Waiting for Spring

It's been over a month since I last posted so I thought I should write a little update on how we are doing here in Kyiv.  Since my last post we celebrated Valentine's Day, had a massive snow storm, enjoyed a week-long stay-cation during the girl's ski week break, and hosted a couple of work dinners for Peter.  Here are the pictures from our past five weeks or so.......

The week before Valentine's Day, Peter was out of town and the girls and I experienced the biggest snow storm of our lives.  We were so thankful the power and water stayed on and we stayed cozy in the house.  

I tried to take photos to capture all the snow, but it was impossible to show the scale.  In the course of 4 days we got over 2 feet of snow.  

This southern girl had never shoveled before so keeping the walkways passable was quite a job.  

And I had to shovel the back patio and a little yard space everyday because Honey kept sinking in the snow.

The city prides itself on never letting weather affect school so here we are, trudging to the bus stop.   

The bus couldn't make it onto our street and the roads were a mess.  They ended up cancelling the next couple of days after all.  Which was apparently a first.  

Everyday we got more snow so I ran out of places to put the shoveled snow.  It was crazy.

It was also really beautiful.  Every single surface was covered with snow....every sidewalk, every street.......it was so peaceful. 

Susannah participates in a little neighborhood book club and this is them making a potato pie to go with their month's book about the Great Depression.  

Peter came home from his trip a day early and we were so glad to have our fire-maker back.  

This one always misses her Daddy when he is away.  

All of us were so happy to have him back. 

Especially because the next day was Valentines Day.  We gave the girls little treat bags with pez candy and new colored pens.  And Susannah made each of us the sweetest cards with poems in them.  

Peter sent all three of us flowers.  The girls were so excited to have their first flower delivery. 

And we baked a banana cinnamon heart cake.  

The next day Peter and the girls went with some neighbors to sled in a park near our house.  

They had a blast.  

I really enjoyed my daily walks during our winter wonderland.  Especially when we had blue skies.  Most of the snow has finally melted but, a month later and we still have some on the ground in our yard and piled on the side of our neighborhood streets.  

These girls have loved their first snowy winter.   

On the first Saturday of their ski week, we went with friends out to the country to see the snow in all of it's pristine glory.  Adelia and Larissa are our neighbors and have become some of the girls' best friends.  

We couldn't find any cleared trailhead parking for a hike, so we just parked on the side of a country road and let the girls plow through this random field.  They had the best time.  

Because of COVID, we decided not to travel for ski week, but we did take the girls to an indoor amusement park on morning when it was empty.  They loved the dinosaur world.  

It was pretty cool.  

They even had this huge sandbox for fossil digs.  

Ready for go-karts.  

We ended our visit with the roller coaster.  

Sarah Avery was my riding partner.  She loved it.  

The rest of the week we spent doing a lot of this.  Sleeping in, watching movies, and playing board games.

One afternoon I took the girls to get hair cuts and then an ice cream cone.  

And Peter and I snuck off one night for a great date night.  We had an awesome Italian meal and then a beautiful walk through the city.  

We also spent a day walking around a frozen lake near our house.  This visit was bittersweet as the last time we were here, we were swimming with our friends, The Silers.  

The weather was warm so we could enjoy the snow without being too bundled which was a nice change.  

These two.

We saw a few ducks who obviously forgot to fly south for the winter.  ;)

This past month we hosted a couple of dinner parties.  One for the Turkish Attache and his family.  

And another, more adult affair for some other work colleagues of Peter's.  My favorite part is always setting the table.  

 And there you have the last several weeks for the Mallorys in Kyiv.  We hope all of you are well and that spring weather is warming your hearts and your spirits. We miss you all and are counting down the days until our visit to the USA his summer!