Camping in PA

Back in mid-August, Pavle and I (Angie) headed up to PA for another Family Reunion; this one involved camping...in my parents' RV. So, a luxury camping experience :-) Anyhow, here are a few pics of the camping outing for those interested. We had a nice time just hanging out with family, sitting around the camp fire, playing in the field, going to the camp playground and just enjoying the night sky.

DelGrosso's Amusement Park!

On August 19, 2008 we ventured over to DelGrosso's Amusement Park in Tipton, PA close to Altoona for Mihail's 5th birthday and my (Ang's) sister's b-day as well :-) It was a fun day for all. Zoran, Pavle and I along with our long-term house guests, Riste, Marina and Mihail were joined by my (Ang again) mom Sally, sister Missy and her daugter Danica and a friend of Missy's, Stephanie and her 2 daughters Mariah and Ruby.

Here are a few more photos of our day at DelGrosso's:

Pavle's 6th birthday!

Well, it's almost a month now since we celebrated Pavle's 6th birthday! Amazing how time flies. Pavle has brough much joy to our lives over the past 6+ years and we are truly delighted to be his parents. It is such an honor to raise up this precious child from God. He is indeed a blessing in our lives.

On his birthday, we went to a church in WV for their annual car show. It was a hot day with great food, fun, and fellowship. Here is a photo of Pavle and me (Ang) at the picnic part :-) You can see our friend Marina and her son Mihail accross from us at the table. You can find photos of the actual car show at the church website which is: http://www.ibcwv.org/

After the day outside, we came home to some cool airconditioning and baths for the kids and had a simple eggless chocolate birthday cake. Pavle enjoyed his birthday gifts of some great Lego City pieces.

Pavle loves NASA

If you know Pavle, you know he loves anything and everything space related, and that includes NASA. Back in June we headed over to Washington DC and the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival which included NASA this year as this year marks the 50th anniversary of NASA. We also had the chance to visit the Air & Space museum in Dulles (the Udvar Hazey Center). Here are a couple of photos:

Scenic Overlook in MD

On our way home from a homeschooling conference in Morgantown, WV, we drove through part of MD and stopped off at a scenic overlook. Here is a shot of Zoran and Pavle enjoying the hazy view...it was a very hot and humid day, just before evening.

We had gone to the CHEWV annual conference where Gary DeMarr of American Vision spoke as well as Kevin Swanson of Generations. Overall, it was a very good conference and we hope to attend again next year.

Pavle and Danica

During our visit to PA for a family reunion, Pavle introduced Mihail to his cousin Danica. My (Ang) parents took us all out for dinner in historic Brookville, PA. Here is a great photo of Pavle and his precious cousin Danica.

The top photo is with my sister, Missy and Danica. Zoran and Pavle are in the front. We had a delicious meal compliments of my parents, Jim and Sally.

Washington DC with Friends

Friends from Macedonia arrived to stay with us for an extended time as they settle in to the US. Since they have arrived we have taken them to DC a couple of times as well as to other outings and events. Here are a few pictures from one of our trips into our nation's capitol. It's a lot of walking!

Pic 1: Welcome to DC sign on bridge - we parked ar Arlington Cemetary and walked over into DC. You can see the Lincoln Memorial in the background behind Riste, Mihail, Ang, Pavle, and Marina

Pic 2 is at the WWII Memorial. Riste, Marina, Mihail, Pavle and Zoran
Pic 3: Riste, Pavle, Mihail, & Marina inside the Lincoln Memorial on the way back to the car after the Smithsonian Folk Life festival and sight seeing.

A Walk in the Woods

During the week, Pavle and I have school Monday through Friday; yes, even through summer :-) On the weekends we like to head outdoors or on a "field trip." Here are a couple of pics from a recent walk in the woods on part of the C&O Canal.

Family Reunion in PA

Mid-July 2008 brought us to our annual family reunion up in PA. The event this year was held at my parents home. It rained but a good time was had by all. We even got an opportunity to play some soggy yard games. The food was good too!

Dinner at McDonald's

After a long day in DC, we ate at McDonalds in Tyson's Corner on our way home. We have been in DC a couple of times throughout July with our house guests.

Washington DC Zoo

We took our friends to the National Zoo in Washington DC at the end of July 2008.

Here is a nice picture of our whole family, Zoran, Ang (expecting our 2nd child - 3 almost 4 months pregnant!) and Pavle.

Ang and Pavle with the Elephants!





And one of Pavle's most interesting animals, an Armadillo!

A few more Pictures from MK

Just a few photos to share. We miss the bread and yogurt! Not to mention the people, our family and friends!

Long Time No See....

So, I haven't been online much these days with our longterm houseguests needing to use our computer for job searches and such...but it's a quiet day and I snuck on so I thought I'd post a couple of pics that I have been meaning to share!



Pic 1: Pavle and Angie at the Ohrid Lake near Goritsa.

Pic 2: Pavle and Angie on some stone steps in Ohrid, Macedonia

What's Going On?

Hi all! We are well and keeping busy. At the moment we are preparing for the arrival of friends from Macedonia who will be staying with us in the US for an extended visit. Here is a picture from a meal they had lovingly prepared for us while visiting Macedonia.

