Our 1st Estonian Christmas tree

The holiday buzz in Estonia does not start till about December 1st.  The real Christmas trees are not available to buy till about 8th of December.  It's not easy for an impatient American to wait this long to get their house holiday ready:-)  So our friends recommended us to go and cut our own tree in the Estonian National Forest.  We mapped out the closes forest and took of for a hunt in hopes to find a perfect tree for our home.  The boys were very excited and they wanted to cup down every tree we passed.  All the trees look pretty good and way much smaller in the woods.  When we put it on top of our car, that's when reality hit and we knew that this tree is really big and we are in for a great adventure getting it home, putting in a stand and reaching the top to decorate it.   So I had to call in a favor to my Russian friends to make a custom extra heavy and sturdy stand - they promised to make it overnight (now that's customer service) and deliver to my house the next day.  I hope they help me put it in the stand as well:-)  Then I also had to call my good neighbor and borrow an A frame ladder so I can reach the top of the tree.

Mid day Wednesday, December 10 - the over night custom metal tree stand is delivered.  Mr. Sergey even trimmed the tree and helped me bring the tree into the house.  We did had to think how to stand it up but after a few tries we had it standing.  Happy but still nervous how to get all the way up to the top to put light and ornaments.  I may need to wait for Chris to get home so he can trim it from the bottom 1/2 foot and do some trimming around, so it fits the space better.  I can't wait to see our boys faces when they see this monstrosity:-)

Minus 13 Celsius View from our Beach.

December 1, 2014 - I wasn't planning on going outside in this weather but we jut purchased new cross country gear that should keep us warm in a minus 13 degree weather and I decided to go for a short run just to try them out.  

It was around noon, my eye were watery because from the cold air and at first I thought my vision was blurry but when I saw cars pull over and take pictures I realized my eyes were not blurry but I was seeing something special.  Rocky beach shore was frozen with glittering snow and the sun was diamond shape just a little above the horizon.  Then there was a giant rainbow circle around the sun.   Very unique and surreal sight.  Once in a life time.  I am glad I had my phone to document this moment.

Marine Ball - Tallinn, Estonian, November 2014

Every year Marines all over the world celebrate their birthday.  It wasn't any different here at our Embassy in Tallinn.  This is the only Black Tie even  and everyone looks forward to attending, celebrate and have a great time on a dance floor.

R&R back to the States. Ellies and Blakes christening. October 10-17

It was great to come back home to visit family and friends but the real visit for this trip was for our newest family members Ellie and Blake's christening.  There is an interesting story related to this christening.  The Rohde family has a family loom christening gown that has been worn by boys for around 100 years.  We used it for our boys and when movers came we automatically packed it and put it in storage.  So long story short, Chris had to call the government to get approved to go into a wear house where our whole house is stored for then next 3 years and look for his "needle in a hay stack".  After many boxes he found the christening gown and Blake was able to continue the family tradition.

Here is like "Deja Vu" -  six years later we are christening another most precious set of twin in the family.

To make this visit official uncle Ben took Tadas and Magnas to a Terps game:

 Cameron got a treat to go to Redskins game with uncle Ben as well:

We also did an early Halloween dress-up with cousins.  Thanks to Grandmamma for treating us with new costumes:  Cameron is a Gangster with a cigar:-) Magnas is a Police man and Tadas is a Max Steal. We were so happy to be able to dress up for Aunt Jean, uncle Sal, Great Nana Snyder and for uncle Phil and Cat.

Fun day hanging out with with new twins

We took a long car trip to Pennsylvania to visit family and friends.  First stop Hazleton to have lunch with aunt Dolly and uncle Joey.

Got a very lovely visit and dinner at Sarah's, Sophie's and Andrews new outdoor kitchen. Mr. Andrew put on his chefs hat and apron and got to work on his Mongolian grill.  There was shripm, chicken, fried rice and vegetables for dinner.  Special orders only:-)  Wow - that was the most amazing outdoor entertaining designs we have seen around.  So happy for the Halford family and can't wait to have more parties in their back yard when we get back.

