Bulgaria

James is spending his summer facilitating a study abroad program for Cadets from across the country.  Here are a few of the pictures of their adventures.

Tzatza (fried smelt) and French Fries with cheese.  A Bulgarian summertime delicacy from the Black Sea area.  Shantel says she'll pass.

Bulgarian Soldiers standing guard at the Bulgarian Presidency.  They conduct a changing of the guard that is reminiscent of the changing of the guards at the U.S. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Sveti Alexander Nevski Cathedral (Eastern Orthodox) in Sofia.

Monument to the Red Army Soldiers, who liberated the Bulgarians from the Germans.  The Bulgarians have a love/hate relationship with the Russians.

Tsaravets Fortress in Veliko Tarnovo.  The capital of the 2nd Bulgarian Empire.

The light show at the Tsaravets Fortress in Veliko Tarnovo. The light show depicts the rise and fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire.

Chicken on a skewer at a restaurant in Shumen.  This was the small skewer.

Etar village.  A recreation of an 18th century Bulgarian village complete with working craftsmen and vendors.

Monument in Veliko Tarnovo to the Soldiers who had fought in the  the wars Bulgaria had participated in during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. (Russo-Turkish, Serbian-Bulgarian, 1st and 2d Balkans Wars, WWI)

A shrine in a limestone cave at the Madras Horseman UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Water bottles collecting holy water that seeps out of the limestone rocks at the Madras Horseman UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Madras Horseman stone carving dating from 300-400 BC with additional inscriptions from  600-900 AD.

Shumen Fortress.  Used almost continuously by Thracians, Romans, Bulgars/Bulgarians, Byzantines, Bulgarians and Ottomans from 300-400 BC to 1400AD. 

Cadets sanding down a kindergarten perimeter fence in Varna.

Even James can sand a fence.

A Cadet repainting the fence after it had been sanded.  15 Cadets sanded down and repainted almost 3/4 of a mile of fence in 9 hours.

James with his toes in the Black Sea.  It was a little chilly that day.

james standing in the Black Sea.

Roses from Bulgaria's Valley of the Roses.  Bulgaria produces the majority of the world's rose oil, which is used to make perfumes, body lotions, etc.  3500-5000 tons of rose petals makes 2 pounds of rose oil which is worth approximately $7500.

Fresco from the ceiling of a Thracian King's tomb, a UNESCO World Heritage site, dating back to 300-400 BC.

Our Bulgarian counterparts took us fishing.  They use different poles and the fish are of course a little different.  This was actually a good sized fish for what we were catching.

Team 1 and me under the statue of Vasily Nevski at the Bulgarian National Military University.

Smoothie Challenge

This is what happens when Macen watches youtube videos. He wanted to do a smoothie challenge with a bunch of random items. They had to draw slips of paper with the food on it and add it to their cup. Macens ended up being marshmallows, spinach, strawberries, pepperoni, northern beans, hot sauce, strawberry jelly, apples, banana and apple juice. Maddox had corn, shredded cheese, nerds, yogurt, eggs, cream cheese, salad dressing, hot fudge, teddy grahams, jello powder and oj. 

Before mixing it up. 

A moment of gagging.

As finicky as he is with things in his mouth, he did manage to get some in there to spit into the other cup.

Fair Oak Farms

 We celebrated the end of school by getting out of town for the day. We needed it, it was perfect weather and a pretty interesting place to see. We didn't end up doing the dairy tour but I imagine it was pretty interesting too. They make their own cheese and ice cream (and chocolates). We didn't sample any cheese so we'll have to do that another time. We did enjoy their yummy ice cream and chocolates though.

We went to the pig farm which is for breeding purposes only. They average over 200 piglets being born a day.

This piglet was just 10 mins old when he was brought out for us to see. He was one of 6.

The boys gave the pig an ultrasound. Macen found 14 piglets and Maddox found 10. 

Maddox had to go on the smaller course.

I'm not sure how many feet up he was but there were 3 levels and Macen went on all of them. He loved it!

While Macen finished his rope course, Maddox played in the pig house and had fun on the bacon slide.

A little game of Operation with a pig.

They wound their way through a maze and found the cheese.

I do believe the big bubble on the ground was their favorite part.

This calf was born just as we walked in the doors. They are behind a glass wall but you can watch the entire process. As we were leaving, another cow was brought in and 2 hooves and a tongue (yes, just its tongue) was already out. 

Last Day of 2nd Grade

Macen missed the bus this morning so we scrambled around getting him there. Hopefully the rest of his day goes well.  I think we are all ready for the school year to end and start our summer fun.

Memorial Day

We got in a morning walk/hike at Clegg Gardens. The boys rock hunted and we got close enough to the river for them to throw some rocks in for a bit.

And then it was more water time. Trooper tried drinking the water and then spent the rest of the time fetching his toys around the water instead of going through it.

Macen has become a monkey as of late. Maddox had to lifted up there so he could have some fun too.

The sprinkler created mud and it didn't take the boys long to find it. His mud was not intentional. 

Guess who did not win this battle?

His mud was intentional, lol.

We couldn't have ended the long weekend any better. Such a relaxing 3 days that was long overdue!

Kickin' off Summer

(not the intended use)

with cool treats, water guns, ribs (skinny kids, lol) and hugs!