Easter in Ukraine

This year for Easter, we ended up going to Ukraine because it was close to my grandfather's birthday (for which my father was also in town). Other than celebrating my grandfather's birthday, we were able to partake in Ukrainian Orthodox Easter festivities. This included making lots of cakes (my grandmother made these) and putting them in a basket along with other food and bringing them to a church to bless them on Easter eve. Then, we went to a small historic church for Easter mass (this church is the oldest wooden church in Ukraine), after which we got together with my uncle and aunts' friends to eat the food in the baskets (and other food and drinks we bought for the occasion). It was a really cool event to be part of and one I had heard a lot about but never had the chance to participate in.

Top: cakes made by my grandmother

Bottom: our basket and the church we went for the basket blessing

Top: inside the church we went to for mass

Bottom: a picture of all three of us on Easter day taken by my father

Chase at 3 years old!

In April, Chase turned 3!!!

It has been quite a ride, but it does totally get better! His speaking has improved a lot in both English and French. He is very empathetic and kind, giving hugs and kisses to both us and his stuffed animals. He is very funny, although usually he doesn't mean to be. He loves doing puzzles, riding his bike, discovering nature (especially bugs and animals), and watching Peppa Pig and Pocoyo.

One thing that is obvious from the pictures is that Chase now has glasses! We noticed his right eye started getting cross-eyed around October of last year. We quickly had an appointment with the paediatrician, who referred us to an eye doctor here in Morges. Unfortunately, it took us a long time to get an appointment with that doctor, so we didn't end up seeing him until the beginning of January. They prescribed glasses for Chase, which he picked out himself. After a few more appointments, it was obvious that things weren't improving as fast as they would like, so they referred us to a special eye hospital in Lausanne that has a division especially for strabismus and deals with children. From there, they adjusted his lenses (twice) so that he has more magnification on the bottom than on the top (may be hard to see in these pictures). He also wears an eye patch for 3 hours a day on his stronger eye to train his other eye to be a bit stronger. Overall, it seems to be going well, although it is a long process. We were afraid that he wouldn't want to wear glasses and that it would be a struggle for both him and us, but he is actually very cool with wearing the glasses. For the patch, we started off with the sticker patches that they prescribed for us (and cost like 1.2 CHF per patch). Nate (through his mom) found cloth patches from Amazon in the US that go right around the glasses. We have been using these ever since, and they are much easier and nicer for him.

Due to Easter being the weekend after his birthday, we held his birthday party a few weeks later. Many of his friends (Ona, Elias, Maria, Bea, Antonio, Marko, Matti, Theo, and Dirk) from daycare and church attended the afternoon party. The party was held in a rented room in Morges (which is actually a really beautiful former church). I think he really enjoyed it as the next few days when waking up he kept asking "are we having my birthday party again today??"

Knitted Little Girl Dress

For Sakina's little girl, I wanted to knit something cute and practical. I decided on this sweet and simple dress (link to Ravelry where pattern can be downloaded for free). I wasn't quite sure on the size and decided to just go with the smallest option, knowing it would be larger because of the needles and yarn I was using. I guess I didn't realize how much larger it would actually be as at one point, Chase was able to try it on:

The finished product definitely turned out cute but it may end up being a tunic more than a dress due to the sizing and the fact that they live in LA, so not sure what time of year a knitted dress would be appropriate! 

Update: I received a picture of 5-month-old Sophie trying on the dress and it's still too large for her. Oops! At least she looked super cute in it anyway! 

Solo Trip to San Diego

In March, I took a solo trip to San Diego for Renske's wedding and Sakina's baby shower. I had a wonderful time hanging out with my parents and old friends. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Finally made it to the top of Potato Chip Rock with Olga. We attempted this hike many years ago, but it was during the summer and we had to turn back due to it being too hot. This time, we made it all the way and got the requisite pictures. So fun!

Since the dessert was in its "superbloom," my parents and I traveled north to experience all of the crazy wildflowers. We were just off the coast of the highway in this area, actually, but the fields were full of flowers. The pictures don't do it justice as it was amazing it person!  

Renske's wedding was wonderful! Olga and I had a nice time catching up with old friends and meeting new people in Renske and Ivan's lives. It was so fun to attend a wedding at Powerhouse Park, right near where we hung out as teenagers. 

Mika, Olga, and I helped organize a baby shower for Sakina (who had a little girl in May). It was nice to see Sakina showered with so much love from all of her friends. In this picture, we are all with our moms. This is especially special as we've been friends from 7th grade -- 18 years ago! Time passes so quickly!

Knit headband

Last summer, when I was in Ukraine, my grandmother gave me some yarn. I really wanted to make something with it, but I couldn't invest the time in a sweater. So I decided on a headband. I used a herringbone stitch, which was recommended to me in a local knitting group I occasionally attend. The herringbone stitch is crazily complicated, but once you start, it starts making more sense. It's nice because it turned out really pretty and really warm. At the joint between the two sides, I ended up using some black velvet, and that helped tie the piece together.

(Annual) Trip to the US

This year, as last year, we took a trip to the US for Christmas and the New Year. For Christmas, we hung out with Nate's family in Nebraska, where Chase saw all of his family (picture below with his cousin Grace).

After Nebraska, we took a trip to San Diego to visit my parents. There, Chase had a great time going to the playground near their house, sledding in a snow installation at the botanical garden, and hanging out at the beach.

For New Year's Eve, we were at my parents' party:

On New Year's day, we took a cruise from Long Beach down to Ensenada (stopping in Catalina). Chase had a a great time on the boat and generally traveling around. The day we returned to LA, we went to Knott's Berry Farm, which was really fun for him (and us).

Overall, we had a great time hanging out with family and friends and enjoyed being in the US! At the end of the trip, we even spontaneously reunited with a huge group of HMC friends who happened to be in San Diego. It's so nice to keep up with old friends and see how everyone is doing now!

2016 in Review

[Previous years in review: 2015, 2014, 2013]

2016 was a pretty crazy year, both in general and for us. Nate had crazy crazy work hours most of the year, which made life difficult for all of us, but we still managed to do a bit of traveling.

January - We started the year off in the US [San Diego for all of us; then for work: Boston for Nate and Houston for me later in the month]
early March - I went to Budapest
late March - We went to London
April - Chase and I went to Ukraine
July - We went to Interlaken & Bern with Nate's parents
August - Chase and I went to Ukraine again
November - We took a trip to Zermatt/Matterhorn
December - We are ending the year in the US [Nebraska for Christmas and San Diego for New Year's]

Just like last year, Chase saw all of his living great grandparents this year. He even saw his grandparents twice each -- once in the summer when our parents each visited and once during the holidays while we've been in the US. He saw all of his aunts and uncles, and actually a good percentage of all of his relatives. In terms of his country count, he got a +1 for Great Britain so he's currently at 3 continents (NA, Europe, Africa), 7 countries (USA, Switzerland, France, Spain, Morocco, Ukraine, and Great Britain), and 7 states (MA, CT, RI, NY, NE, CA, NV). Hopefully we can travel some more next year (maybe to Italy and/or Germany) to get those counts up a bit more.

In regard to Chase, I posted about him turning two and his development in the months since then.

For crafts, I made another book for Chase and knitted him a sweater. All of those sewing things I mentioned last year did not get done, but I have high hopes for the coming year. We also took some family photos again this year. I don't think we had any home improvements this year.

Next year, we hope to travel more and I hope to do some more crafts! Happy 2017.

I will leave you with an Instagram collage. Follow me on Instagram, or on Twitter if you don't have an Instagram.