Ahoj Slovakia!

I’m anxious as I start this entry because I know how much there is to tell about the many things we’ve been doing this past month, but I also know that I can be incredibly long- winded and hope I don’t spend Žofka’s entire naptime writing this.  (Note:  this ended up taking three days to complete!)

We’re all moved in here at the house in Fort Atkinson.  Mark and I loaded the truck ourselves, which was quite an experience with an active toddler twittering around our knees.  We were able to do the lion share of the work as she slept, and thank goodness she’s a decent sleeper or it would have taken a lot longer than it did.  It also helped that most of our stuff was still packed in boxes from our move out of the Fremont house before we left for Slovakia.  We had it all stored in our garage at the apartment in Whitewater.  Now those same boxes are stored downstairs here in Fort.  Thankfully, Steve Friedman helped get everything unloaded. Of course Zofka helped make the move memorable in her own unique way.  While busy carrying boxes down to the basement we heard a desperate cry for help.  We looked all around and couldn’t find Z.  Following the sound of the cries, we found her wedged tightly under the moving truck.  She had gotten herself stuck as she crawled under the truck in hot pursuit of an ant that she found extraordinarily interesting.  Our little scientist!

Z chills at the apartment as Mom and Dad pack

It’s so nice here in the relative peace and quiet of the Rock River compared to the craziness of living below three college boys.  Being able to sleep through the night and not having to try to cope with the pounding of rock music or the shrieking laughter of 20- something year old women at 2:30 a.m. is like a dream come true!  Žofka has a nice bedroom all to herself and has been exploring the place with real joy.  She has made friends with the little stone garden frogs and the swinging squirrel.  She loves to help water all the flowers (though she waters mostly herself) and pick tomatoes.  We’re still trying to impress upon her the importance of picking only the red ones, not those that are green!  We’ve also become well-acquainted with the local parks and the library.  On our way to those destinations we often take the circuitous route along the riverwalk in search of hungry ducks interested in graham crackers.

Enjoying the garden

Making a new friend

Now for the real excitement and the explanation for the title of this entry.  While living in Whitewater we often enjoyed watching the hang gliders that gracefully floated down to earth after being cut loose from tow planes.  The airport which is the starting and ending point for the gliders is tucked into a cornfield just across the road from our old apartment.  We decided we’d give it a try while Katka was here so we could do something special with her.  So with Žofka safe with Carrie and Mark’s Mom most likely worried sick, the three of us got down to business.  Katka went first and had a real blast, as you can tell by the pictures.  Next it was my turn.  I was a bit nervous, but I have to say that given the opportunity, I would do it again in a heartbeat.  It’s amazing how time seems to stand still at 3,000 feet.  The air was cool and quiet, and the bird’s eye view was thrilling.  The only thing that spoiled it a little was that I could clearly see the Wal-Mart sign from that height.  You just can’t get away from it!  Mark, I think, had the most exciting ride of all.  First, as he was taking off with our guide, the cable that attached the glider he was harnessed to the tow plane with snapped.  He and his guide made an emergency landing in the nearby cornfield!  Then, as he was almost up to the 3,000 foot mark, the tow plane’s engine stalled.  You can guess what happened to Mark and his guide.  Yep, straight down, and FAST.  The pilot got the engine going quickly, but too late for poor Mark who gets nauseous on a merry-go-round.  No wonder he looked a little green upon landing at the suggestion of a Mexican dinner.  Our glider guide had the perfect description for the experience:  “Exciting, but not Terrifying”.  I figure this is a good way to describe most of the things we’ve been up to lately.

Katka waits to go up, up and away!

My turn! Talk about a monkey on your back!

Mark takes off (for the second time!).

Katka stayed with us here in Fort the last few days of her time here in the states.  Our good friend Allan, who Katka got to know while we were all living in Slovakia, and who is now back here in the states and running for Congress in Illinois, was also able to come and spend those days with us.  We ate s’mores around the campfire by the river as Mark’s legs were eaten by gnats, canoed, cooked and enjoyed many meals, most notably the Slovak feast of potato dumplings with cabbage whipped up by Katka and Allan, and just enjoyed each other’s company.  Allan and Katka were so sweet with Žofia.  She got a little spoiled by all the attention and was sad to see them go. 

