Welcoming Fall

We celebrated the formal arrival of the fall season with the following (all in the space of 4 days):
 1. Power Outage (two) - have to install the transfer switch, $700 and buy new generator, $500
 2. Fallen tree limb precariously balancing over the power, cable and telephone wires - emergency tree removal, $600
 3. Bent front wheel - hit it on a pothole, had to be replaced, $350
 4. Leaky skylight - for now, I just threw some blue tarp over it.

For tonight and all day tomorrow, they promise "heavy, drenching rain, 2-4 inches and gusty wind". Joy.

Max Runs his First Race

Max's afterschool activity this quarter is cross-country and this Thursday was his first race - about 1.5 miles on the trails in Waveny Park. He finished in the middle of his middle-school field, which is great, especially provided that he is one of the youngest in the group.

Max Invents Rifle for "Lefties"

Max designed a rifle (well, a Lego rifle) with the bolt action that swings over the barrel to work for "lefties" like himself. Said, happen by accident - true invention.

Homebrew

Dad made his first clam chowder. See more in our "sister" blog here.

Facebook "Invite"

BASE jumps at Martha's Vineyard

The wind at the South Beach was too strong for any swimming or sunbathing, but Max and Leon braved the dunes (before got yelled at by the environmentally minded coastguard) and engaged in a little parkour competition.

See more (but less dramatic) parkour pictures here.

Last day at Martha's Vineyard

We really tried to make the last day of our stay at the island last, moving from town to town, visiting beaches, shopping and eating along the way.

See more pictures at the back of this updated album here.

After Earl

The preparation for the hurricane Earl were well organized (we were getting regular updates via the house phone), though the road closure curfew kept on changing, and we ended up wasting a good part of Friday couped up at the house watching old DVDs (the Dish lost signal about 8 hours before the storm arrived). The hurricane turned out to be not much more than lots of rain. The morning after, our motorboat had rainwater up to the brims (or whatever it is called on the boat), but the sandy soil was mostly dry and very much driveable. The wind was not that strong, though the waves on the pond were quite high, with enough white heads to make the boat ride to the beach challenging and scary at times. After some struggle, soaked to the bone we made it to the beach. There the ocean waves were high and unruly, coming seemingly from every direction at once. On the beach, we ran into Muneys who came for some wave watching.

Tomorrow morning, we are packing up and leaving this place. The new school year, the last for Leon, starts on Tuesday.

See more pictures here.

Before Earl

This year we are vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, in a beautiful secluded spot on Edgartown Great Pond here. The house is located at the end of a mile-long unpaved sandy driveway (which, turns out, is quite challenging to navigate on a roadbike). The house came with a fleet of kayaks, a motor boat and a sail boat (non-functioning). 20 minutes on a motor boat gets you to a deserted beach. At times, we were the only ones there for miles in each direction, but the waves on this ocean facing beach were rather harsh, so for swimming we drove to a state beach, protected from the ocean by a smaller island Chappaquiddick (the name is the source of non-stop amusement for Max).

So far, before the hurricane Earl arrival, the weather is great and the water is warm. Plenty of swimming, biking (Leon circled and criss-crossed the island and Dad managed to brave the sandy road once too), fishing (yes, fishing!) and crabbing (oh, yeah, the best crabs ever, including what we had in Maryland).

Leon's friend Matt is around this week too (their house is also on the pond, but the next cove over), so Leon went there by the boat and by the bike a couple of times.

See some selected pictures here.

Happy Birthday, Max !

This post is written by Max:
This Monday, my 10th birthday had come, and I was more than excited to see all my presents that I'd get. Turns out my family had had their 3rd cleansing experience this year. For lunch, I had a not so appealing pizza, (darn you Trader Joes) which then did not agree with my stomach. Before N.B. wanted to buy me a gift, my head was spinning. As soon as we got to Toys R Us, I didn't feel very well. So we turned straight back home. Back home I ended up throwing up, twice, thus adding the 3rd cleansing experience this year. I had a nice 3 hour sleep, and then woke up to find that my relatives would come in 30 minutes to celebrate my birthday. 

Here is Max's loot:

TDF

Leon got all of us, N.B. including, "infected" with the Tour de France fever as we were all watching each stage every day for the past three weeks. It is now over (Contador won on a slimmest margin) and we are already looking in anticipation to the next year event. Perhaps we'll make the trip too.

Outing in Boston

Alik is in Boston this week, so the four of us, plus parents, join him there on Saturday spending a fabulous day together. After the obligatory stroll through Boston Common, Beacon Street and Quincy Market we had a nice lobster dinner at Tia's and then, on the way back, a big finish at Finale.




P.S. Also, despite Leon's objections, we did a quick drive-through Brandeis (thumbs down), Northeastern (ok) and B.U. campuses (ok).

