Vilija

In August, Darija, Vilija and I set off on a road trip to visit the different orphanages, schools, families and groups that the Daughters of Lithuania support.
The first step was to rent a car that would hold all of the suitcases filled with school supplies, backpacks, winter parkas, vitamins, candies, etc that we brought to distribute. It wasn’t easy to stuff everything in, but we did it. We even managed to carve out a small spot for Vilija in the back seat.
That job took most of the morning and finally we set off on our road trip to Paparciai, Kaunas, Siauliai, Smalininkai, and finally Rumbonys.
That first day we got our first glimpse of the amazing cloud filled skies of Lithuania. Each day was more beautiful than the last, and of course I took hundreds of pictures of just clouds.
I will post a few of those photos later.

Gintas receives he birthday card and box of birthday gifts from The Daughters of Lithuania.
We hope you had a Great Day turning 10 years old!

Best Wishes for a Great 10 Year Birthday!

Last week a group from Paparciai went to Birstonas.
They walked through the woods and enjoyed the fall colors, then visited the “Kings Residence” where they learned to bake very special treats. At the end of the day they were even able to take a dip in the pool!
This very special outing was possible thanks to the generosity of the Daughters of Lithuania, Los Angeles.

Birštonas
Šiandien buvome Birštone, pasivaikščiojome po rudenišką miestą, apsilankėme Karališkoje rezidencijoje, kur gaminome keksiuką dryžių ir gavome jaunesniojo karališkojo konditerio kvalifikaciją.O po sunkaus darbo mūsų laukė atokvėpis -vandens pramogos.Ačiū Lietuvos dukterims iš Los Angelo, kurių dėka mes galėjome taip papromogauti:)

What an honor!
The Daughters of Lithuania were chosen to be Grand Marshal of this years’ 27th Annual Lithuanian Days Fair.

We are profoundly grateful to be recognized for the work the organization does and it was wildly fun to be celebrities for a day. We had 2 booths at the fair … the “Bake a Difference” booth where we sold homemade baked goods and also sold a wide variety of handmade Lithuanian crafts at a second booth. It was a very successful event and we raised lots money for those in need in Lithuania.

This is Stasiukas.
He is 3 and this was his first trip to a zoo.
Ever.
In fact the director said that most of these kids had never even set foot into a restaurant, so the outing to the zoo in Kaunas filled these kids with amazement. To us, this was a fun outing with the little ones, but to them, this day will be something they will probably remember the rest of their lives.
Actually, this trip to the zoo is something that I will remember the rest of my life.

One of the most incredible places on Earth!
I have wanted to visit Kryziu Kalnas for years. No matter how many photos I have seen, I was not prepared for what it is actually like to visit. I have never seen anything like this in my life. Amazing!
Some of the posted information said that there were over 100,000 crosses on the hill, but I’m sure that information was many years old. There had to be Millions of Crosses. MILLIONS!
My first visit was about 2 hours in the morning, but that was not enough time, so I returned in the late afternoon by myself. This time I spent almost 4 hours. As it got later, I was the only person out there which is something I will never forget.
I took almost 1,000 photos and could have kept going, but it got dark!
Here are just a few of them. I will post some more later on.

No one seemed to know exactly what kind of animal this was.
To the kids, it was a Dramblys.
And that was all that mattered!

Last month we took the 7 youngest kids to the zoo in Kaunas.
What a Day!
After taking 19 of the older kids for a day of bowling, games, and pizza the day before, we thought that 7 toddlers at the zoo was going to be easy.
We were wrong! As soon as we were in the gates, they were running everywhere. It was like herding cats, but so much fun.