Heather and I embarked on quite an adventure, agreeing to participate in this year's Chicago Marathon. I guess if you register for an event, you have to participate! At least that was our thinking and motivation for training and following through with it...and the fact that we bought marathon t-shirts at the expo with the goal of only being able to wear them if we finished the race. Which, drum roll please.... we did! Yes, both of us finished and more importantly lived another day...No medical interventions even once! Even with the temps in the mid 80's! We did end up walking funny for about a week, but it was well worth it...especially after indulging with a congratulatory deep dish pizza from Chicago's famous Giordanos that will be remembered for a long time...

Here is the visual proof, and some shots of an amazing Chicago..The other memorable aspect was the fact that we left Ellis behind with his abuela. It was the first time that we had been away from him for an extended period of time..We unfortunately ended up missing him much more than he did us...oh well...enjoy the photos! 

george and heather

Our next stop on the cruise was St Petersburg, Russia, which just so happens to be George and Ellis' homeland (and Heather by default/marriage). This was our first trip to the motherland and Russia. After startling most of our fellow cruisers with a ceremonial kissing of the ground immediately after disembarking (Ellis was really confused at this point and just never did the hang of kissing pavement), we embarked on the first of two days in the city. Here are some of the stops while there...

This was the Peterhof Palace and its fountains 

outside the city limits of St. Petersburg:

We had only slept about 2 hours the night before because of Ellis 

and his difficulty in sleeping. I'm sorry Heather for posting this picture!

Heather and Ellis holding up the cruise itinerary for the day 

Day two brought our group splitting up and Heather spending the day with my mom and Marta, while Ellis and I took a half day tour of the Hermitage Museum. This was one of the highlights of the trip, walking though the museum and its hallways of priceless art at the same time as I was distributing rations of Cheerios and a bread roll to Ellis.  

Russian dolls at a souvenir shop

The Hermitage Museum

Church of the Spilled Blood

Here are some recent photos of our Ellis Anthony...He is rapidly approaching his first birthday on October 14th. Hard to believe that almost a year has passed since he came into our lives...It is definitely true that the first year is a blur and hard to get a true grasp on all of the changes that are taking place with your baby and to the family. We could not be happier though with this amazing addition to our family...enjoy the photos! gp + hp

Poliszuk's European Vacation Part II

I have to start this post by reminding you that george and I lost our luggage on the flight to Copenhagen - we are still in the clothes we have had for the past two days....our first stop is in Sweden. We decided to forgo the guided tour - all the guidebooks said that everything worth seeing in Stockholm was 'walking distance'. This phrase is another that was redefined for us - walking distance is quite a different thing when you're dragging along two grandmas and a baby :)...but we survived - and yes, you'll see another picture of us dragging our sleeping son along...he's slept in many countries around the Baltic now!

Ellis in a shirt we bought him...sleeping on my shoulder as we exit into Stockholm...
A 300 year old ship they found in a 'bog' - it seriously felt like we were in the Goonies movie...it's pretty spectacular - with amazing carvings - turns out it never really went anywhere...the windows on the sides were too low and it sank on it's way out of dock...
we took a ferry from the Vasa to avoid the 'walking distance' that felt too far...and saw this cute little amusement park from the ferry
the 'old town' part of Stockholm...very cute - cafes and shops
if you can't practically smell the waffle cones by looking at this picture, your sniffer is broken...they smelled SO good - but I'm convinced that waffle cones are a bit like coffee, garlic, and fresh bread - the smell is SO tempting - but the taste is something different entirely - I wish my tastebuds worked as well as my nose - or in such vibrant ways. After all that explanation...the ice cream was very good and Ellis got his first taste...and fell in love with it...
Marta in Stockholm...this is her pose for every picture - 25% sideways...very cute!
Not sure what he's smiling at...the Swedish peeps, I guess! He probably saw that they all looked like his mommy...
the gelato at the ice cream place - amazing! - so here's why you needed to remember that we lost our luggage - on the way out of Stockholm, we got caught in a DOWNPOUR - seriously, the sky opened up and dumped water on us - Ellis was holding out his hand and tongue, thinking that he was in the shower...we got onto the bus looking like someone had turned the hose on us - it was just SO the end of the rope - no clothes, exhaustion, and now our only clothes were wet - I couldn't stop laughing...crying...laughing, and really praying with all my might that our clothes would be in our stateroom when we got back...they were, thank goodness, or I may have had a nervous breakdown!
on our way out of Sweden, we passed literally hundreds of islands...all with little houses on them - some of them couldn't go anywhere without using a boat - they were so cute, so isolated! George and I stood and watched them and really couldn't imagine what their lives were like - so different from how we grew up - but kind of appealing...a completely slower, contained lifestyle.

