New Homes!

     Well we have a new home. No I wish we could buy but now is not the time for us. We had to give Spot a new home and we found a new place ourselves. Couple months ago our slumlord came over to give us a 30 day notice. He gave no reason as to why. It really broke my heart because I 1. Loved the place, 2. Nastya had only ever known that home, and 3. Super close to the beach. We went on the hunt for a new home. Now a lot of people say that here it is expensive to live but when In-N-Out starts you at $11,50 and hour with benefits as a part time employee I think its pretty good.

     Finding a new home for us was a bit of a challenge due to we had to have a garage and there was no compromising on that. Everything else was no problem. We looked for almost a month before we found this home that we have now. It is an upgrade but also a downgrade at the same time. We upgraded to a 2 bedroom 2 bath, went from 777 sqft. to 900 sqft. We gained a dining room and a second bathroom. This condo complex also has some perks, a pool, jacuzzi, BBQ area, playground, conference room, gym, gated community, and a garage door opener. Spots new Mum is awesome and she loves him so much and he vis versa. Nastya and I could not just give him the love that off set Pasha being mean to him. So we decided that a new home would suit him the best.

 Nastya/guest bathroom

 Nastya's room

 The kitchen, we just moved in at this time so stuff was not in the correct places.

 Living room

 Dining room

 Pool

Balcony, we no longer leave the stools like this since it is a huge danger especially since we are on the 3rd floor.

USS MIdway

     USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class, and the first to be commissioned after the end of World War II. Active in the Vietnam War and in Operation Desert Storm, she is currently a museum ship at the USS Midway Museum, in San Diego, California.

This ship is actually a really fun ship to go to. The place is so large that if you are a history junkie like I, then you need a whole day and to leave the kids that are under 10 at home with a sitter. Why, well there are a lot of things that they can't do. One is going on the little rides that they have and also seeing the help of the ship. You wait in line for about an hour to see that. Everything else they can see. They have so many planes on the ship that if you have a little one who loves ships and planes that is the way to go. They have a cafe and a souvenir shop that has a lot of good stuff in there. Here is a little secret...don't buy the picture that they take on the background drop because you can share it from the website. If you do want to purchase it is about $30.00.

 The entrance to the museum

 I felt very small next to this ship!

 Decided to be a bell

 They put this plexiglass here to show you how far they go down on just a ladder. I couldn't get on there for i am afraid of heights in some instances.

 Part of a view.

 The doorways in the ship.

 Nastya in the Captain's chair

 Captains quarter's

 Nastya and I. You get headphones and a box thing that you plug in the number and it tells you about the station you are at.

 We all need our clothes washed

 and pressed

 The next 3 pictures are a panorama view of Coronado Bridge and Coronado Island

Martime Museum

Nastya is a car and a boat lover. With Juliette we went to the San Diego Maritime Museum. You can buy tickets for a low price and it goes to restoring the ships and keeping them in tip top shape. They have nine ships in their collection and soon to be one more called the San Salvador. It was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's ship he came to the Americas on. We also have Cabrillo National monument named after him. I had been before with Pasha but this was nastya's first time on the ships. They have the Ship from Master and Commander The Far Side of The Sea, a Russian and American Submarine and a lot of other ones. They even have a small sailing vessel that you can pay to be on it when it sales the san Diego Bay. We have a film that Nastya loves called Ponyo. It is based off of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. She sees ships and yells and says mama there are the ships look look.

 Juliette and Nastya.

 As you can see Nastya loves Juliette

 Nastya and Mama

 All three of us girls

This is the Star of India

 We all sat on the toilet but Nastya's came out the best

 They had a little Star of India for the kids to play on inside the ship

Doing her shipmate duties.

 This is the Russian Submarine we also have and American. This specific Russian one was driven from Russia to the states with the help of a Russian naval officer.

 My obsession with feet, we were resting on the Berkley a ferryboat that cruised the San Francisco Bay.

 Us on the USS Dolphin.

 This is the Medea Yacht

Due to the weather conditions that day we did not get to see all of the boats. We also have the Californian, Pilot Boat, HMS Surprise.

By clicking on the links to each and all of the ship names you can read all about the ship and what it did for us.

Buddies for Life

     Four years ago I worked for a Collection agency. I met a co-worker that was sort of like me but was there not to make friends. I was to there to do both work and play, but didn't do much of that at that company. I am a person that is more concerned with quality and not quantity. Both of us were laid off and after we had had our girls we started to hang out. Her daughter cadence is 4 months older than Nastya and they have become buddies. We Skype now since her husband served the military and his contract ended. We have stayed in contact and our girls have become friends. T was my other half in the mom department. We shared a lot of the same feelings on how to raise our kids and to enjoy life. We went to the beach together and our daughters were always together.

     This summer T, Cadence and Addison(her other daughter) came to california to visit and we had such a blast the girls had a slumber party and it was the cutest thing ever. When they were little they didn't play much together but no they do.

Brushing their teeth with the crazy hair they both have.

 Addison

Potty Time

     Before our exchange student came from France we had a dilemma. It was 2 weeks prior and Nastya had decided she no longer would wear a diaper so we began the crazy life of potty training. That saying they have "when they are ready they are ready and you will know". Well that came 2 weeks before Juliette and it freaked me out. I had all these thoughts running through my brain will she be good enough for all this going here and there, will she tell me when she needs to go and will she be good? My brain was so active I felt as if it was going to melt in the frying pan just without the gas on. Well we did it and now it will just be the night time. She still wears diapers at night but no longer for naps. I am so proud of her it is a huge milestone in life. I did have a problem where she would poop on the floor and So I punished her for that and we never had an accident like that again.

 For grossness factor I have taken out the poop.

The picture has been removed due to people searching for pornography. I am truly sorry but its not right.

I trained her by being naked all the time since it was easier. I think this has led to her loving to be in the nude.

Happy Birthday America

     What I grew up with and what Nastya will see as tradition will be two very different worlds. As a child the family and extended family would get together at my Aunt Barbara's home that was about 1-2 acres. There would be my wannabe country singer cousin Jimmy who would sing his country music songs and all of the extended family that lived in the Sacramento would come and celebrate. We all brought some food to share, we would have fire works and party in the summer without alcohol. I remember one year they set off fire works that would get us SoCal residents arrested. You see here in San Diego County and most of Southern California fire works are illegal. We only get to witness them from these locations each year. We used to have them off of the Oceanside Pier but they no longer can commit due to low funds. This year we spent it with a friend of mine that has 3 children. Nastya had so much fun and enjoyed the fire works. Last year she was scared and didn't want anything to do with them. The best Part was my friends parents own a row house and we went there for the fireworks in the comfort of the balcony.

Nastya, Gavin, Emily, Dillon and Karisa