Where is this summer going???

I can't believe how fast this summer is going!  I feel bad that these pictures were taken back in May from Heather (Walk) and Troy's wedding!  Dima had a fun time seeing a wedding for the first time and spending time with his friends again.  Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Dima, Anslee and Artyr

Joe, Artyr, Dusty and Dima

This wedding set the summer off to a great start.  In June Dusty, Dima and I had our first family vacation.  We flew out to my sister's in Arizona.  Dima got to meet his cousin Phillip, Uncle Jamie (my brother-in-law), Uncle Eric (my brother) and Aunt Gina (my new sister-in-law).  We had a short, but great 5 days in the hot sun of Arizona.  Dima loved that they had a pool where we swam in every day to cool off.  He enjoyed being with his family so much that I think he was pretty bummed when we flew back home. 

In July we had our first 4th of July celebration together.  I remember last year looking up at the fire works and thinking about Dima.  This year we all got to look up together at the great fireworks at Delgrosso's Park. The morning started out with a bang as we ran in the YMCA July 4th Race.  We all ran the 15k and Dusty and I tried to "hold" Dima back so he would not tire out, but he took off like it was nobody's business!  By the time I came across the finish line, Dima had enough time to shower, eat a whole BBQ dinner and popsicles.....not really, but the announcer did make a big deal that he finished a long time before his Mom!! He did an amazing job! The smile on his face when he came up to us was absolutely priceless!! He said the people cheered him on when he was finishing.

A few days later my family came home to visit.  It was an awesome time as they all stayed a whole week.  It started out with a surprise wedding reception for my brother Eric and his new wife Gina.  They got married earlier in the year in Hawaii so we thought we'd have a PA reception for them.  They were pleasantly surprised and we had a wonderful celebration.  The next few days we spent at our camp in Blue Knob, road rides at Delgrosso's Park and of course went to Meadow's for ice cream!! We had such a great week it was sad to see everyone go. 

Last week Dima went to a camp all week. It was the same camp where he came for the hosting program last year.  Lori and Russ Walk so graciously invited all the adopted children to come for free.  Dima got to spend time with his friends that were adopted and got to meet other kids that came to camp.  It was a rough week with the weather being extremely hot and Dima struggled as well.  We honestly thought that he would be so busy and having fun with his friends that he would not have any issues.  He has not shut down for us in months and he shut down at camp.  We had a long talk after we picked him up about respect and trying to have fun even if you are doing things you may not want to do.  I am beginning to feel like a broken record with this, but he is not going to change over night.  We get the feeling that in Ukraine he was able to get out of things that he didn't want to do because that's the only time we have issues with Dima.  When he doesn't want to do something, he tries to get out of it. He is slowly learning that it doesn't work here in America.  It will take a while and we need to continue to be patient!!! 

August's plans are to start getting ready for school and cross country.  We have been having Dima read to us at night.  I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to read, but he is a trooper.  He has finally gotten comfortable with reading to us, we just hope he is more comfortable with his new teachers this year in school.  We are also going to work on Algebra so he is prepared for Algebra II.  Last year was a struggle for all of us as we had a hard time learning it so we could help him!!!  Practice for cross country will start mid-August.  We are looking forward to his season starting. 

I can't believe I have forgotten the most important thing this summer, Dima got his first road bike.  He has been saving up money to buy a bike.  He was so proud of it and could not wait to ride! We had shoes and clipless peddles for him to use so the first time out was a little rough.  He didn't make it out of the driveway before hitting the pavement.  Dusty took him out for a ride and a few more falls later, he finally was catching on.  He has been out for a couple rides and has already had a 27 mile bike ride in!!! Dusty warned me that I'd better get out for a ride with him before he is too fast for us!  He has really been enjoying his bike rides and has a constant smile on his face!!!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer!!!