Guest blogger Dana here. (Becky's sister). Becky has big guilt from not blogging but she also has 5 kids so I thought I would help her out. We just got back from our family trip to Bear Lake and Max and Sergei brought the grand kid count to 16! Becky and Kevin are great, patient, funny parents and the girls are FABULOUS. Here are some cute things about the boys:
-Max calls Sergei "Sir-la-gear". I am going with the phonetic spelling because I have no idea how to spell it correctly. It is one of those longer-than-the-real-name nicknames and it is cute coming out of Max's mouth. (Becky and Kevin do not think it is cute coming out of Max's mouth in the middle of the night when he is looking for his brother but I do :)
-Max does crack. Max is tall but SUPER skinny. He cannot keep a swimsuit pulled up to save his life.
-Sergei has a little obsession with BMWs. Whenever we see one he points and says, "Sergei's car." Whenever he sees a junky old car he points and says, "Dana's car." He thinks it is hilarious.
-Even more hilarious to Sergei than pairing you with an ugly car is pointing at your shirt and saying "ketchup" and then getting you in the chin when you look down. This was also the most hilarious thing to his mom Becky until she was like 30 years old - the apple does not fall from the tree.
-Max LOVES pop-its. If you want to win him over bring him a box of pop-its. Best 39 cents I ever spent.
-Somewhere in the Ukraine there is a tall, skinny teenage boy that took good care of Max. Sergei is always Max's favorite but a close second is any tall teenage cousin. We have a lot of teenage boys in the family but he is especially drawn to my oldest son, Harrison, who is 6'4". When he couldn't have Harrison he was very happy to have my girlfriend's son Chris, who is about 6'3". If neither of them were around he would settle for Caden or Carter, who measure less than 6' but he was happiest when he could find his "bolshoi cousin" (big cousin). This is a lot of pressure for a family where the average height is 5'2".
-We had a pull up contest at the cabin. Sergei won. He killed it. He can also do flips off of a picnic bench. It makes me want to throw up.
-Every time we left to go somewhere Sergei would say, "My mom is slow." Already annoyed by his mom - :)
-I was telling Suzy and Pearl a story in their bunk bed one night when Max climbed onto the bed. He stared Suzy down and said, "Hi Suzy". This was not a friendly hi. It was a brotherly challenge. Suzy just stared back. Max upped the ante. Teeth clenched, "Hi Suzy." I turned to Suzy and whispered , "Just say hi." She stared him down again and finally said, "Hi Max." It was hilarious! Sibling rivalry knows no language barrier!
-Our friends, the Baughs, let Sergei drive their jet ski (with me on it). Sergei LOVED it. He told Kevin he didn't like "Salt Lake", he liked "Bear Lake".
-Sergei and I were on a bike ride and I thought it was a great time to work on his English. Every time we passed an animal I would ask him the animal's name in Russian. He would tell me and I would then tell him the English word. We were working with a limited number of animals but since repetition is the mother of all learning I would do this every time we passed a horse, cow, dead frog etc. I would also do the animal sounds. After the third time of me pointing and saying "cow", Sergei looked at me and said, "I know!" That is the universal teenage language for "shut up" (which Sergei is not allowed to say :)
-I am training Sergei to say I am his number one aunt. At the lake he said my uncle Mike was his "number one aunt." My uncle gave him a dollar for that little betrayal and did not punish him for making him into an aunt. I will probably end up buying him a BMW just to win this position - my aunt greed knows no bounds - watch out Mike!
We love our new nephews, cousins, grandsons and we are grateful to everyone who helped get them here.
-Max calls Sergei "Sir-la-gear". I am going with the phonetic spelling because I have no idea how to spell it correctly. It is one of those longer-than-the-real-name nicknames and it is cute coming out of Max's mouth. (Becky and Kevin do not think it is cute coming out of Max's mouth in the middle of the night when he is looking for his brother but I do :)
-Sergei has a little obsession with BMWs. Whenever we see one he points and says, "Sergei's car." Whenever he sees a junky old car he points and says, "Dana's car." He thinks it is hilarious.
-Even more hilarious to Sergei than pairing you with an ugly car is pointing at your shirt and saying "ketchup" and then getting you in the chin when you look down. This was also the most hilarious thing to his mom Becky until she was like 30 years old - the apple does not fall from the tree.
-Max LOVES pop-its. If you want to win him over bring him a box of pop-its. Best 39 cents I ever spent.
-Somewhere in the Ukraine there is a tall, skinny teenage boy that took good care of Max. Sergei is always Max's favorite but a close second is any tall teenage cousin. We have a lot of teenage boys in the family but he is especially drawn to my oldest son, Harrison, who is 6'4". When he couldn't have Harrison he was very happy to have my girlfriend's son Chris, who is about 6'3". If neither of them were around he would settle for Caden or Carter, who measure less than 6' but he was happiest when he could find his "bolshoi cousin" (big cousin). This is a lot of pressure for a family where the average height is 5'2".
-Every time we left to go somewhere Sergei would say, "My mom is slow." Already annoyed by his mom - :)
-I was telling Suzy and Pearl a story in their bunk bed one night when Max climbed onto the bed. He stared Suzy down and said, "Hi Suzy". This was not a friendly hi. It was a brotherly challenge. Suzy just stared back. Max upped the ante. Teeth clenched, "Hi Suzy." I turned to Suzy and whispered , "Just say hi." She stared him down again and finally said, "Hi Max." It was hilarious! Sibling rivalry knows no language barrier!
We love our new nephews, cousins, grandsons and we are grateful to everyone who helped get them here.
SO glad that things are all coming together for the K-Rad family!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Sergei will love RJ...obviously not due to his height, or lack thereof, but because of the BMW and the ketchup trick. RJ still relies on that trick at parties.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! Dana is as funny as Becky! This hilarity obviously runs in the family. What LUCKY boys to have such comedians around all the time!!! Can't wait to get in on the fun. We'll be home soon but we are bringing more subdued children into a more subdued family. We'll need some Radzinski/Buchmiller presence as often as possible!
ReplyDeleteEvery day I've been saying to myself and Becky - If we can just get to Bear Lake and the Sobieski Reunion on the beach then we've made it and can make it. Well we did and so now it begins I guess. Thank you Dana for posting!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Dana! We are so happy the boys are part of a fun & loving forever family. It looks like everyone had a wonderful time. I am sure the boys will look forward to Bear Lake for years to come!
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