Back in DIY gear

Yeah! It's great to have holidays, forget about work and enjoy these nice summer days. Especially when it's an extended holidays for David, as he has 2 months on paternity leave from August to the end of September.
Now's the time to finish some jobs around the outside of the house, like putting up fence. It needs to be painted first.

One pole in- 11 other to go.

The fence will be all around the front yeard, hopefully in couple of days
...
Here's Daddy's little helper

Look, Liza, this is how you hold the hammer



Oh, Daddy, I think it's too heavy for me!


I can also help you watering the garden
You have no idea, parents, what deal you've got here- I can do anything!!!

It's fun walking

Liza has recently discovered a pushcart. The trolley of sorts on the weels to push, which also has a space to put her toys in and close the lid- fancy! She's really enjoying the upright movement and has got a good control of the thing. There's one minor problem- it only goes forward!!! Luckily we have a big grass lawn in the back garden with not so many obsticles, except for trees... Where she can't get on her two, she can on her four. Just like this.

 

Lindsays trio visiting

Aye, we had a visit from the Lindsays, who showed us how to do a Belfast fry - proper... actually, I did the frys and Dave did the pro dinners - presentation is everything, was the word of the day. Their little girl, Sorcha is really sweet, and I'd forgotten how small a newborn is. It was great to have them over and we look forward to raiding their fridge and enjoying their wine collection.

Yes, I've been hired as the Godfather to guide and direct where necessary, which I find a great honour and I'll try to live up to it as best I can.

I guess that's it for this insertion... 'till next time... that's all folks

Elizabeth's 1st birthday

 

Last Sunday we celebrated Elizabeth's birthday. 1 year old! As much as we want to believe it- we can't- that our baby has turned into a little girl- so sweet and adorable. We can't believe how quick the past year has gone. Seems just yesterday we were rushing into the hospital on early Saturday morning and coming back couple of days later with a tiny bundle of joy Elizabeth, when all she did was sleeping most of the time.
Now we have a curious little girl, moving around the house at the top gear, chatting away in her baby- language (which we agree sounds mostly like Russian) and bringing her parents so much joy every day!
We had Katya's parents and sisters with their families over for tea and cake party. Dave, Lynda and baby Sorcha from Northern Ireland were visiting us, which we enjoyed greatly, especially Elizabeth who learned to blow raspberries at Dave every time she saw him. Thanks everyone for your presents and fun afternoon!
Here's more pictures from Elizabeth's birthday party.

"I like to ride my bicycle"

Last weekend we took an advantage of nice weather and our new (actually old- given away by the neighbour) bicycle carriage for Elizabeth. She definitely enjoyed the ride, feeding the swans and a snooze on the way home.

A surprise trip for Katya to.... Faroe Islands!

 

This year it was my turn to plan an anniversary trip away for us, + our extra baggage in the form if Lisa chewing on everything within bite distance. 

I think it's original name taken from norwegian is "Sheep Island", and this figures since there appear to be many more sheep than population. Great place for a barbeque.

The islands are located at 62º 01' N, 6º 47' W, above Ireland (and halfway to Iceland from Ireland) and are made up of 18 isles (although there are some extra ones not large enough to be named). The landscape is quite dramatic, with all towns being coastal, given the relief of the land ie:-typically a 30 - 45 degree angle from sea level to mountain tops, which are all bright green and covered in grass.


The islands are mostly accessible by road, otherwise it's boat or helicopter, probably the only place there a chopper tour is slightly more expensive than a bus ticket. There are many tunnels joining islands, or travelling through the mountains, some wide enough for one vehicle only, whilst the oncoming vehicle awaits in a lay-by cut into the rock. I'd say they used a whole lot of TNT here.  

We stayed in the Hotel Føroyar, and I was greatly impressed with the view over Torshavn. As for the hotel itself, I think they are using the view to sell everything about the place, but dirty carpets, old smokey smell in a musty bedroom without extraction and sour Apple juice served for breakfast was not what I was expecting from a 4 star establishment and means we'll not be back there... it'll be camping for us in future, and this seems to be quite popular, since the Faroes are not the cheapest place to visit, on a par with Verbier, Switzerland methinks. There are many places to pitch tent, and if you can't find an official camping spot, the locals are ok with a tourist or two in their field for the night, or so i've convinced myself.

Elizabeth had a great time, and it was a bonus having a car, which for her is a big magical sleep machine. She's started to walk about with help to balance provided by a stooped down parent and seems to be enjoying her new found height. 

But for now... it's back to work for us both... and I'm staring into a computer screen again for 8 hours a day, whilst Katya is actually helping people.

There you have it in a nutshell.

The Faroes - go there, it's great!  

Here's a nice filmclip of the place....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69huWkZs034