Z teaches Allan the proper care of a stuffed dog

Katka and Z wave goodbye to Mark and Allan

How many Slovaks does it take to sink a canoe? Maybe two?

It's just not breakfast without a few good books!

Two lovely toddling toddlers

Mmm...more please!

Brooke strikes a pose

Kym, Dawn, and Grandma Weir enjoy a good laugh

Ani and Tera in the foreground with JoAnn, Carla, Lauren, and Emily in back

Old Mom (Me!), Young Mom (Jessica) and two little beauties

Now we are turning our attentions to the school year that lies ahead and the changes it will bring to our family.  I begin my internship at Whitewater Middle School next week.  I’ll be working under a professional school counselor learning the ropes for twenty hours a week.  Žofka starts daycare at Miss Cathy’s then, too.  Cathy runs an in-home daycare with just a few children.  She and her husband live just across the street from us and after having already spent some time there getting acquainted, it seems that Z will fit right in.  I’ve got conflicting feelings about the whole thing.  Part of me is so excited about my own professional opportunities, but the other part is sad to see my full time stay-at-home status coming to an end.  I’ll miss spending the days with Z, but I think in the long run this will be good for the three of us.  Change is an inevitable part of the process of living, and to embrace this kind of change will be wise.  That’s my inner counselor speaking!

 Mark has already attended several meetings for the start of his semester.  I’ve loved watching Žo and her daddy bond this summer.  He’ll get to spend a lot of time with her this year as we juggle our respective workloads.  Mark is usually a calming influence on all of us, and I know he’ll handle the new situation with his typical grace.

 So that’s it for now.  We’re wishing you all a happy end of summer and beginning of fall.  Grandma Lencho will be staying with us for a couple of weeks in September as Uncle Bob takes his annual fishing trip to Canada with his son, Brian.  I’m sure September’s entry will be filled with pictures of Z and Gram, as well as updates on how daycare and work are going for us.  Until then…

This is a pretty hilarious picture. Both Mommy and Z look a little fried. This is just after feeding the ducks. Hard work!

Mark reminded me that it has already been two years since I first started blogging.  I can vividly remember sitting in the den at our house on Fremont Street just a couple of months pregnant writing that first entry.  So much has happened in those two years, and I’m proud that many of the highlights are chonicled here.  Mark has been the driving force behind this thing running as long as it has.  Every month he very delicately reminds me that my readers must be anticipating my newest blog entry.  My readers?  Has he been tracking how many comments are posted for these entries?  I can only hope that more of you are reading than are posting comments!  But now we’ve decided to make a hardcopy book of the blog as a gift for Žofia.  So it is for darling Žofka, my motivational coach of a husband, and you, my dedicated fans, that I continue to slave over the keyboard once a month!  I can’t imagine that we’ll live through as many life-changing events over the course of the next two years as we have for the previous two, but here’s to hoping that we’ll all be able to look back over the blogs to see for ourselves in the year 2010.  At the very least you all will be able to track my deteriorating mental acquity, so why not tune in for the laugh?

This picture of Žofia and me was taken at Rotary Gardens in Janesville.  It was taken around June 1st, before Mark left for a week and half for Kentucky (HELP!), and before Rock County was declared a disaster zone because of the horrific flooding that occured there.  When I took Žofia there after some of the flooding had begun, we couldn’t access parts of the gardens because they were under water.

Kyle graduated from Whitewater High School this month.  Grandma and UB drove up from Arkansas to help celebrate.  Besides the fact that the gym was about 120 degrees, it was a very nice event.  We were all proud to see Kyle strut across that stage and receive his diploma.  After the ceremony, Carrie had us over to her place for a little party to wrap up the day.  It was that weekend that the torrential rains that eventually lead to all the flooding began. 

Here are Chelsea and Kyle.  They look like a couple on the top of a wedding cake.  Could they be any better looking?  Chelsea graduated with high honors (way to snag a great girl, Kyle!).  She’ll be attending Eau Claire in the fall and Kyle will be here at UW-Whitewater. 

