Ladies and gentlemen, yes it has been a long break. Since my last post, I was in Oklahoma for a week and then in Minnesota for the rest of the summer. I meant to blog over the summer, but it just didn't happen. Summer was good, relaxing, a little stressful too, and really fast. I spend most of my time hanging out with my brother who was out of school. I guess you could say it was babysitting, but he's really not a baby anymore and if you have seen him you would agree. Instead of watching cartoons...ok wait, I take that back. We did watch cartoons. Spongebob. Ok, instead of doing the things we did when he was a toddler, we went to Target together, went to Starbucks and Caribou. :) He got smoothies. We went mini-golfing. We sang songs in the car, driving down Pokegama. We joked around. He is seriously one of the funniest people. It's strange that he's not so little anymore. He's in 6th grade now. Officially a middle schooler. Alex was good to have around. Coming home, I was a little sad thinking about how I spent the past 3 summers. I worked with an amazing girl named Jenna. We became best friends, but last fall she passed away. I kept thinking of all the things that we would do together and all the laughs we had. It was hard not having her in Grand Rapids. But I am so grateful for all the time spent with Alex. As my mom will tell you, Alex and I do not always get along but any time spent with him is good time. Since he was 5, I have been away from home. We only see each other over summers and Christmas. Whenever I come home, he is taller and older and different. I'm just waiting for the day when I come home and his voice is low. ugh....

I also got to spend time with my amazing sister. Having a sister is a very special thing. We shared a room together and shaved our eyebrows off together. She is the only person I have been in a fight with and the only person I have called a curse word to their face. She is my best friend and I miss her all the time. I am so happy that I got to go out for coffee with her, go walking with her, and watch movies with her. Toward the end of the summer she and Jason made the big move to Colorado for grad school. It was sad to see her move but I'm super proud of her. But honestly, I am kind of used to goodbyes. I don't know if that's good or not. maybe not? i don't know.

I also got to see my parents. Of course, that was super. Fishing with the dad, coffee with the mom. OH and before I came home for summer, my parents came to Russia! That was so great. It was good to show someone what I experience every day. It's really hard to explain living over here. And they got to see it. It was fun to see them on the metro and walking around. My mom said that everyone seemed like zombies or robots. "I feel like I'm in a movie," she said. "No one looks at you or says hello." haha. We went all over the place and they wore me out. My dad could have kept going for another week I think. I'm so grateful that they wanted to come and see me over here. It was amazing to spend time with them in my world. It is really another world.

Well, that's most of the summer. I meant to blog about what I'm doing now but that will have to wait. Starbucks only will let me stay online for one hour and it's about that time. Also, I don't know why my background is ugly. I tried fixing it and I couldn't figure it out...so it will just have to be like that for now. thanks for stopping by! more to come soon....