And Just Like That, It's Time to Go

Today is our last day in Ukraine. I can't believe how fast the past two months flew by. (Does it feel like it went fast for you too?) I am both very happy to be going back to the states and very sad to be saying good-bye to Roma's family. We likely won't make it back here for two or three years. By that time, Veronika will be speaking in complex sentences. Ideally, our plan is for Roma's parents to visit us in Washington next year. Knowing that there is at least a tentative plan to see them makes it a little easier to say good-bye. Tears will be shed all the same though.

Since it will be awhile until we're all together again, we tried to really maximize family time this past week. On an especially muggy evening, the whole family went out for beers. (Though technically, only Papa and Roma drank beer. The rest of us drank kvac. So it'd probably be more accurate to say that the whole family went out for kvac. Except Veronika. She went out for a banana.)

We also went on one final shashleek. Below, Mama, Oksana and Veronika wait for the meat to cook, though all the other usual suspects were in attendance as well.

Roma and I had brought over the fixing for smores and -- without any time to spare -- we finally remembered to make them. They were a big hit. Everyone kept asking how to translate "smore." But how do you translate something that's not even really a word? Veronika didn't care too much to try any smores, though she sure went to town on the Hershey's chocolate.

Our train leaves tonight at 10 PM. Papa, Mama, Oksana and Veronika are driving us to the train station. Our friend Kolya is taking Yulia, Sasha, Alona and Kuzya there as well to help send us off in style. All I can say is that there will definately be some fanfare on the train platform tonight.

Roma and I will arrive in Kiev at 2 AM. Our flight leaves at 6:30 AM. We fly from Kiev to Paris to San Francisco. From SF, we fly to LA and then to Palm Springs where we will be joining my family on the tail end of their vacation. I'm exhausted by the very thought of our epic travel day but I take heart knowing that this little guy is waiting for us at the other end.