Chelsea’s mom and I have great taste in clothing, don’t we?

This is Žofka’s good friend, Emerson Dunham.  We were at their farm in La Grange having fun during our playdate. 

Here Žofka is trying to think of something clever to do with the miniature Louisville Slugger daddy brought home for her from Kentucky.  So far she’s smashed her toybox with it and used it as a golfclub for her nerf baseball.  We were both so happy when Mark finally came home.  It was storming something awful, but with him home it felt like the most beautiful of summer days.  I’ve always known that I’m a bit of a wuss, but man, I felt like I wanted to crawl into a hole and hibernate for a month after he’d been away those ten days! 

Z and Daddy “chillaxin” while they watch Baby Einstein’s Baby MacDonald.  Mark likes to translate it into Slovak. What a great guy!  He found a way to rationalize the way her mother allows her to watch TV!  If he translates it into Slovak then they are both being challenged.  You see why I adore this man?  The picture really freaks him out because he thinks Žofka looks like me here.  He said that when he looks at it he feels like he’s looking at a picture of him sitting with his wife as a one year old.  I do have my toddler tendencies, and I think I look young for my age, so it’s not that much of a stretch of the imagination.  She has much nicer skin than I do though-I’ll give her that!

This is a shot of the gang on Father’s Day.  We had a little cookout at our apartment to celebrate and honor Mark.  Peyton and his girlfriend Laura brought their kitten for Z to play with.  She LOVED it.  The next day she kept dragging me into her bedroom and pointing under her bed.  Dexter the cat liked to hide there when Žofie got a little too touchy feely.  I think she thought the cat stayed under her bed all night!  It was so sweet. 

 Next month holds a couple of major events for us.  We’ll be heading down to Arkansas for Mark’s brother David’s wedding early in the month, and then moving to Fort Atkinson at the end of the month.  Will we ever just settle down?  Don’t count on it!

Love to all of you.  And PLEASE, post a comment this month if you read this entry.  I need to stoke my ego a little bit. No really, your comments will hopefully be a part of the book we’ll have made for Žofia, and it’d be great to have your words down on paper for her to treasure someday. 

The title of this entry pretty much sums up the most exciting events of the past month or so.  You’ll understand if you choose to continue to read.

I think I’ll start with Mark first because he’s been one busy beaver (linguist, father, husband, language learner, etc.).  Through some connections in Slovakia and family here in the states, Mark was able to get his hands on some incredible family heirlooms (that’s what I’d call them) from his Grandfather Jurai Lencho.  They are copies of a series of letters written in Slovak by him to friends and family back in Slovakia from the years 1919-20.  Mark put in many hours translating the letters into English.  The main thread of the letters focused on his negotiations for bringing his future bride (Mark’s grandmother), Zuzana Debnarova, over to the US.  It was not certain that she would actually come over or be bethrothed to him, but it was quite apparent in the letters that he was angling for this to happen.  It was fascinating to read his words because now that we know much of the story of their eventual marriage and family it has almost been like finding missing pieces to a partially built family jigsaw puzzle.  At the time he wrote these letters he was a widower and seemed quite lonely for a life companion.  I think the thing that affects me the most is knowing that if he hadn’t been so tenacious, then Mark nor Žofia, the two people that I love most in this world, would not be.  If you can read my mind somehow, thank you, Jurai Lencho for your dogged persistence in getting that dark-eyed beauty over the Atlantic to Blue Island!  

Other than all this translation work, Mark has been teaching each day at the university and reserves most of his weekends for family time.  We have recently implemented “family day” and try to do something extra special each Saturday or Sunday as a family.  Last weekend we took Žofia to the zoo in Madison and to Ella’s Deli for dinner.  We had so much fun.  Her favorite animals were the kangaroos and the river otters.  