Fun times with aunty Val: looking for fish (shirtless), playing soccer and frisbee and of cause lunch at our favorite place by the river.

A visit home couldn't be with out a Maryland Blue Crab feast.  We are so bless and happy our boys LOVE eating crabs because at some point Tadas was convinced that crabs made him sick one time and he didn't eat them for some time.  Even Sammy tried and loved them.  It's the most messiest meal you can ever have but it's the most unique and must have in Maryland:-)

While still in Maryland we went to see Michael Gero play high-school football game.  Our boys are so proud to have such big and strong cousins. In Pennsylvania we had fun at Wiele's house and did a coal mine tour with Poppop Gelgot and had most amazing pierogies made by Gigi Gelgot:-) 

Pop Pop Rohde and MiMi's visit

The first day of the visit - walking on the beach and enjoying a beautiful scenery. 

We also visited Patarei Prison.  This was the most strange and emotional sight.
In 1828 Nicholas I of Russia mandated the building of the sea fortress of Patarei. Completed in 1840, it is located on area of 4 hectares (10 acres). Over the years it has had different functions – in 1867 functioning as barracks, in 1920 as a prison and since 2007 as a Culture Park.

 Visiting boys school is always a treat.  Having both grandparents as educator and hearing a positive feedback about the school our boys attending gives you a comforting feeling :-)

We took a trip to Palmse Manor and Jägala Waterfalls.

Nowadays there are about 200 manor houses in Estonia under state protection as architectural monuments and 100 in active use. We have only 99 left to visit:-) Jägala waterfalls are magnificent and we hear they transform into a giant ice sculpture in the winter.

Tallinn is an old city, and like many old cities it has its share of secrets. Stories of ghosts, buried treasure and hidden tunnels add to the atmosphere of the medieval streets.

For a couple of years, one of those secrets was revealed when the city opened up the Bastion Tunnels. These corridors were built by Estonia’s Swedish rulers in the 1670s and ran under the earthen bastions that protected the city. 

Not to forget - we went on a guided mushroom picking excursion.  What a fun and educational trip we had.  Our tour guid owns Mamo vegetarian restaurant in town.  She is also a mushroom expert and gave us a great explanation on edible and deadly mushrooms and we found all:-)

President Obamas visit to Tallinn, Estonia

Daddy has been working very hard to get ready for this visit.  What that means for us the family that we don't get to see him much, but them we get small perks like being able to go and hear the Presidents speech, tour the presidential limo and meet and greet with the president.

Bog walking in National Park

Our friend Erika, husband Margus and son Jonas have invited us to join them for a day in Lahemaa National Park of Estonia.  We hiked to the most northern point of Estonia and then drove to find bogs and hike through 3 wooden planks placed over the swampy waters that are full of cranberries and other interesting vegetation.    Cameron could not get over the fact that he can pick berries that grow in water.  We also found one of the biggest stones in Estonia.  It's call Majakivi bourlder - it's volume 583 m3; Lenght 15,1m; width 11m; hight 7m.  We were all able to climb up on top of it and had a snack at the base of it.

Tadas and Magnas 6th Birthday September 5th.

Twins wanted to have their birthday at a trampoline place called Zellulosi.  Tadas wanted a Leggo cake and Magnas wanted a soccer cake.  I took the challenge and 3 days later I had two cakes ready to be eaten:-)  We had 20 friends show up to play and celebrate.  Everyone had a blast:

Camerons 1st official game with his own jersey #7

Cameron has been playing on Tallinn Kalev JK team since March, but his jersey took a bit longer to be custom made and delivered.  This was home game and he got some good playing time.  He's yet to score a goal but working very hard to get there.  

