December 1, 2013

I can't believe that it is already December!  November went by pretty quickly.  The weather is definitely colder, particularly at night, but we have yet to see snow.

More leaves ready to be picked up!  These are some I did, but the community crew came and raked some as well. 

Cyrus' family is leaving on Dec. 6th, so this week the movers were busy packing them up.  Ryan was thrilled to have Cyrus come over to play after preschool so that he wouldn't be underfoot.  Ryan is starting to get a little bit sad about Cyrus leaving.  Even though Cyrus is only 3 1/2, the boys get along pretty well and he lives right across the street! 

J and R playing with Cryus in the rocks.

When our mail arrived on Monday, I was happy (for once) that we hadn't gotten very much. Everything had gotten very very wet from sitting out on the tarmac for heaven knows how long and it was absolutely soaked!  Unfortunately, my book order was one of the things that arrived.  About half of the books were quite wet.  I dried them off as best as I could.  While many aren't pretty, they can still be read.  Justin could hardly wait for some of them to be dry enough to read.

I had a fan blowing on the books all night.  It seemed to help.

 

Thursday was Thanksgiving.  Rob and I went over the many Thanksgivings we have had since we have been married and realize that very few have been traditional.  Those that were usually were only because we were in the US with family.  A big Thanksgiving meal for the four of us (with only two of us really eating much of it) seemed a bit much.  We decided that we will do the whole turkey thing over New Year's when Rob has three days off.  Instead we did what we did for our first Thanksgiving--pizza and pies!  Of course it isn't like Papa John's delivers here, so Rob made homemade pizza. :)  We opened our pizza stone (Christmas present) early so we could have the best pizza possible.  I made cherry and pumpkin pies.  We also had chips and onion dip.  Justin came home from school and we had an early dinner together while we watched one of the Shrek movies on TV.  Definitely not the Thanksgiving most people picture, but it was relaxing and we enjoyed it.

Friday Rob and I went out to the mall to see a new grocery store.  We rarely go to the mall because there is nothing there that we would want to buy.  It is easy enough to get to though, so we went to see if the grocery store was any good.  It has nice wide aisles, but it isn't any better than the closer store in terms of stocking products we want.

The mall on Black Friday.

 

Either they haven't stocked yet for the day (but they have been open at least an hour!) or they are out of a lot of produce.  Neither thing would be unusual.

In the evening we had a 6:00 PM dentist appointment for Ryan.  He had been complaining about a tooth when he ate.  Sure enough, he had a cavity in a back tooth.  We spent an hour an a half at the dentist getting it taken care of.  I was SO proud of him!  He was nervous going in, but he was brave and very well behaved.  The pediatric dentist doesn't speak much English, but someone else came in to talk with us and explain what needed to be done.  While working on Ryan, the dentist often told him that he was a good boy and that he was being brave.  Sometimes she just spoke in a soothing voice in Armenian.  I was standing right there too and tried to distract him when he looked like he was getting upset or scared.  The bill came in at under $40 and it looked just as modern as the dentist we go to in the US.  Yay!  Not that I hope we have to go in to see her a lot, but we know a dentist for the boys now.   Justin was playing on my phone in the waiting room or I would have taken a picture.

We went to KFC for dinner because it was dinner time and KFC was just up the street.  We ordered Ryan ice cream and pineapple juice so he wouldn't chew on his numbed cheek.  Looks like he did that later on in his sleep anyway. :(

On Saturday I went with Ryan to a birthday party.  The girl's birthday is the same day as his so I was hoping it wouldn't upset him that he isn't having a party.  He enjoyed the party and doesn't seem to care that he isn't having a party.  I said that he can take cupcakes to school and that he and I will spend the day doing things that he likes to do.  Maybe a party next year...

I was also able to get an all important video clip of Justin giving me permission to give him hugs and kisses even when he gets older.  I already had one of Ryan.  These things will be important for me to have in the future.  I keep getting an upload error, so here is the link.

http://youtu.be/2m2hxCiEsug

 

First Week in July

This week I was delighted to get our first letter.  Meredith sent it the day after we left for Armenia.  Of course that tells us nothing about how long it will take mail to arrive in the future.  Seems there is sometimes an issue getting our mail.  It was fun to get a letter from her though and she included a little picture. 

We continue to enjoy yummy fresh fruit such as cherries and apricots.  The boys always make a mess with cherries.  Justin's two front teeth are loose so he kind of gnaws on the them using the side of his mouth.  Ryan just always manages to make a mess.

