Tag: family

Life Is Getting Better

Today, the bus routes to the Museum Campus have finally resumed, and everyone is much happier and full of energy. I hope that at least two-thirds of the camp will finally be the way Anna and I envisioned.

My work crisis is still in progress, though :), and all the other millions of things which need my attention still need it!

Field Museum Camp

Anna, Nadia, and Kira are in Chicago this week, and the girls are attending the Field Museum Camp. That’s the thing Anna and I were looking forward to for years! Unfortunately, this experience has been affected by NASCAR race! I should have thought about it, but when we made this decision in January, neither me nor Anna connected the dots! The race happened during the Independence day weekend, and on Monday, there was still no access to the Museum Campus. Not only the busses were rerouted, but even the sidewalk was closed, so on Monday, the had a long walk around to get to the camp.

In general, Monday was quite havotic, because they arrived late on Sunday, and Monday morning was packing lunches and snacks, figuring out breakfast, and getting everyone out of the house. In addition, this week is presenting a major work crisis (and in addition I am severely behind on all my non-work professional activities).

Anna comments as a postitive thing that the girls do not fight with each other (I agree), and having fun at the camp, but it’s definitely more stress for Anna than I hoped!

Member’s Night at Aquarium

On Friday, I left work earlier and took a train to Milwaukee to pick up Nadia and Kira for the Shedd Aquarium Member’s Night. We already did it multiple times: Anna brings the girls to the train station, I get out, pick up the girls, and hop on the same train. That works great because the wait is minimal, and there is no risk of missing the train: it’s actually the same train going back!

I have many reasons to be proud of my granddaughters, one of which is that they can walk a long distance without complaints and understand what it means to wait for a bus or for the museum doors to open. We ended up walking most of the way from the Union Station to the Aquarium, with only a short Red Line ride in between two strides, and they did great 🙂

The Shedd is undergoing a major renovation, but some parts are already open, including the former Rotunda reimaged as two exhibits:

These are two live ecosystems: one with fresh water and one with salt water, and some parts of the glass are magnifying. The best part is that the systems live and evolve, so the promise is that each time you come, you see a slightly different

Nadia’s personal achievement was that she finally touched a sea star 🙂 (not pictured). and a couple of creepy creatures we spotted – there were more, but we were very busy watching!

Friends! In case you are wondering – life is getting on my way again 🙂 But I am alive and well! Probably too much alive!!!

Cirque du Soliel: OVO

Today, I took Nadia and Kira to a Cirque du Soleil performance (my Christmas gift for them). This year, Cirque do Soliel performs at NowArena, which is very far from my house with no public transportation access.

It was a lot of Ubering, and I was very tired, but the performance was excellent! I got the seats, which I hoped would be good but I was unsure of, and they were perfect: the artists were right there, and we could see their makeup and facial expressions! Posting a couple of pictures just to show how close we were and how awesome it was to be able to see all the details!

Two more comments. First, as much as I admired the show, most of the acrobatics was very traditional, all classic tricks, just performed in the new environment.

And second, the venue policies were horrible. No outside food and beverage allowed, no water fountains inside, a bottle of water costs $5.5, and a bag of popcorn $8.

Also, I lost the belt of my new Estonian coat, and we had to go back and ask the personnel, Fortunately, they looked, and found, and returned it to me!

Mom’s Birthday Celebration

Everything went great, even with all the things I mentioned yesterday, plus today’s problems on the Red Line that made Igor and my mom being 30 minutes late to her party, and some guests as well :). There were a couple of times in the past when my mom got really upset about us not letting her know in advance that somebody was going to visit, that’s why we tried to plan it being a surprise, but not a complete surprise :).

I invited those with whom my mom interacted through all these seven years she has been in the USA, with the hope that she will remember. I was pleasantly surprised that she recognized everyone and addressed everyone by name, even those she hadn’t seen for a long time. About half an hour later, however, she started to ask me again who was who and how she knew them. When I shared this observation with Anna and John, they suggested that she got tired, and they must be right. I am going to focus on the positive side of things 🙂

Everyone whom I asked came, and the food was delicious, and Vanille’s cake was awesome.

Continue reading “Mom’s Birthday Celebration” →

Mom’s Birthday

My mom turned 90 today. We are giving her a “semi-surprise party” tomorrow, and we have already had enough of disasters: Vlad couldn’t come because the earlier snowstorm in DC pushed the training he had to conduct to the weekend; both Anna and I had a work crisis (and Igor was super busy, too). We had to move to another venue two days before the party. Anna forgot the frame for our collective present at home; all the printing is done not at the last minute but one after the last, and so on.

After disassembling my Christmas tree, I realized I needed new boxes for ornaments. I ordered them, and they arrived, but I didn’t have time even to unpack them until today, so i was repacking ornaments when Anna’s family arrived.

BTW the boxes are great, and I feel like I always feel when I replace something old with a newer model – why didn’t I do it earlier?! It’s so much better!

Christmas in Milwaukee

Merry Merry Chicago One More Time

When I realized that I wouldn’t be able to take Nadia to the Christmas concert on December 20, I offered an alternative plan: I took December 23 off, purchased the ticket for matinee performance on that day, and suggested to pick up Nadia on the evening of December 22, and then come back with her on December 23 and stay to celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately, there were no Amtrak tickets available for me for “swapping a suitcase for a child” (the only acceptable train was sold out), so Anna had to drive to Kenosha, and I took Metra there (and took another Metra back 20 minutes later). I packed a gigantic luggage with presents and all the things I needed in Milwaukee so that the next day, Nadia and I could travel light.

The trip back was very long, but Nadia entertained herself by reading all the names of the stops and keeping track of them – for some reason, stops had not been announced on this trip!

The next morning, we went to Common Cup for breakfast (I am so glad Nadia likes Common Cup as much as I do – yay!).

Then Nadia decorated all of the remaining cookies, and I was impressed by her skills! I told her that next Christmas, I will request her help in my cookies’ operation!

Continue reading “Merry Merry Chicago One More Time” →

Mom’s Caregivers

It took almost four months, but my mom finally had all the services she could have. Setting up the homemaker service took five visits from different social workers and coordinators from different organizational levels, but finally, everything is in place, and the woman who comes to her is really nice! She has been there only once to do some cleaning, and it looks like I will need to tell her what she can do to help my mom because my mom can’t realize what she needs help with. I have a long list, however!

On Wednesday, a technician came, and her wearable device was set up, although she is complaining and does not want to wear it. Learning something new, including the simple thing of pushing a button and an overall concept of wearable, is challenging for her, so I am unsure how effective this device will be. I just hope for the best.

Another thing I was planning to do but am unsure about is setting up her paratransit. They need us to show up for an interview where they will determine whether my mom needs paratransit, and that’s a whole project on its own. However, since one of my friends uses paratransit, I know it entails long waits and possible delays, so I am not sure it will be worth using it instead of Uber. Still thinking about it.

Everyone who interacted with my mom through these months was either just nice or exceptionally nice, and I am surprised and happy to see so many dedicated people working in elderly care.

Together

Vlad is in Chicago this week, and since it does not happen very often, everybody adjusted their plans. Anna, John, and the girls arrived on Saturday morning, and we all met with Vlad for brunch at Revival in Andersonville.

It was great to be together – it was at least a year since last time. Also, it was great to be in Andersonville. I realized that I have almost never been there since Vlad has not worked there for years, and I missed its vibe and being able to walk and stop at different shops and meet people.