Sean and Sally

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St. Petersburg Home

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We live in a very beautiful city! It's called the Venice of the North because of its gorgeous buildings and canals. We live on Griboyedeva canal pictured here. Our building is on the right next to Sally.

Honeymoon

2006-12-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

From Seattle, we drove 1st to Yosemite National Park in California and then west up the Pacific Coast via San Fransisco. Once we got got to Cape Lookout, we drove east to Portland to visit friends and then fly to WA DC where Sally had a meeting. We enjoyed the city and took a bus up to NYC to visit Sean's brother and sister-in-law and take in the sites. Then back to Portland and up the coast again until we got back home to Seattle. Whew, what a wonderful 3 weeks soaking in the US before we headed off to Russia.

Our Wedding

2006-12-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

These are pictures of our wedding in a Seattle park on August 6, 2006. The family picture is Sally's family and the kids are her nieces and nephews.

Ivanova

2006-12-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

The textile city of Иваново (Ivanovo) is north east of Moscow. On November 16th, we were welcomed by the local University and were told we would be meeting approximately 35 school and university English teachers. We met with 59 and the vice-rector was stunned the turn out was so high!

We were given a tour of the city where we went to a textile museum. We did some shopping and spent some time talking with several of the graduate students who knew VERY good English.

Later, we were given a tour of a quaint little town called Суздаль (Suzdal’). This town had many horse drawn sleighs and a Kremlin. There was a fortified monastery with a nunnery across the river. There were many churches but where they put one church they had to build a second one. These are both the summer and winter Churches and in between always a belfry.

-Sean

Yaroslavl

2006-12-09T06:29:00.000-08:00

Hello to you from the Волга (Volga) River. Sally and I were booked for 2 nights on November 18-19 in a floating hotel in a town of around 700,000 peeps called Уарославал (Yaroslavl). We were able to meet the local English teachers group and spend time touring the city. We saw the town’s two Ленин (Lenin) statues, Ленин Sitting and Ленин Standing. We also were able to see the town’s Eternal Flame, a dedication to both the soldiers fighting the Second World War and the women who were at home supporting their troops. Every Russian town has a Lenin statue and an eternal flame. We ate at the Зимний Сад or Winter Garden. If you go to Yaroslavl don’t miss it! Very cool atmosphere.

We went also to a museum of Time and Music owned by John Mostoslavosky. This was a VERY unique collection of Phonographs, Irons (as in clothes irons), Clocks, and Icons. It is rare to actually meet the owner but he was there when we arrived and we were able to get our picture with him. One of the things that make this very unique also is that his museum is in the 1% of museums that are not owned by The State, even MORE unique is that he is Jewish Russian and proud that he stayed in Russia.

-Sean

Dachas

2006-12-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

It is very common for Russian families to own a country home (dacha) and they love to spend weekends there tending their gardens, enjoying good company and fresh air, as well as doing the eternal repairs and improvements. Often, Russians’ dachas are nicer than their apartments which show where their loyalties lie. We’ve had the privilege of going to a couple of dachas and have returned rejuvenated and honored to be hosted by our kind Russian friends.

These pictures show the special day we spent at our friend, Irina’s, dacha and the delicious meal we had which started with the first course of traditional Russian borsht (beet soup). We enjoyed playing with their new kitten, Tomoshka, and walking down to the nearby river bank which was the scene of a WWII skirmish.

Keeping up with Sally

2006-05-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with Sally will be challenging it seems.
As she has posted earlier we are set to do our wedding on the 6th of August. We were then going to take that night in Seattle, in Belltown at a VERY hip hotel. From there we were going to travel down to Crater Lake and camp, and then the next day arrive in Yosemite to stay for 7 days. After that we had plans to go to Disney and the LA beaches for 5 days or so then head home. 3 weeks from then we would be on a plane to St. Petersburg RU for almost a full year. So yes, we are still doing everything up through most of Yosemite but have to cut that short by 2 days to go to Washington D.C. for 3 days and then from there we are going up to The Big Apple to visit my brother Josh and his wife Marcia for 4 days. Then it's back to Seattle and Cingular Wireless for about a week and a half and from there to St. Petersburg for almost a year! Whew!

2006-05-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

I spent some time years ago, searching high and low in Bible studies, trying to find a woman to marry. God is good. He gave me a Euro-hottie! Little did I know that he would reach far into the depths of Russia to find me a sweetheart, but he did!! Since then I have had visions of cuddling with her and touring, helping her keep house, talking at cafes, throwing snowballs at each other and other things.
I just recieved her refitted ring today! It's VERY beautiful, Sally requested a ruby ring because her birthestone is a ruby and I had intentions of creating that for her, but it seems the price of rubies are even more than diamonds! So I bought her Diamonds!! :) It's a 2 ring wedding set that is heirloom from the 50's. Once I have the picture uploaded I will post it for ya'll to see.
My Euro-hottie comes home to me on July 12th. Please hurry back to me sweetheart!

Our Son

2006-05-04T04:28:00.000-07:00

Now the real reason I went to Russia - we have a son.

Just kidding : ) The picture on the top right of this blog is of us and our "furry son" taken in Leavenworth, WA just before I left for Russia in Sept 2005 and right after we became engaged. Sean bought "Gustov" for me to take to Russia to help me to remember him. Sappy, isn't it?

Here is Gustov in Russia, all bundled up.

As I write this at 10pm, it's still very much light out (we have White Nights here in St. Pete in the summer) and I hear the loud fireworks. It's their big Russian national holiday - Victory Day which celebrates the ending of WWII (or the Great Patriotic War as they call it). There was a big parade down the main street, Nevsky Prospect, and a huge celebration in the Palace Square infront of the Hermitage.

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Sean and I love to explore the beauty of the Seattle area.

Privet!

2006-04-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to our Blog Spot. This type of thing is new to me so this is somewhat of a trial (in every sense of the word!)

So, Sean and Sally are getting married on Sunday, August 6 at a beautiful Seattle park. The wedding will be a small, intimate affair with mostly family. The honeymoon will be in Yosemite, Disneyland, and Laguna. Perfect for me who has been living in St. Petersburg, Russia for the past year. I'm so eager to experience America again!!

We'll be in Seattle until the first part of September and then back to St. Pete but this time Sean will come.

Please stay tuned for more updates.

: ) Sally
sallytvlr@hotmail.com