separate condensers. The good thing with mini-splits is that they can both cool and heat so we can offset some of our oil usage in the winter by using electric heating. When the electricity company was hooking up our solar panels, they accidentally added together our electricity production and use, and therefore were over charging us. They have since fixed it but still owe us quite a bit of credits so we have energy to spare. 

Hiking Mt. Chocorua with Olga

[Previous Olga&Oksana Adventures: around CT/RI/NY in winter 2021, around CT/RI/NY in summer 2021, Potato chip rock in 2017, Luzern in 2017, Martha's Vineyard in 2013]
[Previous intense hikes: Potato chip rock in 2017, Col de Milon in 2016, Flattop Mountain in 2013]

For Memorial Day, Olga and I decided to do a long hike. This is something we had been talking about for a while and Olga has done many hikes in the northeast. Olga chose Mt. Chocorua (in New Hampshire's White Mountains) and got us oriented with a very affordable bed and breakfast and plan for conquering this mountain. We drove up to New Hampshire on Saturday, explored the neighboring towns a bit, and then hiked it very early on Sunday. It was about 4 hours, 8 miles, and 2,100 ft of elevation. The weather was perfect, even though there were a lot of bugs. This mountain is under 4,000 ft so it's part of a series called "52 with a view" and it sure delivered on that! 

Chase at 9 years old

[Previous Chase updates: 8 years, 7 years, 6 years, 2nd year of school, 5 years, starting school, 4 years, 3 years, 25-32 months, 2 years, 15-20 months, 1+ year, first four months in Cambridge, data analysis from first 2 months, first few months]

We flew back from San Diego on Chase's birthday. Since Nate had to work, the idea was that Chase would see him on his birthday as well. Unfortunately, our flight got severely delayed and we didn't end up landing until after midnight. Chase still had a chance to open some gifts in the car on his way home so it ended up ok. 

A few weeks later, Chase had a birthday party in the backyard. He specifically wanted to do the crafts that we had prepared for the party last year. We also had a bunch of lawn games and a bounce house. Chase invited all the kids in his class and a bunch from his previous classes. It was a bit cold, but everyone had a great time. Chase asked for a Klein Bottle cake and made everyone 3D printed favors that included some fidget spinners and tiny Klein bottles. 

San Diego for Spring Break

[Previous trips to San Diego: 2021, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, beginning of 2017, end of 2015, 2014, 2x in 2013]

This year, we decided to take Chase to San Diego for his spring break. Chase and I went with my parents and did all the touristy San Diego kid things we could. We went to the beaches in Coronado, La Jolla, and Del Mar. We did the Safari Park, San Diego Zoo, and Sea World. I had never actually been to Sea World even though I grew up in San Diego so it was a fun first for me also. We got some boba from a few different places and walked around downtown La Jolla, Coronado, and the Del Mar Highlands. We even went back to our old church for Easter (and saw the pastor that married Nate and me), and showed Chase where my grandparents are buried. A very busy and fun few days exploring San Diego. 

Left: On the beach in Coronado; Right: Boba in the highlands with Mika.

At the Safari Park

Left: At the zoo with the elephants; Right: At Seaworld, having the nibble fish eat dead skin off of our hands.

Top: with Pastor Bob after Easter service; Bottom: Showing Chase where my grandparents are buried.

Winter Crafts

For Christmas, Chase received a 3D printer from Ivan. He has been finding lots of things to print and designing lots of cool stuff for himself and his classmates. 

Top: Left: Chase designed a maze and then took out the scaffolding; Right: Chase made a fidget that he downloaded online; Bottom: Left: For Valentine's Day, Chase made keychains for all his classmates with their names and some moveable hearts; Right: I designed these two-toned names for me and my colleagues to put up in our cubicles. 

Just like last year, I participated in February Embroidery Bingo from BonnahCo. This time, it was a flower pattern, and while I didn't win bingo, I did have a lot of fun and got Sakina into it. 

Top: I decided to stitch on the opposite side of the fabric so that my stitches would stand out more; Bottom: Last year's on the left and this year's on the right -- let's see what next year's will look like. 

Edit: Just like last year, I am editing this to include a BonnahCo ornament I did at the end of the year. For the next few years, they are doing a polar bear theme so this is the first of a few similar ones, but for now these are the two I have so far together on the tree. 

2022 in Review

[Previous years in review: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013]

This year, I am finally returning to the theme of this blog! Lots of crafts and home improvement projects! I did some embroidery, Chase and I made an octopus, a halloween costume, and some Christmas ornaments. We also did many crafts not mentioned here such as beading, pom-poms, and lots of drawings. We reupholstered our dining room chairs and did a lot of gardening. We also got solar panels on our roof and did a lot of small energy-related improvements on the house: updated the thermostats and switched all the bulbs to LED. There was a lot more maintenance related tasks that we first anticipated: dealing with the yard work, cleaning the gutters, dealing with random ants, checking our boiler and sump pump, etc. We had hoped to install some air conditioning before the summer but for various reasons didn't get to it. That may be a project for next year. 

We are also returning to traveling and hosting visitors. We hosted 6 different people/families throughout the year, which was super fun! We made many shorter trips: local winter & fall, NYC, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia. We/I also made some further trips: Baltimore/DC, South Carolina, Nebraska, and Bermuda. Chase slightly added to his state count with New Jersey, Maryland, and DC, bringing it to 12 (MA, CT, RI, NY, NE, CA, NV, IA, IL, PA, NJ,  MD [& DC]). He also turned 8. 

As always, here is an Instagram collage of pictures from the last year.

Happy 2023!