Sleepless Nights...Not so bad

I woke up with Wilson this morning after another spotty night of sleep, the boy just does not sleep.  His sisters were much better sleepers.  I decided I was going to write a blog about how terrible this lack of sleep is, then Wilson and I played and I gave him his breakfast and we watched Barney.  All of a sudden those sleepless nights did not seem so bad, as a matter of fact they are a blessing.  Those sleepless nights are caused by the most precious little man I have ever met.  I know the circles under our eyes will eventually fade and the afternoon yawns will be replaced by something else.  I know that soon Wilson will sleep through the night.  But for now I'll lose a little sleep in return for the blessing of the boy.

I'm ready for some FOOTBALL

Playing at the Park

Lovin my sissies

This is gonna be good

You all know I have an amazing wife, and if you don't then now you can read her blog and see how amazing she is.  She's smart and funny, super witty and lives a crazy life with me over here in Serbia.  Check it out, become a follower and hear what jen has to say follow this link, Jen has something to say...

Serbia, sometimes you suprise me

We love living here.  It's a great place, but it's not like home.  Sometimes a post communist country just has a lot of ground to cover to catch up with the west.  In the almost two years we have lived here we have seen lots of changes for the better.  The public transportation stops now all have maps showing you where the vehicle is going and where it stops.  A few weeks ago Jen and I saw a new tram rolling down the tracks (we tried to get a picture but much like sasquatch it disappeared behind the trees).  Two recent examples of progress were a trip to the zoo and a trip to the water park.   

First the zoo:
We visited the zoo early on and lets just say, it aint San Diego.  This past week we made a second trip and were awed by the new exhibit - the Tiger Cage.  The zoo has acquired two tigers, one white and one regular.  They were in new modern enclosures, more habitat based then concrete.  The great thing is they walked up to the fence and if you were completely crazy and not fond of your hands, you could pet them.  Wilson was super intrigued.  This was easily his favorite part of the zoo.  Here are the pics to prove it:

that's the tiger right behind us

mom please let me pet the tiger

 The water park:
We had heard the legend of an amazing water park a couple of hours south of Belgrade.  After contacting friends and confirming the legends were true we decided we must see this ourselves.  On monday morning we headed to Jagodina and the Akva (aqua) Park.  Upon arrival, the legend was confirmed.  This was one of the nicest water parks I had ever been to.  They had an olympic pool, expansive shallow kids area, two large wading pools, and 7 large adult water slides.  It was clean, the water was refreshing and the shade was plentiful.  We met two other families there and the kids had a blast.  One of the great things about Serbia is they have not figured out that when you have someone trapped in the park, zoo, fortress etc., you can charge 10 times as much for food.  So for less then $20 we got admission and a great lunch as well as an afternoon snack.  It was a great day and we will be making the drive back for more fun in the sun.  Here are some pics:

Jen and her crew (plus a couple extra)

Put me in the water

coming down the slide... this is fun!

gotta keep me in the shade

Hellos and Goodbyes

When we were in training for this job someone said its a lot of hellos and goodbyes.  That's what the past summer was for the Stevens family, many excited hellos followed by many tearful goodbyes.  The summer started with two long term hellos as the Isreal Family joined us along with our journey girl Amy arriving in July.  In may our good friend Kim came with two bags stuffed full of the good stuff form America (this was a trend that thankfully continued with all our guest!).   At the end of June we said hello to my dad (Goodbye in July) followed by my sister Shea, and brother-in-law Bobby, who sandwiched a honeymoon to Paris between visits to Belgrade.  When my Dad left we got a surprise hello from Doug and Katherine Taylor, awesome friends from Africa.  These hellos were all followed by a 10 day visit from Jen's sister, Julia.  Picking all these great people up at the airport is always a thrill.  Skype, email, facebook etc. are all great ways to stay connected, but to get to hug someone you have not seen in forever is unbelievable.  But it's also bitter sweet, from the time you say hello, in the back of your mind the clock is ticking until goodbye.  I know the girls loved this summer and spending so much time with people but the goodbyes were not fun. 
In addition to the visits of these family and friends we met two groups of young ladies that had a huge impact on our summer.  Kristina and Bethany were here working with our company in Novi Sad and spent a few days in Belgrade with us.  And we saw lots of the "Seattle Girls".  These young ladies (Jaimee, Aleks, Annie and Sarah) spent the summer in Belgrade working with college students.  These six young ladies were a joy in a pleasure to get to know and spent a ton of time loving on my girls.
All told I made 14 trips to the airport in an 8 week span (including five 4:30AM drop offs for the dreaded first flight to Frankfurt).

Here is the honor roll of all our guests and new coworkers:

the israels

kristina, amy and bethany

kim

aunt shea and uncle bobby

papa

doug and katherine

the seattle girls

aunt julia

thanks to all of you for traveling to see us, or becoming new friends.  We love you all dearly and look forward to seeing you again.

JARS OF AWSOMENESS!

This is awsomeness in a jar.  What is it you ask?  It is salsa, homemade salsa, made by my super wife. (I mean homemade down to boiled and peeled tomatoes).   Not only did she make it she canned it, old school style (you know boil the jars etc, wait for a little pop).  On a side note since you use a jar, why is it called canning.... just curious, so I hereby move to call it jarring.   I am pretty stoked about this jarring thing.  Want chips and salsa, grab a jar.  Jen has plans to jar a bunch of other stuff like spaghetti suace etc.  Jen has been on a tear this week, she made and jarred salsa.  She made homemade apple and pear sauce for the boy.  Based on the cakes she makes we knew she could bake but this week she busted out the cinnamon rolls.  She has been doing her own baby food for several weeks now.  (that stuff costs a fortune here so we just grind up the veggies we are eating).  From day one here in Serbia Jen has done a great job figuring out how to feed us and replacing our favorites from home with things available here but jarring salsa, that's taking it to a new level!

Cinnamon Rolls.... YUMMM!!!

Refelections from the Pool

Not to rub it in but yesterday the girls and I were forced to go to the swimming pool, it was one of the only days in the past few weeks that was warm enough to swim (today's high temp is 68).  In all seriousness we are praying for all you guys in Texas where it has been so hot, don't know how you are all making it.
Having not been to the pool all summer I had forgotten what a great experience it is.  So here are some reflections on swimming in Europe.
- if your under the age of 2 no swimsuit is required - none at all
- if you are a girl say 10 and under just where the bottoms
- like pools across the world this is the perfect place for teenagers to meet and make out
- If your over the age of 65 its ok to wear a swimsuit meant for a 20 year old
- men and their speedo's YIKES!
We love the pool and its always fun.  It was a great way to get out of that brutal 90 degree day!