Vacations

We took three vacations in two weeks! The first one was staying at the Parks' condo and watching Kurt finish the Xterra triathlon (more on that later). But the second one was attending our 4th russian heritage camp, now known as REECA (Russian, Eastern European, Central Asian) Heritage Camp.

REECA is held up at Snow Mountain Ranch every July. Here are a few pictures from this year's camp. Kurt went with us this time (he didn't go last year) and he and I were in charge of Field Day.

We were kinda nervous about it but we got it figured out and it turned out to be much better than we expected! We really had fun with it. We had several relays with each age group...doing things like carrying a Ukrainian egg in a spoon or dribbling a soccer ball around some cones. You can see more pictures at www.dallowphotos.shutterfly.com.

The kids weren't scared to go into their groups and both seemed to have a good time. I think they are finally understanding what adoption means. Evan understands it better because he remembers not living with us but Katerina has never seemed interested in learning about it, which is very normal. She doesn't know any different so to her, it's been a foreign concept.

But as they years go by, I hope they both enjoy REECA and feel a stronger connection to their homeland. Maybe someday they will be counselors themselves!

Another nice thing about camp is that I get to run on the Granby-to-Frasier bike path. I love doing that because it winds around the hillside, in and out of trees and through some meadows. I ran 2.5 hrs this time! Then on the way home, Kurt dropped me off at truckstop near Longmont and I rode my bike home. That was a really different experience!

All in all, we had a good time. I will post more about the other trips soon.