Max the Gunsmith

A note from the latest generation in the long and proud history of Lyakovetsky's gun makers:

 My LEGO AK-47. By far, my best Lego weapon. I've done a Bushmaster ACR, Atchinson Assault Shotgun AA-12, and a Desert Eagle. But this is no match. Of course, its not the best, its got a few problems, but it is the best work I've done, and it will always be. :)

(This post is written by Max)

Dead Squirrel

A squirrel felt to its death while doing air acrobatics between the trees in the front yard. This untimely demise missed the garbage pickup by few minutes (next one is on Tuesday). Since keeping the animal corpse in a plastic bag inside the garbage can in 90 degrees weather for 4 days wouldn't be good, Max and I decided to bury it. Max researched the depth of the hole (1.5 feet) and confirmed the presence of decomposing worms and bugs in Southwest Connecticut soil. We selected a quiet place far from the well and the leaching field. Digging a hole wasn't too easy as the soil was full of rocks and roots. But it is all set now. RIP, the squirrel who wished it could fly...

See pictures here...

Max's "End of School" Party

Max's "End of School" party was a big success this year with large turn out - 7 kids and 3 parents. First, they went to see "Toy Story 3" and after the movie they had water fight on and off the trampoline (fourth, in the backyard history, all assembled by Leon this time) and played ball. Comparing to last year, all kids got much better in the game. It was actually fun to watch. Of course, kids wasted first 10 minutes yelling at each other over who's playing on whose team until Leon decisively divided them into two teams. He is great with kids and they love him too. We had a good time too, sitting and chatting with parents for a while. This is it for Max at Columbus School - Tuesday is the last day. No more late long school buses and lazy late mornings...

More pictures from the party...

Dana the Gymnast

Check this out - likely the first gymnast in the long and proud Lyakhovetskiy-Lakowsky-Batlin athletic history...



It's all awesome, but the true fun begins at 0'35".

Leon Wins Cat 4 Criterium in New London, CT

For the 1st place, he got $80 and flowers(???).

Misha and Irina Vladimirovna

Misha and Ira were visiting with us for a week. ... It went by too fast and we had so much fun that they were late to the plane. Of major accomplishments - criss-crossing Manhattan, tour of the Intrepid, Mia's party at Andrey's, trip to Mystic and having NKK paperwork done for Olya.

See more pictures here

Leon Inducted into Honors Society

We're not sure how it happened, but here it is...

Nikita's Visit

Nikita was visiting with us on the way to and from a conference in Monterrey. The highlight of the visit was a trip to the city. We toured NYU grounds, saw the "Dance Parade" and walked for a while in SoHo. On the way to and from the city, we took the train. Normally, a pleasant experience, this time it was anything but... On the way there, a homeless man smelling of urine sat next to Irene all the way through. On the way back, at Grand Central, at the last minute, they announced that the train has mechanical issues and asked everyone to switch to another train. The train was packed and it was nasty hot down there...

See more pictures here...

Leon's Junior Prom

Really, Dad?...

More pictures here

Robbery

Continuing with the crime theme... See the previous post "Grand Theft Auto"? Apparently, our neighbors were robbed after all... I am now a "star witness" to multitude of insurance companies and police.

Police Blotter

This post is written by Max

Lately, there was a little firearm "outburst" outside of my school last week. Kids were scared, and adults were horrified. The outcome of the problem was even worse. Everyday at recess, there is a cop car behind my school property. Yep, no fun for kids knowing the fact that theres a cop RIGHT NEXT to them.

Grand Theft Auto

Remember that van that my MIA neighbor's "friends" left stuck in my lawn? We talked to one of the delinquents - asked them to remove the van or have my neighbor call me - but to no avail. Then we talked to police  - nice officer Kellogg said since it's not a criminal matter, it's my own problem. We then called the towing company but they said they wouldn't touch someone's abandoned van without a police order. So, after two weeks of failed diplomacy, we took the matter in our hands. With an Internet page in one hand and a power drill in another, the lock on the van was compromised ("laparoscopically", via the cheap plastic cover of the door handle - shame on you, General Motors) and the door was open. Unfortunately, it didn't help much because the transmission was still locked. But at that moment, serendipitously, like in a Hollywood movie, the Marines had arrived. The Marines took form of my other neighbor driving his very own back-hoe-bulldozer. Without much doubt, we hooked the back of the van with the bulldozer knife and pushed it off my property. We entertained the evil idea of pushing the van all the way to the street (if it is on the public property, police takes it from there), but decided that we've done enough breaking&entering for the day.

Happy Dance

Max's A.T. program at school studies how to invent things. As part of the program, the kids need to keep a "Invention Journal", where they write their creative thoughts and ideas. At the end, they need to present some invention. With Max, we decided to present as his invention the hilarious narrated dance sequence that he calls "Happy Dance".

(We are still in talks with the inventor for making a short movie demonstration of the invention. Hopefully it will come soon)

April's Fool

For April's Fool, Dad played an elaborate prank on Max, spending good hour on making a copy of Norwalk Public School web site complete with the announcement that the school will be in session on Good Friday (April 2nd) and changing the routing on all home computers to lead to the fake. Max totally bought it, got mad and start calling his friend Dennis. This turn of events was not anticipated and since Dennis was not "in" on the joke, we had to tell Max the truth. Max appreciated the prank (though still nervously confirming that the school was indeed off). Not even 15 minutes later, Max exacted the revenge by telling Dad that he hacked into his emails. Max's computer screen was indeed showing some Dad's emails. Turns out, Max with Dennis' help, via YouTube quickly learned how to make a web page editable and simply faked some emails right in the browser... No phony web sites, no routing changes... Simple and elegant... Quoting Leon, who is the Durak now...

