Family Time

Whewwwww! All I can say is that if I ever have kids, I hope I survive them and they survive me! Following camp, I had a great visit with my brother's family. They moved from E. Ukraine last year and are now only 3.5 hours from Odessa by bus. I was so, so thankful for that move, b/c IM had asked me to not go to anyone that I knew in the eastern part of the country, due to all of the conflict occurring there. I so enjoyed getting to see their new home and new city, and just getting to see how well everyone is doing with all of the changes that were involved in the move. Seriously, I had a fantastic time, but four kids ten and under are exhausting!! I know that some of it was simply the excitement of having Tyotya(Aunt) there, but there's just a lot of energy involved, regardless. :-) I took a lot of pictures while there, and it's so hard to pick, so I'll start with these, and then as a good aunt should do, maybe add some more later.

A good Aunt goes on lots & lots of walks and buys ice cream and kvas every time she is asked. :-D

A good Aunt explores what seems like every playground in the city.

A good Aunt lets children climb on things they shouldn't & set off little fireworks thingies that light a field on fire, and then runs around with said children stomping out the fire and trying not to panic. Whew! Crisis averted.

A good Aunt climbs on things with children & forces them to take lots of pictures

A good Aunt watches children spin out of control from tiredness and lots of sugary gelato and sits there with children's father and laughs hysterically

A good Aunt plays with children at the river and lets them jump and climb all over her, until she can no longer handle it, and exits the water. :-D

A good Aunt reads, paints, colors, and plays endless card games, realizing how limited her time is with those precious children

A good Aunt passes out and sleeps hard at the end of each day, and treasures each and every moment.