Peyton turned 23 earlier this month, so we all met up at his and Laura’s apartment in Waukesha and had a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant there.  Well, nice until about an hour went by and Z decided that the music was too loud and that sitting in one place for that long was not really what she would describe as fun.  She decided to declare a moritorium any style of sitting and also went on a hunger strike.  I won’t go into unnecessarily gory details, but the meal came to a fairly rapid conclusion for the rest of us.  Poor Peyton!  I hope she made up for that little Oscar worthy toddler performance with the lovely picture she made for her brother.  She’s a serious scribbler, folks.  Well, that’s when she’s not attempting to eat the crayons and colored pencils.  Hey, maybe I should have brought those along to the restaurant.  She would have eaten something!

Kyle’s basketball season ended recently and was formally celebrated along with those of his fellow teammates at a nice family gathering here in Whitewater.  Z and I were unable to attend (Yes, I have issues with her going to bed at what I define are reasonable hours!), but Mark told me all about it.  The coach apparently told a funny story about Kyle and his extraordinary jumping ability.  One of Kyle’s teammates–an African American–trust me, I’m being PC, his ethnicity is relevent to the story–was telling his friends about a “white kid that jumps higher than the brothers!” on his basketball team.  He was referring to Kyle, of course.  His jumping abilities are truly amazing.  We can’t wait to go watch his track meets this year. Here’s a noteworthy statistic:  Kyle can jump vertically (from the spot he’s in-no running start) a full 37 inches!  That’s over three feet, people!  I think he gets his jumping genes from Mark.  I won’t expound upon that because he has a little private secret that must stay within the confines of only those who know him best.  Let’s just say that he’s a “jumper” and leave it at that.  I really wanted to include a picture of Kyle jumping, but this blog site won’t allow it. Here’s the link to a site that has some wonderful shots of Kyle making shots on the basketball court:

www. mischkasportsphotos.com

Žofia, on the other hand, does not yet have a vertical leap, but I can assure you that she is working on it.  Working on that and working on walking into cabinets, climbing on highchairs, falling off couches, and attempting to walk through glass doors (with very little success thus far).  She got her very first professional haircut about two weeks ago at a place here in Whitewater.  She got to sit on a little plastic elephant while she had her hair done and was such a good girl that she got to pick out her very first little sucker to eat, which she then proceeded to gag herself with!  She also got her first molar and has several other teeth coming in at the same time. Her language development is coming along nicely.  She is doing a lot of jargon talk in her own baby language that we have yet to really figure out, and she knows many objects in both Slovak and English.  For instance, if Mark says to her, “Žofka, ja som had,” she will respond by making the ssssss sound that a snake makes.  Later,  I’ll say to her, “ŽoŽo, I am a snake,” she’ll respond with the sssssss sound again.  So she knows snake in both languages.  She does this for many animals and commands and questions such as, čo robiš? (What are you doing?) kde si? (Where are you?), or pod sem (Come here!).  We still read to her in both languages and she listens to both Slovak and English children’s and adult music.  Her specialty is making various animal sounds such as those for monkeys (she sounds just like one!), sheep, puppies, chickens, snakes, kittens, elephants, birds. 

Recently we have joined a library group called “tots lapsit” where the toddlers sit on the mommies’ laps (yeah right!) for a story followed by s couple fun activities.  Last week we heard a story about chickens.  Žofia was supposed to be on mommy’s lap, but she decided she’d rather go lay her head on the librarian’s knee as she read-just for dramatic effect ala Žofia.  It was so cute.  A local farmer brought in two live chickens for the toddlers to see.  Žofia hung back making chicken sounds while another toddler decided to try his hand at chicken wrestling.  People, it was like a scene straight out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for babies.  There is nothing more hilarious than a group of toddlers in the room with a few live chickens.  Yep, we’ll be going back to that library this week!

We also joined a playgroup down at the old armory here in town.  It’s good for Žofie to be around other kids and also for mommy to be around adults. 

Speaking of mommy, she got a new hairdo, too.  Yes, I am now a blonde.  Don’t ask.  It’s too complicated to explain.  Wish I had a picture to share.  Maybe in the next entry.  Other than the hair, playgroup and chickens, the other exciting news for me is that I learned that I will be completing my internship as a school counselor here in Whitewater at the middle school.  I’m looking forward to being back in the professional world and in a different role than I’m used to.  Working with middle school kids will be an interesting challenge for me, one which I’m really happy about.