Escape to the Paradise

Last week, Irene and I went on a short unplanned power break to Dominican Republic where we joined our dear friends Krause recuperating after the depressing Petersburg's winter.

Dominican Republic was everything it promised to be and some more - generous sun, blue sky, clear warm water, sand beaches, palm trees, seafood, free drinks, lazy service, and, surprisingly, broadband wi-fi and a rock solid cell coverage.

(click for more pictures)

We spent all of the waking hours talking to our friends and we could easily go for more and more. So, everything was perfect and even flights were easy and quick and the only thing we came to regret was how quick it all went by. That, and, of course, the fact that we went alone, without kids - for Leon it was first week after his break and he couldn't miss it and Max, without Leon, decided against the trip (he said, 'you are going to talk in Russian about adult stuff and I'll be bored').

Since most of the troubles come in threes, in three days while we were away, the three unpleasant things had occured.

1. On Wednesday, Leon, coming back from his first group ride of the season somehow lost his beloved brand new custom designed Oakleys.
2. On Thursday, Max had an early dismissal at school. Unable to reach any of us on the phone from school, he took the school bus home, and, having almost two hours to kill while waiting for grandpa (kids stayed at grandparents), he jumped on the bike and rode to Dennis' house (a two-mile trip across a couple of big roads that he never made alone before). At Dennis' house, he circled around and instead of coming over, he decided to head back. He didn't have his helmet on and he could be easily stopped by any passing cop. When I asked him about it, he said - yeah, I thought about it, but come on, Dad, how often do you see a cop in our neighborhood anyway? So, the criminal act was premeditated and carefully planned. Max - a juvenile delinquent in making...
3. On Friday, my neighbor's moronic friends managed to get a huge van stuck up to its axles in my lawn. It is still helplessly sitting there. I'm calling cops. Ha-ha, Max.

Invisible Fence

Narrowly escaping death by electrocution earlier in the week, Dad almost got himself into another voltage related trouble. While jogging around the town, observing the destruction and devastation brought by the storm to some neighbors houses, Dad noticed, not without some healthy Schadenfreude, that the power was still out on some of the properties. The neighbors dogs, already unnerved by the non-stop high-pitch buzz of the chain saws of tree removal crews were barking louder than usual. The sight of Dad happily jogging, made them only madder and they charged full speed towards him. Nonplussed, Dad continued the run while it slowly dawned on him that if the power is down then the 'invisible fence' is down, and if the 'invisible fence' is down, then the only thing keeping dogs from attacking is, well, some reflexes. And shall the reflexes (same as the pump insulation earlier) prove to be less than perfect, Dad's disfigured arms and legs would be an ungainly attraction at the beaches of Dominican Republic, where he was heading in a few days.

Chess Comeback

Thrown by lack of Internet connectivity (due to the storm) practically all the way to the Stone Age, kids turned to chess. This second in a year comeback of chess made us think - what next ... reading ...? But, oh, shucks, the 'net is back, hopes of having them read anything longer than a Facebook post - shuttered.

Great Flood(s)

Last week brought two epic floods of different scale.

First, following how many years of abuse, we finally managed to clog the kitchen drain for good. After some meaningless exercises with the plunger, Dad said it's time to do it "right", opened up the drain and tried to clean it with the power-drill mounted snake. Max was duped into believing that Dad was drilling for oil and was quite disappointed when all 25 feet of snake came back empty. It was time to call professionals. Carlos, his helper and Dad, opened up the pipe full of atherosclerotical built-up and performed a garden-hose colonoscopy, thoroughly showering themselves in the process with bucketfulls of disgusting foul smelling slime... This yet another cleansing experience in a month, made Dad seriously considering going vegan (or, perhaps, investing in a proper garbage disposal device).

On the macro-scale, the event replayed just few days later, when strong wind toppled enough trees to knock off power lines throughout the town. The pouring rain finished the job, flooding what was not blocked by the felled trees. Meanwhile, coming back home late night after having a merry time with friends and family in Brooklyn, we discovered basement flooded and more water loudly dripping in at a steady clip. After finding the power generator in a sorry state of neglect, Dad set off into rain and dark looking for some fresh gasoline and motor oil. By 4 in the morning, the generator came to life, waking up, without doubt, most of the neighborhood. Dad, extension cord in hand, waded through basement waters and plugged the submersible pump into the outlet. It was only after the electrical whining of the pump and the sound of water pouring out brought Dad a moment of reflection (attaboy!), did he realize how close he was to being electrocuted in his own basement, shall the insulation on the pump turned to be anything less than perfect.

P.S. The third plumbing emergency happened a few days later - while trying to clean a clogged drain the bathroom, Dad broke the pipe for good and spent his Sunday afternoon cursing the lack of standardization in plumbing industry up and down the supply isle in Home Dept and re-learning the dark art of teflon taping the joints.