Spring time in the Air

I love little celebrations of life. It takes little planning and courage to come up with something to celebrate but in the end, they make for sweet and satisfying life.


This Spring 2010 we had little get together with the girls and the kids to celebrate Spring and get some sun after many days of the rain-- we went to Woodburn Tulip Festival.

We picked Melanie, Lisa and Sasha after school and headed strait there.

Alina was upset here for one reason or the other, kids gave her a group hug so she would feel better, it helped, her sorrow did not stay for long.

We took lots of portrait shots, it is hard not too when there is so much beauty around!

Katya getting lots of vitamin D here...

Luda and Shasha, who will be in kindergarten with Alina coming September..

Family picture...

Sister's love..

Dina and Katya...

Here we are, Vitamin D deprived after a long, rainy winter, ready to soak in a new season...Dina and I came here with headaches yet after about 45 min or so it just vanished away. Here is the best medicine: positive emotions and sun!

More fund for kids around the Tulip farm.

Melanie loves to take pictures, she would be in every shot...

After we spend some time at the tulip fields, we stated going back to the car and found few surprises along the road, like this swimming duck competition. Katya was fascinated by it.

Alina gave her a hand, they get along so well!

Another surprise by the gift shop.

Lisa had some quiet time on the bench...getting some energy back after long day in school and couple hours running out in the fields.

Kids has lots of fun on this "made from tire" swing set! I love creative ideas!

After we left the tulip farm, Dina suggested we stop at the Dairy Quin for some ice cream.

Lisa and Melanie picked the fairest corner to sit, away from the little ones and whispered some secrets to each other.

Sasha's pick: ice cream sundae with strawberry syrup.

Some happy and satisfied faces we have here...:) Ice Cream has this effect on kids and adults alike...

Palm Spring with kids

At the end of March, during the Spring break we had our first, real family vacation that was more than a thousand miles away from home, Palm Springs, CA to be exact. Dragon Fighter and I usually went on long vacations by our selves during our 11.5 year marriage, leaving our kids in trusted care of grandparents and auntie, Natasha.




So this year, we pulled the plug and took our little, sweet bundles of joy, who is not so little anymore with us and made it a real family vacation with two days (broken down to eight hours each day) car drive.



The 1,093 mile drive was bearable due to the fact that we installed car DVD's for each of the girls. As an element of surprise, I had four new DVDs that I gave them to watch, new each day of the road trip, just in time when they got sick and tired of being in the car-- two more hours of peace and quiet -- priceless.

We got to our destination in one piece, thankfully staying overnight at Lana and Lee's in Sacramento -- it was great to see you guys!

Here is the link to our resort in Indio where we stayed (click here) It was a wonderful resort with full kitchen and activity choices included lots of water and sun.

With the map in hands, we explored our huge resort first... with tree whirlpools, two 4,950-square-foot pools, two kiddies pools, popular lazy river, tennis, two kids playgrounds, resort market, dominos pizza, activity room, exercise room and lots of sun.

We played and played, and played in the pool.

When we got sick of the water, we played on the grass...

Here is the perfect example of Melanie and Alina's different personalities. When Melanie sees something new, she jumps at the opportunity, while Alina is very hesitant about new opportunities, people and food -- she would think twice before accepting.

We drank lots of water to keep ouselves hydrated...

We played in the lazy river...

Lazy River consists of shallow 3 ft pool that flows similarly to a river. There is a slow current, just enough to allow us to gently ride along lying on rafts, riding counter clockwise. It sure is a great exercise to go against the current.

Alina was very hesitant to swim in the lazy river so Dragon Fighter found a great solution that she was trilled about.

Riding on his back...

In circles of the lazy river...

Our two bedroom unit had fully equipped kitchen so I did little bit of cooking everyday. It gave us great opportunity to save on eating out and spending more time playing and relaxing.

At the very first night we loaded on groceries at the local market so I could work up my magic preparing easy, fast and nutritious meals for us.

At the fourth day of our vacation, we were joined by our friends. That very first night I invited kids over to our place and after dinner they settled for a game of UNO. Alina is very particular at winning every game at UNO if she does not win, she starts crying...she just think that she must win every game when she is playing!

This time around I was at the lazy river pool with Alina and Dragon Fighter was taking pictures.

It was sunny and warm (85F or so) and cool mist under the bridge was cooling things down.

Melanie used floaties on her arms to swim around...

Lisa really enjoyed being in the water as well-- she swims like a fish!

Sasha has no water fear at all, her body floating device helps to have piece of mind for her parents.

Here is Luda with Sasha, Melanie and Lisa enjoying the dip

Dragon Fighter found some time to play tennis.

Kids were making themselves comfortable here while waiting for Dragon Fighter finish playing.

Last day of our vacation...we knew kids had enough when on a very last vacation day they told us that they had enough of water. Melanie had quick two minute dip in the pool that morning while Alina did not even bother changing in the swimming suit.

As we were driving home in the morning, I got a good look at these working wind farms that are harnessing the wind. There were thousands of them big and small with some of the blades are turning and some are stopped.

Just the one of the kind fascinating scene...

***A month later after we came back from vacation, Melanie said that she would really want to come back to California, and no matter how long the drive is, she says, I'll wait with no complaining-- well that is a commitment!