This Friday we are off to Mountain Home, Arkansas to spend the Easter holiday and our spring break with Gram Lencho and “UB” Uncle Bob.  We’re really looking forward to the trip, spending time with family, and warmer weather.  Mark is trying to get his hands on a korbač (willow branch whip) so he can celebrate like a true Slovak man by whipping his wife, mother, and daughter, and spraying us with water and perfume.  Those Slovaks!  I’ll tell you what, if I get abused in any way, Mark will be in for his own little Easter treat.  A little something I like to call “The Italian Surprise”.  It has something to do with maple syrup, super glue, and the toilet seat!

I’ll end with a few random shots of our lovely lilly Žofia Zuzana.  We wish all of you a blessed Easter and start to spring. 

We ate turkey instead of goose, walleye instead of carp, played Wii game systems instead of honoring the dead at the cemeteries, and we now have a walking baby instead of a kicking one, as well as speaking mostly English instead of mostly Slovak. Wow! What a difference a year has made in our lives. Yet what has remained unchanged is the time spent with family, though with different members and in a different place, the sharing of thoughtful gifts, and an abundance of love and care. We may have celebrated Christmas 2006 and 2007 in different places and with different family members, but the most important aspects of the holiday were certainly honored. It was fun going back to my blog entry at this time last year to experience again the wonders of celebrating that Slovak Christmas with our relatives there. If you have a few minutes I think you’d get a kick out of rereading that one, too. But for now, I hope you’ll enjoy this entry detailing the highlights of a Mountain Home family Christmas. I want to also mention that we all had a great time celebrating our Annual Weir Christmas gathering with my side of the family down in Illinois earlier in December. My Dad and stepmom came all the way from Florida to attend, which meant a great deal to all of us. It was there that Z received her very own puppy-battery operated, of course! She really loves it and plays with it each day.

Z plays with her new puppy

We set off for our ten hour drive down to the “Lencho Ranch” on Saturday the 22nd and arrived around 7 that evening. True to form, Žofia only slept for about an hour the whole trip, but she was a great little traveler; almost always happy and ready for a new adventure. Just prior to us leaving for the trip she had been practicing her walking skills by tentatively traveling across the tiny living room in our apartment into mommy or daddy’s waiting arms. To our surprise and delight, the moment she set foot in Grandma and Uncle Bob’s big house, she absolutely took off! She was like baby Evil Knievel just walking all over the place. I guess all those hours in the car seat really gave her the motivation to let er rip! Mark was also a major trooper driving the entire way down with not a single complaint.

Žofka takes the snowman for a little stroll

Back to baby Evil Knievel. That’s no exaggeration! In addition to about thirteen people in Grandma’s house including cousin Mabre, her fiance Jesse, Carrie, Peyton and Kyle, Grandma and Uncle Bob, and Aunt Lori and Uncle David, there were two dogs: a little one with a big bark, and a big one with a little bark! Žofia loves dogs, but the problem is that she only has experience with the battery operated variety. She is a very loving little girl and chooses to show this love in BIG ways. For instance, it’s not enough for her to hug or kiss the object of her affection, she has to lay her entire body on top of what she loves in an attempt to smother it with affection. Another of her favortite PDA’s is to smack the object or grab at its more tender body parts including the nose or eyes. She didn’t find it necessary to tone down these gestures with real dogs, which is where the baby Evil Knievel comes in. Even after being nipped, barked and growled at, our little tenacious and loving sweetie continued to literally laugh in the face of the dogs‘ attempts at declaring their territory or comfort with being mauled by her. Really, we have her laughing hysterically at the dogs barking loudly in her face on tape!

Stuffed dog takes a beating!

So, much of the rest of the time was spent following Žofia around who was basically stalking those poor dogs! Jesse, Mabre, Mary, and Lori cooked up a delicious turkey dinner for Christmas Eve, which was followed by the annual gift opening ceremony. Žofia got to go first since she’s the youngest (and was the sleepiest!) of the bunch. She received so many nice things from the family like clothes and toys, and Gram even gave her a nice savings bond for her college fund. By eight o’clock she was conked out in her crib while the rest of us shared gifts.