That was Sweden...on to Finlandia :)

European Cruise part 1: Travel and the Boat (it really DOES deserve to be capitalized!)
These pictures won't be in time order, but they're all from the same two days...

When you become a parent, there are words that take on a completely different meaning...you all know what I mean - the basics are...joy - looking into your kids eyes, hearing them laugh...a good night's sleep - four hours in a row...buttered popcorn - the smell of newborn poop...etc. Well, here are some that changed for us - European Cruise - exhausting nights of almost no sleep followed by hiking hither and yon through a different city every day...relaxing mornings sleeping in became early mornings spent watching the sunrise with a VERY awake Ellis...losing your luggage becomes a national disaster as instead of just missing your OWN underwear, you are missing formula, diapers, and pajamas for your 10month old...a 'modern' hotel is just one with a lot of hard surfaces and nowhere for a beginning crawler to let loose...ah, we revamped the dictionary on this whirlwind tour!

And despite all of the difficulties - it was a pretty amazing trip - having Ellis with us brought a completely different dimension in a good way - the staff on the boat practically went overboard (get it? :) to help us...they were all in love with our boy - for George, seeing Ellis squeal with excitement over a centuries old painting in the Hermitage beat out seeing it on his own...and it was really okay that late-night dress up dinners were replaced by pizza and ice cream with the newest member of our family -

the boat - simply awe-inspiring - some 3,000 passengers and 16 floors...



the first formal night with my boys....

at dinner

dancing on the deck with Ellis...

the maitre-d in the dining room couldn't get enough of Ellis - the first time we went, he demanded that the bus boy get Ellis some watermelon..but not the previously cut up watermelon - 'cut it up, fresh from the fridge!' - he's been on boats for over 20 years and has two kids...yikes!

Our two lovely sailing companions...Luisa (grandma/abuela) and Marta

the boat - HUGE!!

Our boat has a 'movies under the stars' feature - complete with wool blankets if it gets cold...

cruisin' with the guys...

our room - Ellis slept in the closet ;)


this is how tired he was by the time we made it to the boat - three flights and two days later...we seriously almost killed him....we were cracking up...he literally didn't move from this position for hours!


this is me - saying with my eyes...I can't believe we're taking him halfway across the world...
below...Ellis saying 'goodbye' to SF and heading out into the world...until next time - be looking for the Poliszuk's European Vacation Part II

We were fortunate enough to be able to visit Heather's family in the Olympia Area of Washington for the long 4th of July Weekend. Much of our Heather's extended families were able to be a part of the Holiday Celebration and it was great to experience the 4th of July in Olympia, a big town that likes acting like a small one. We also had a great time hanging out with my cousins Rick and Liz and their two kids Katarina and Gabriel. Here are some of the visual reminders of that weekend... enjoy...george and heather and ellis

Heather recently surprised me on my first Father's Day with an SF Giants vs Oakland A's Baseball Game in San Francisco, among other gifts. It was also Ellis' first major league baseball game! We had a great time taking the train into the city and watching a great game. Ellis seemed to be intrigued by the sport as well. A good sign indeed. All in all, a great day and it will be a difficult Father's Day to match...