Also, we went to Sumy

Our organization also has an office in Canada, and the personnel director in that office wanted to increase his understand of the cross-cultural workers with whom he works by spending some time in a cross-cultural setting. So, he and his wife are in Ukraine for six weeks.

I thought I'd help give them the full experience by taking them on a six-hour train ride with my two very, very active boys, for whom train rides are ordinary and boooor-ring.

So, off to Sumy we went, to visit the SEND team there and to meet this little darlin':



As it turned out, the boys behaved beautifully on the train! If only we could always travel with four extra grown-up hands.

On the train, there and back, we let Dietrich watch "Ice Age 2," which we'd borrowed. I, naively, assumed that it was rated "G" -- until a week later, when I sat down to watch it with Dietrich and noticed a surprising number of "colorful" puns.

For most kids, this probably wouldn't be a problem, but Dietrich watches movies with intent to memorize and repeat.

So, we gave it back. And it seems that Dietrich only picked up one unnecessary-at-this-age word: "Pervert." Except that he pronounces it "Herbert." Which leads us to make not-quite-accurate statements, such as: "It's not very nice to call a person 'Herbert.'" Naturally, this will be extra confusing if we ever MEET a Herbert.

Sumy was delightful, much like our last visit, except shorter and colder. Despite the chill, the boys wanted to be outside from the moment they finished breakfast until we finally dubbed the day done.


Lots of sand fun ...


... lots of games of chase.


Exploring this woodpile was the highlight of the weekend for Dietrich.


Of course, D climbed trees.


Melissa and Dietrich get on quite well. So fun to have an ever-present friend.


Anja grew a monster cabbage.


Fall's come to Sumy ...


... but some of the flowers are hanging in there ...


... and they made me smile.


Look how happy Lev is to be outside!

Maybe it's the afterglow of a minibreak speaking, but I feel like my boys are better behaved when they spend a lot of time outdoors. So, I vowed to more-consistently get us outside in the afternoons, even in Kyiv. Even when it's cold. Even when it snows. So far, so good (though it hasn't snowed yet).