McDonald's with Baba and Dedo!

While in Macedonia we visited an American tradition...good ol' McDonalds in Skopje. There is only a mini-McDonalds in Ohrid, open just through the summer months but it lacks a full menu. So while in Skopje, Baba and Dedo wanted to try McDonalds and Pavle was very happy to agree to that lunch! Here is a photo after our meal...we are "kicking" ourselves for not getting pics inside during our meal. It was a big and very clean, friendly McDonalds.

Back to Macedonia...in pictures at least!

While I posted a few things during our trip to MK, I wasn't keeping up with posting as much as I would have liked. Here are a few more photos from our recent trip to visit family, work and do some ministry work.

Picture 1: Dedo (Vanco) and Pavle with Blage in the "nylon" looking at the cucumber plants.

Picture 2: Dedo (Vanco), Zoran, Ang, & Pavle on the way back to Ohrid from the Strumica region.
Picture 3: Pavle looking down with much interest at the Indoor Strumica Pazar ("Open Air" Market). Lots of activity! And we had delicious fruits and veggies for dinner that evening!

Home School on "the road"

Yesterday we had a day of "errands," sort-of, so Pavle and I did some home school "on the road." We had to get our car serived and a factory recall taken care of so we headed over to the car dealership and watched the mechanics work a bit and in the kids play area they had a 200+ piece wooden architecture blocks set which Pavle delightfully played with. After about 2 hours, we were out the door. On the way to the dealership we stopped by the post office for about a month's worth of mail so I was occupied while Pavle was playing with blocks.

Then it was home for lunch and a show...the show was that our driveway and other houses on our block were being paved. So we watched the workers. Here's the process in case you were curious:

1. Dump the hot asphalt on the road
2. Use a skid steer loader to dump 3-4 buckets-full of hot asphalt into each driveway
3. Workers quickly spread the hot asphalt with shovels, rakes and other tools
4. Roller. This was one of Pavle's favorites, watching the roller move back and forth over the driveways.
5. Some-kind of hand-paver thing that was very loud and smotthed out the asphalt over the driveway even more.
6. Clean up. The workers had to quickly work to make sure the hot asphalt pieces didn't stick to the sidewalks.

Needless to say, after the paving crew left, we played this scenario a few times on our living room floor!

No pictures of this day's adventures...sorry! Maybe we'll post pics of our indoor play recreation!

More Macedonia Photos

This is such a cute photo of Pavle and his friend Mihail. We went on a family walk with good friends in Ohrid, enjoying the weather and time together.




This is a picture of Pavle with one of his favorite Macedonian meals! Kebabchinja and Zelka Salata! He loves beef!

Some Pictures from our recent MK trip

So...we've been home for just about 1 month! Amazing how fast time has flown. I thought it'd be nice to shares some of our Macedonia Trip Photos!

Zoran, Pavle & Angela Zaev at Svete Kaneo on the Ohrid Lake.














This is a photo of Pavle with some wildflowers somewhere along a path/ trail by Lake Ohrid in Ohrid, Macedonia.
Zoran, Angela and Pavle Zaev in a park in Skopje, Macedonia.

A Walk in the Woods...

When we went to Catoctin Mountain, where Camp David happens to be located, we talked about the nature all around us, took a quick tour of the Visitor's Center which had a nice little bookstore and stuffed wildlife that one may encounter there. There was also a large section of an old tree which detailed the rings and subsequent age of the tree. We didn't observe any wildlife on our 2.8 mile round trip walk to Cunningham Falls, but we did see mushrooms, downed trees and their roots, moss, rocks, millipedes (er....does that count as wildlife?), and simply enjoyed the time together as family hiking on a trail listening to the sounds of nature.

Big Machines

So, we live in an area that is seeing a bit of construction at the moment and Pavle gets the opportunity to observe some Big Machines at work. And since we have plenty of books, he is also able to identify many of these machines and describe a bit about what they do. Here are a couple of family shots close to some of the big machines on a Sunday afternoon walk...slightly before the nearly 100 degree F weather we are expecting in the next few days!

Strawberry Pickin' Pics!

Here are a couple of great pictures of Farmer Pavle at the Orr's Farm Market Berry Patch in Martinsburg, WV.

As you can see in the 1st image, this is after we had been picking for a bit. We filled up 2 of those flats which hold 6 qts each. In total, the first time we went to the strawberry fields we picked nearly 15 pounds. That was all 3 of us together.

A little while later, Pavle and I went again during the week and picked about 13 pounds by ourselves!

Although Pavle is not a big "fan" of "bugs," we did observe the bees, moths and other little "guys" as we worked in the fields. The sunny day was nice and in the early AM it was pleasant.

Pavle liked learning about the strawberry blossoms and how those little flowers turn into the "yummy" fruit we so enjoy in our cereal!

He was also good about being gentle with the plants and choosing fruit that was ready for picking. He also said that we should make sure to leave enough strawberries for other guests at the farm. Needless to say, strawberry picking in an enjoyable outing for us.