Keila triathlon August 17th - Mociute, Dariaus and Unes visit

Chris was registered to compete in Budapest, Hungary and try to qualify for the Worlds Championship.  However, president Obama changed his plans and was coming to visit Estonia in few weeks.  That meant Chris had to stay back and prepare for the visit.  We both were disappointed not to travel to Hungary as we already had baby sitters scheduled for a week.  My brother Darius and mom were coming from Lithuanian to take care of the boys.

We also accomplished a Ice Bucket challenge. Everybody wanted to challenge someone and we needed a large space to do this with in 24 hours.  There was a big black storm that was rolling into Tallinn that afternoon but we decided go ahead and complete this challenge on our beach.  I chose Judita, Cameron - Loucas G. Darius - Donatas P. Tadas - big Dylan VanReenan, Une - Gustas P and Magnas - Timmy G.


 Because we didn't go and they took a vacation they came anyways and we had a great week of Estonian summer.

That is summer with hats:-)

Bottom line to this story is that Chris registered us both to do a half iron man distance triathlon as a relay team.  Chris did swimming and biking and I ran 1/2 marathon (which I happen to PR at 2:02)

Une 13th Birthday celebration at Pirita Adventure park

We have out cousin Une take an overnight bus from Vilnius to Tallinn and stay with us for a week.  On August 14th it happen to be her 13th birthday so we invited our friend Hannah and Sofija and went to Pirita Adventure Zip Line Park.  Everybody had fun including Tadas and Magnas doing their difficulty level lines.  I only got to do one out of 6 lines and somehow kids talked me into doing #5 which happen to be 2nd from last most difficult.  It wasn't easy but I managed to finish and have fun as well.

Such fun way to celebrate.  This zip line park is amazing.  After a good workout everyone was hungry - we grab few pizzas and brought them home for a nice dinner and then cupcakes with birthday candles.

Tartu Triathlon for Cameron

Tartu is another beautiful city in Estonia and only few hours away from Tallinn.  It was Cameron's 1st triathlon where he had to swim in the river.  He still raced in his BMX bike while other were passing him on their 900$ road bikes.  However he new he would be passing many of those fast bikers on the run and he did:-)  It was deep field with competition from Belorussia, Latvia and Lithuania.  Cameron said it was his favorite race yet:-) 

Paris July 24-28, 2014

What an amazing trip we had to Paris.  We rented an apartment a block from Arc de Triomphe and explored the city with our GoPro for 5 days.  To spend out time wisely, we decided to walk everywhere so we can see more.  By the end of the trip Chris clocked 50+ miles on his GPS watch - that is 2 two full marathons with a 9 year old, two 5 year old twins and a husband that had a foot operation a few weeks ago.  That not including all the steps we took: Arc de Triomphe - 284 steps; Eiffel Tower - 669 and our apartment had 58 stairs

We had to visit Eiffel Tower a few times.  1st day, then went back to see it at night and finally we climbed all the way to the top of it.   

We also climbed to the top of Arc de Triomphe to take some amazing pictures of the city.

In those few days we had to make our way to the Louvre.  Unfortunately we didn't make it inside to see the Mona Lisa but did get to see the long lines to enter the museum and it's beautiful architecture from the outside.  

  One of the main reason to visit Paris was to see the last stage of Tour de France bike race.  That was Chris's dream come true but boys and I enjoyed it as equally.

Valga Sprint Trithlon and Viljandi visit June 14-15

Cameron and I did Valga Sprint Triathlon.  It's amazing that children race FREE in Estonia and most triathlons don't start till later in the day.  During Valga, Cameron was starting at 3pm and amateur adults at 5pm.  However of a big storm rolling in everything was delayed an hour.  I have never swam in the race during the rain with big black clouds around us.  

 We rented a lovely farm house to stay over night.  One problem we had was to find it because it was located somewhere in the woods and the owner spoke very little English.  I had to put my Russian to work and get us there:-)