miluki-piluki: February 2007

Travel Snaps 2: Back in Old Blighty

So Vecais got to enjoy a week of so of Opis' and Oma's undivided attention before the arrival of the Alpha Sib. He used the opportunity to pee on a lot of territory. (Literally or metaphorically?, you wonder. Hmmm... Not even your faithful Blogger will reveal all...)

The birth of "Goat Boy" - as Vecais is now most affectionately called (as in, "If it protrudes vertically from the ground in any way, I will climb it, mount it, or scale it")

Robin Hood and Little John, aka... Mazdzanitis?

(apologies to those who don't get the joke)

Getting a taste for power

Papuks and Vecais and The Birds

Travel Snaps 1: Belgian Wafflers

After a long and loud overseas and "overnight" flight, Vecais and Papuks began their holiday speeding through the Chunnel, Brussels-bound.

On the Eurostar with Opis

("What's this," asks a shocked Mamuks: "BOTTLED WATER...?")

Safe and sound in Brussels, they' re greeted by Annika and her happy band of welcome wagoners (unfortunately photographic evidence of Tomasins was suppressed due to contamination with the pox!)

Out and about in Brussels

Vecais gets up close and personal with his cousin...

Papuks brings Vecais on a tour of (what else?) - a brewery! (But granted, a very pretty one...)

Travelogue

Last week Mudzuks and Vecais returned from 1.5 and 3.5 weeks (respectively) of global travel. They'll spend a couple of posts now giving you an exclusive peek into their holiday pics...

Getting ready for bath-and-bed at the (4**** rated) "Oma's and Opis'"

The Friendly Invitation...

So its time to enlighten our faithful blog-watchers about another great Latvian tradition. Known in Latvian as "Draudzigais aicinajums", or the friendly invitation (and also periodically known as the threatening invitation, or the multiplying invitation, depending on whichever particular typo was made on the Latvian newsletter announcement in question) this is a time when all Latvians are invited to "remember their school." You know - remember that place that taught you about the real meaning of life, about friendship, about truth and knowledge, about the the value of learning over other material pursuits. And this is the time they ask you - give those schools some money! (Or, okay, to be fair - books. Or money to buy books. You get the picture.)

This year Mudzuks played that ever important role of "Sheep #3" in the play.

(Nice underpants, Kaiva!)

Special cameo was made by Vecdzanitis as The King, whose "royal bones had become completely stiff..." according to his lines. Who the heck writes this stuff?! Did someone forget to mention to them that these events are strictly PG?

Nearing the end of the play, however, Mudzuks had had enough of her 15 mintues of fame, and decided she wanted to sit in the audience with Mamuks. She refused to even return to the stage. That is, until she heard the all the under-5 feet participants were being bestowed with the T-word...

Treats!

Snow Bunnies

While her brother was busy drinking real ale and eating bangers and mash in jolly old england, Mudzuks discovered a new pleasure brought to her by the white wonderland of January: TOBOGANNING!

Although it did take a minute to learn that parking lots aren't the most IDEAL toboganning terrain, soon Mudzuks and Kaiva were whooshing like few others have whooshed before...

Parents and aunts, of course, were brought along for sherpa services (all the while wondering, no doubt - how old do they have to be before you can enforce the "you whoosh down it on your own, you climb up it on your own" rule). Apparently not yet when they're three...

Yet, despite all that new-fangled toboganning technology, sometimes bums are still best.

(Yes, objects in photo are as steep as they appear)

January Events Calendar

So we soldier on with our commitment to bring you all up to date. A sneak-peak into Mudzuks and Vecais' January social calendar reveals the following:

NEW YEAR' S EVE: Vecais, otherwise known as Monkey Man (and formerly known as Darwin - named after those infamous Darwin awards whereby people off themselves in the course of doing incredibly stupid things hence cleaning out the gene pool for the rest of us), seems to have perfected the fine balance between thrill seeking and courting grievous self-inflicted bodily harm. Not only is he oblivious to Mamuks and Papuks' attempts to dissuade him, but he in fact seems to sheepishly beg the attention. Check out the background of these pics:

JANUARY 1: So Mamuks has this theory that whatever you do on New Year' s Day will be a microcosm for the rest of your year (hence one should make attempts to avoid lying in bed all day - or worse, having a very long conversation on the porcelain phone...). So we got to spend the day goofing around at home, hanging out in the glorious sunny fresh air, bike and going to the play barn (yes, hello Canadian winter) with good friends and having a massive dinner with all the aunts and other family. (Hangover be damned!) Sounds like a good year awaits!

(someone seems to be annoyed that someone else is grabbing the spotlight...)

(and why shouldn't he be chuffed - he managed to grow an inch taller in a mere two weeks!)

JANUARY 9: Mudzuks begins swimming lessons. Every day since Mudzuks has begun swimming lessons, she asks "When do I have swimming lessons again? Tonight? Please!?!"

JANURARY 13: Papuks becomes an architect! Or, at least somebody who' s going to be allowed to become an architect after approximately two years of cad-monkeying for slave wages! Yay! We love you, Papuks!

Mudzuks and Vecais celebrate with a toddler version of that old favourite Latvian party game, "Dogpile" (with the help of their grandparents)

JANUARY 15: Winter finally arrives! (In the form of a gloriously, earth-shatteringly beautiful ice storm. Mudzuks should rest assured she was named after something so rare and exquisite for a very good reason...)

The Hiatus

Yes, we know, its been a while. What a difference a couple of months makes.

While our faithful followers may think we've forgotten them, that's not at all the case. We've learned that blogging is sort of like exercising, or flossing. If one's regular executions get interrupted for whatever reason, it seems to become exponentially difficult to plunge back in as time ticks on... And, well, we've just been kind of... busy. In lieu of all the long-winded recapitulations, we're hoping a short pictographic tour of our mid-winter escapades will suffice:

Mid-December, Mudzuks transforms into a head-banger.

Mudzuks, pasta-producer/consumer extraordinaire:

Dec 24: Labrit! (Good morning!)

Vecais' own private portal to Narnia

The aunts go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah...

(the first one stops to catch a lift,
the second one ... well, just sleeps.)

Christmas chez Vecdzanitis and Nan:

(Mamuks said we had to put this picture in even though we all look either grumpy, bushy, nauseous or generally crappy. It's apparently supposed to add authenticity to the blog. And its the best "Christmas portrait" of all four of us. Right, you can imagine how scary the others are.)

Vecais and Papuks connecting up live with Oma and Opis across the pond

Vecais charming the ladies of all ages...

Get this freaking butterfly out of my hair.

Mudzuks no doubt recounting tales of her hard, hard life ("... and then they made me GET DRESSED. And then I had to eat porridge with only TWO sugars, not THREE... ")

See Vecais eyeing the beer...