Opening gifts

Christmas day was all about relaxing. There was a lot of couch lounging, and Kyle, Peyton, and Carrie hooked up the new Wii game system, too. Many of us bowled, or played golf or baseball on the new “toy“. It’s pretty cool how it works; it feels like you’re actually doing the activity. Carrie bought the system for both Kyle and Peyton to share. It was funny listening to them argue their points about who should have the system and why. I think we’re all interested in hearing how that turns out. Hopefully she won’t have to take it away and hide it! To top the day off, Bob’s son Brian and his girlfriend Sarah arrived in the late afternoon. Once again the master chefs Mabre and Jesse (with help from Lori and Grandma) prepared a delictable ham dinner topped off with homemade chocolate, pumpkin, and pecan pies. I didn’t help with the cooking, but I did my fair share of eating. That has to count for something, right?

Žofka teaches Kyle how to play piano

Carrie and the boys left the next day because Kyle, who is in his senior year now and is a star on the varsity team, had a game he had to play in. Jesse and Mabre also had to leave quite early that morning to spend some time with Jesse’s family in Oklahoma and then to move on to Arizona where they are both going to school. So Mark, Žofia, and me, Brian and Sarah, and David, Lori and their little dog Holly spent yet another day in a state of post-Christmas gorging delerium by alternating between snoozing, eating, and engaging in laid back conversation. This was punctuated by a major plumbing fiasco. The hot water heater decided to wait until the house was full to go on the fritz. No showers or hot water to do dishes with until our friendly southern plumber replaced the disfunctional behemoth many hours later. Here’s a little quiz: How many Lenchos does it take to stink up a house? Answer: Take a guess! By that evening, though, we were all scrubbed and polished to perfection!

Scrub-a-dub-dub

The next series of photos show Daddy, Žofka, and Grandma enjoying the beautiful weather:

The next day marked the departure of everyone but Mark, Žofia, and me. That evening, Mary’s good friend Gerda babysat for Žofka so that the four of us could go out to the Elks for their Friday night rib special. That was a major step for me because as some of my friends and family know, I am extremely picky (neurotic would work well here, too) about who I will leave Žofka with. Okay, the only person who has ever babysat is Carrie. She’s a veteran mother of two, has her Master’s degree, and is one of the nicest, on the ball people I’ve ever met. Nobody has ever used her name and the word “flake” in the same sentence. Mary talked me into leaving Gerda in charge after she told me that she spent many years as a pediatric nurse. I’m just teasing about all this credential stuff! Kind of. Everything turned out really well. We had a nice quiet meal, and Z got to spend time with a wonderful lady. It was the perfect way to cap off our first offical family Christmas vacation with Žofia.

Žofka and Gerda play

We spent our last day, Saturday, packing and resting up for the long trip home. The trip on Sunday went quite well and we arrived back here in Whitewater in time for Žofia to take a relaxing bath and hit the sack. Our family trip to Arkansas was truly enjoyable for us and I think I can speak for us both when I say that while thoughts of our Slovak home, loved ones, and good friends were never far from our minds this holiday, our hearts were warmed by the love we share with our family here in our American home. Now that we are back in the U.S. the feeling that we indeed have a home back in Slovakia is something I am more strongly aware of as the days pass. I say that because to me, home is not a place as much as it is a set of feelings. I never thought I’d feel it as strongly as I do, but they’re there. Describing those feelings will be the topic of my next blog entry along with pictures and an update about how things went at Žofia’s first birthday party, which is just a couple of weeks away!

Now for some more random shots from good old Whitewater, Wisconsin:

Žofka plays in her beautiful sweater from Ujo Rado and Teta Anna

Badger girl! Thank you cousin Charlotte for the cool outfit.

Z making good on her New Year’s resolution at the UWW indoor track

Happy New Year to all of you. May 2008 be the year of reason. P.S. VOTE DEMOCRAT! (No offense).