 The boys started going to a summer camp this week.  They are going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 until 1:30.  It gets them out of the house a bit and gives me a little break.  Ryan seems to really enjoy it so far.  Justin has a typical Justin attitude about it.  Hopefully they will meet a few kids from the neighborhood.  Right now a lot of people are out of the country on vacation.

Wednesday was the Fourth of July party at the Embassy.  It was the first time the boys and I had gone out there.  The kids loved the playground and got to play with a few other kids.  We had a BBQ and played a few games before we decided it was time for us to go home.  It was past the boys' bedtimes and since Justin was upset over losing the tug of war it didn't seem like the best idea to stay for another hour to wait for the fireworks.

Rob didn't have to go to work on the 4th so he and I headed off to the grocery store while the boys were in summer camp.  It is frustrating to try to get familiar with new stores, what is available, how to find what you want, etc. etc.  We were mostly successful and are hopefully stocked up for the week.  Even if I had Rob leave the car here with me AND I could find the grocery store on my own, it isn't like I could quickly pop out and grab something if I realize I need something.  SAS delivers groceries for about $1.25 fee and might become my good friend since they have an English website.

 

After lunch we decided to go to the mall to check it out.  Traffic wasn't bad going out there.  Guess most people were at work and the mall isn't right in the city either.  It is a beautiful building and easy to get to.  There really isn't anything there that I think I need though.  Too bad.  I don't know that I have plans to go back.

 

Ryan saw a store in the mall called New Yorker and was thrilled that he could read that the store was called New York.  Of course Justin corrected him and told him that the -er on the end of it meant it was New YorkER and not New York.  What was I thinking telling Ryan he is reading more and more everyday when he can't even get that right.  Poor little guy.  Justin makes sure to let him know who is the better reader.



The 5th was an Armenian holiday and we went to a BBQ at one of Rob's co-worker's summer house.  It is outside of the city not too far beyond Argel, for what that's worth.  I can see why people go there in the summer and not the winter.  The roads are not paved for a lot of the way and they are narrow and full of potholes.  It was much cooler out there than it was in the city and we enjoyed a pleasant day eating fresh fruit picked right from the trees/bushes (cherries, apricots, apples, mulberries, raspberries, and something like gooseberries), talking, eating some more, and hiking. 

 

I ate my first Armenian meal and it was pretty good.  I would say that it is definitely not the kind of meal you want to eat if you have to impress someone with table manners.  Chunks of meat mixed with grilled veggies and lavash bread may taste good, but aren't so pretty.

For awhile we had to force the boys to take a break from eating raspberries.  We were afraid that all of the fresh fruit they were eating was going to upset their stomachs.  They just ate and ate and ate...

The stones mark the graves where people are buried.

Looking down into the valley

Some of the cows we saw as we walked around the area

I'm sure this tells all about the remains we saw.

People come here and pray and then tie cloth to this bush so that their prayers will be answered.

Church remains.  Someone in the group said that they are from 750 AD but I have no idea if that is true.

This was made recently (sometime in the past ten years) as a commemorative something or other for the remains.  It was beautiful in person, but disappointing to see the date stamped into the side.  I couldn't read anything other than the date.

The remains of the church again

The remains yet again

Part of our group

Justin taking a rest

Street lights along the way

Justin and Ryan proving they could get up the rock.  No, they could not get down by themselves.

Tomatoes on the grill.  I hadn't thought to get the eggplant, green peppers, pork, fish, or other items.

Fish!  I stuck with the grilled pork. 

Cherry cake (Yum!) and the not-so-Armenian flan.  It was brought by a Mexican and it was absolutely delicious.

The green areas are where people have summer homes and keep things watered.

Some fairly typical looking apartment buildings that I saw outside the city on our drive home.

Little produce stand we drove by.

 



Saturday was a lazy day and we picked some apricots.  I made some apricot fruit leather (which we don't care for) and prepared some apricots for freezing.  I have 3 pounds frozen now and will probably do some more.  I wanted to see how they looked and tasted.  I know they weren't frozen very long, but they seemed to do well and not turn brown or mushy.  Since there is no way we can eat all of our apricots now I really have very little to lose by trying to freeze them.

 

 

Sunday I had a horrible headache and slept most of the day.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to sleep all night to Monday as well.  Headache seems to be gone so here I am updating the blog for Mom. :)  Hopefully I will do something besides laundry and dishes so I have something to write about at the end of the week.