Keeping busy

On 12 December Fiona and the kids and I all went to Texas for Christmas and to begin the long Maternity Medevac process where the family would abandon me to exile in Bulgaria. Medical care is not really up to western standards in Bulgaria according to the State Department so they send spouses back to the States in the final trimester of pregnancy to have the baby and once everyone is deemed healthy they send them back. A long process for all involved, especially because I couldn't stay in Texas for the entire time. Unfortunately work wasn't able to let me take nearly 4 months off.

So, while back in Bulgaria by myself I did everything I could to keep myself busy so I didn't miss my family. I put up some pictures on FB and got a lot of notes asking if I actually work, seems some wondered if I missed my family at all... I missed them very much that's why I stayed so busy! So here is some of what I was doing while I wasn't working:

Long ago I started paragliding, and I always wanted to take the actual pilot course but never had money and then never had time. Now, in Bulgaria we live on a mountain that people regularly paraglide off of and the course is a mere 250 Euro's. With lots of weekend time and local public holidays I squeezed in most of the class.

Ridge soaring over Kurare, Bulgaria

An ugly self portrait over Sopot, Bulgaria

Ever since I started snowboarding when I was about 14, I had the dream to snowboard the Matterhorn in Switzerland. In January my brother in law Rob and I met in Zermatt and snowboarded/skiied for 3 days in excellent conditions. Rob lives in Poland currently and his wife Erin, Fiona's Sister, was also pregnant and in Texas at the same time, so Rob was in the same boat with me trying to keep busy with family all over in the States.

I honestly think I'm ruined on skiing any where else in this lifetime. It was amazing, there is nothing else I can say. Aside from amazing skiing, the food and atmosphere of the place is enough to make me want to quite my current job and go be a ski bum in the Alps... if it wasn't for all the darn responsibility of a family!! Just joking, I think it would be fun for about 6 months and then it would just be a drag, I like my family. : )

The Matterhorn

I also spent a lot of time skiing and hiking in the mountains in Bulgaria. I mostly spent time in the Rila mountains because I want to take the kids hiking and camping there when the snow clears.

View from Cherni Vrah behind our house in Sofia

On top of an unnamed peak near Rila Monastery I climbed with my friend Curtis Nordstrom

Rila Monastery with some fresh snow

Above the Rila Lakes with my friend Mike

The last weekend before I went to pick up Fiona and the kids my good friend Mike flew in from Seattle and we went hiking up to the Seven Rila Lakes. The weather was supposed to be nice but it started snowing again when we arrived and there was snow and wind almost the whole trip. We were supposed to catch a little lift up to the wilderness area and hike from there about 1-2 miles to the top of the ridge which overlooks the lakes, but we were so late getting to the starting pint that we ended up hiking up to almost where the lift would have taken us and camped under the last copse of trees. The next morning as it began to warm up from about 17 degrees we hiked the rest of the way up to the lakes. We had a lot of fun, follow the link for more pictures.

The last night before Mike left to go back to Seattle he helped me "more power" the kids' Powerwheels. The Powerwheels are 6v out of the box but the motor can handle a higher current. I happened to have a few rechargeable 6v batteries around the house so we spliced a second battery into the positive lead on each Powerwheels, serializing the batteries, which creates 12v or double the power. I am a little big to try them out myself, but just holding the wheels off the ground and trying them I could see a significant difference in the speed. I can't wait for Nuala and Bran to try them out when they get home. No more riding in the house I think.