A day in the big city

I had imagined it, but never thought I'd be a world traveler. And I definitely never thought I'd come to this country of all I could choose from. But let me tell you, this place is great! We are having such a good time exploring. I'm so grateful Micah has brought us here.

Yesterday, we picked up the official SDA referral and will be traveling to his orphange on Monday to meet him for the first time. Until then, we had fun wandering around the city for five hours today. It's very easy to walk everywhere and find your way around. And it was great exercise!


Annie wanted to say hi to her sisters and Fischer! She was trying to kiss the camera.

Us with A --- feels so weird to only have one of our children with us.

Shovchenko Park

Looks like a mini Central Park.

The University.

A statue in the park--- don't know who he is (the statue, not Barry).





Dads pushing their kids on the swings... where are the moms?! :)

Horses to ride around the park.

And little carts for the kids.

It was between 70-75 degrees today and this little one was bundled up for a Fall day with hat and all.

St. Volodymirska Cathedral

This is a beautiful cathedral... I just love the blues and golds.

Inside it was like a market... there were stands thoughout the church with things for sale. Felt kind of weird to be shopping in a church... reminded me of the story of Jesus turning tables over in the temple courts. But still it was beautiful inside as all cathedrals are. And there was still a spirit of reverence as women had their heads covered and people did their rituals inside.

Botanical Gardens

The entrance pillars and walls were scraped up and had graffitti all over them... not very welcoming, but once inside it was gorgeous!

This sign says Botanical Gardens... at least I'm assuming so :)

The place was filled pathways that wound down and uphill... very stroller-friendly!

A just loves chasing the birds! She got really close to his flock without scaring them off because they were eating. I had to get her away from them before they started trying to eat at HER.

She wanted to pick this dandelion and was so meticulous about making sure she didn't squish it. She let me put it behind her ear for this pose (my FAVORITE picture all day!) After I photoshop the plastic bag and curb out, I will print it for my wall at home.

A group of young women were happy to take this picture for us :)

The flowers were absolutely beautiful.

The Golden Gate

This was one of the main entrances to the city back in the day when it was surrounded by walls. The entrances were called golden gates, and I think there were four of them. This is a reconstruction because the original didn't survive the war. However, some of the wall is still there inside this building that we toured for only $1.25 each!

Random pictures:

A schoolhouse. I love their sign :)

Every weekend, the center of the city closes off the main road for celebrations and festivals. Today was European Day and these are some of the costumes and happenings.

The Opera House

Tickets are so cheap here, and there's a ballet playing on our annivesary June 4th, so if we can find a babysitter, we may try to go :)

We found a bride in the Botanical Gardens and got some pictures of her gorgeous, fluffy dress.

The sweet and very friendly missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We had dinner with these guys last night. All four of the ones we met today are from Utah - go figure.

Cool signs around town of things we recognize, know, and love (well at least me for Sting)!

The building with two "towers" sits above the GINORMOUS underground mall. It's so cool down there; we'll be going again and taking pictures.

Costumes... the first one is almost identical to the one we bought for Micah. We have no clue what the 2nd one is, but he's all over the place!