Winning never gets old!!

Just a quick (and semi-late) update. Last weekend we once again added some more hardware to the Vici name by winning the Baltic League!!! We had a semi final game where we played Lemminkainen for like the 80^th time this season. We started the game a little slow, and weren’t able to hit anything, so the game was actually close for awhile. After settling down in the second half we pulled away more and once again won by double digits. Ugly game, but I still of course chanted “we goin to the ship” afterwards (shout out to all my Hardball fans!! :) ).

The championship game was then against a Russian Spartak team, but no, not the same Spartak team from Euroleague. They were still going to be good competition though as they had some strong players including a girl from the WNBA. It was a pretty exciting game, and once again nice to play against tougher competition, but our girls were raining 3s left and right and we ended up with a double digit lead for most of the game, winning 85-72!! It was a great win as most everyone played well, making it a big team effort. :)

We had another big celebration similar to the DNB Cup win, including my favorite- you guessed it- CONFETTI (see “Checks on my Bucket List” post)!!!! We again had so much fun celebrating, as you can see in all these pictures and videos--

http://www.basketnews.lt/news-38543-vici-aistes-apgyne-bwbl-cempioniu-titula-video-foto-komentarai.html  (video at the bottom. And if you notice in the one picture below of Marina where Courtnay’s behind her putting her hands up making the "3" sign over her eyes- those are called "3 goggles". It was all the rage in college basketball this year and I was happy to bring the trend to Lithuania!! You can see Marina and I doing it on the bench when Courtnay hits a 3 and Marina also did it in the game after she hit one of her 3s. Nothing like a good celebratory fad! Lol.)

http://www.lrytas.lt/videonews/?id=13023616381300812956  (Notice when they show me, Vita, Lina and Courtnay together. They started taking pictures of us and I kept saying "dar, dar, dar" which means "more, more, more". See, my Lithuanian is good! ;) Haha)

They even gave us Championship shirts right after the game-- LEGIT.



LOVE this laughter pic!! :)



Trophy presentation

Raining confetti!!

(And Marina hamming it up as usual...lol)

CHAMPSSSSS!!!!! :)

"3 goggles"!!! :)

Teammates, Champions, Friends... <3

"Don't let them shave your head..."

Well most of you probably already know by now thanks to the social networking of both Facebook and my family, but I had my first real injury here in Lithuania. It actually happened about 2 weeks about but I’m gonna use my busy schedule and my minor concussion as an excuse for why it took me so long to blog about it. :) Also, I’m gonna cheat a little bit and rather than recount the whole story again, I’m copy and pasting the email that I wrote to my family about it the day after it happened…

So yesterday was like an easier day of practice. In the morning we just shot and then in the evening we had a "fun day" of playing games (which as we all know by now ended up not being so fun...lol). We played like 5 variations of tag, some monkey in the middle type stuff, things like that. Then the final thing we did was play soccer. As we know I am NOT the best soccer player (as we can remember from my brief and embarrassing stint in the Belle Clair soccer League...). But regardless I wanted to try my best. After playing goalie the entire game, Pikce decided she wanted to trade me so I went out as a regular player. Well literally the very next play the other team had a corner throw-in so everyone was obviously huddled close to the goal. Marius (strength coach) has like a 3 foot vertical so we knew they were gonna try to lob it up to him for a header. Well after that I'm not sure exactly what happened. When we both jumped to try to get it I remember hearing a loud pop/crunch sound and then things were black for a sec until I landed and realized we had bumped heads. I started stumbling around a little, trying to collect myself, obviously holding my head where I had got bumped. Then when people came around asking if I was ok I took my hand away and saw a whole bunch of blood. I figured I was ok enough so I walked over (with a couple of the girls’ help) to the bleachers and sat down. Marius was obviously much worse from the beginning. His nose was bleeding everywhere and they pretty much assumed it was broken right away. We sat there for awhile with Migle going back and forth tending between the 2 of us, with the girls intermittently coming and asking how we were. Then to my surprise Court was like "you know they called the ambulance for you guys" and all of a sudden like 3 EMTs were by me checking my head. It's not as dramatic as it sounds, but I was still surprised that they went to that trouble, since I didn't think the cut was that bad. But they said they were gonna take me to the hospital bc they thought I needed stitches. While waiting for the girls to get all my things together, the EMTs asked me (through thebroken translation of Vita) if I wanted some pain meds. Assuming I'd get a quick IV or something I said ok, forgetting that that's not the way they do it here. Sooo in the middle of the gym they pulled down the side of my pants and gave me a shot in the butt! Hahaha. No worries, completely normal here. Lol. And really at that point I didn't care. My butt was actually pretty sore from it though which i guess was ok bc it took my mind off my throbbing head.

Anyways, then walking out I got the big surprise to finally get my 1st ambulance ride! (As you guys remember i've always been a little bitter that Mom didn't let me ride in the ambulance when i got my first stitches when I was 6. Lol. So this was a dream come true! That is, to ride in an ambulance but not for a serious medical issue :) ). It wasn't as exciting as I thought as we didn't have the sirens on and since no one else spoke English (just Marius and I in there and he doesn’t speak it) andddd the fact that my head was still hurting. But we made it to the hospital with Migle and Courtnay following. Filled out some papers and then they took me back to a gurney to lie down. Then after like 8 people huddled around me and looked at my head (all speaking Lithuanian mind you), the 1 nurse who spoke English came and told me that they were gonna give me some stitches and do a CT scan. All fine with me until she said they were gonna have to shave my head a little around the cut!! :( (which as i was leaving the gym and all the girls were wishing me well, the last thing Giedre said was "good luck, don't let them shave your head!" Haha). So they took a little razor blade and i guess made a clearing around my cut. Still haven't seen it yet so don't know the damage...

Then they wheeled me to a room to get stitches. The guy nurse/doctor spoke pretty good English and told me he was gonna give me an anesthetic first which would hurt but then I wouldn't feel anything after that. Sounded good to me. And it did hurt a little but nothing too bad. Wellllll then he started in on the stitches which I COULD FEEL! So I said "I feel, I feel, I feel!" (Yes, broken English. Hahaha.) And he said "Yeah? You feel?" and I said "yes!" Ha. It didn't hurt too bad but knowing that I wasn't supposed to be feeling anything I wanted to tell him before he started the serious work! So he said he'd do more anesthetic- remember, the stuff that hurts? Well it did! I don't know if he did 3 different shots of it or was just moving his needle all around or what but it was ROUGH! As I was wincing in pain and mumbling a mixture of English and Lithuanian curse words, the nurse who spoke only Lithuanian grabbed my hand and tried to comfort me, so that was nice. I guess there's no language barrier for being in pain. Haha. But after that they stitched me up no problem (4 stitches!) and then took me to get my CT done. Then they wheeled me back to the like triage area and I sat there waiting for awhile until I asked the English speaking nurse if Migle could come see me. I hadn't seen her since they first took me back so I kinda wanted to touch base and see what was going on. So she came back and then sat with me for awhile. Said we had to wait for my test results to come back. She also said that Marius' nose was broken pretty badly, in like 3 places. So looks like I at least got the better end of the deal! Ha. Migle also had them give me some more pain meds (another shot in the butt!) so that made things feel better. She sat there for awhile just talking, holding my hand and petting my head like a mother of course while we waited. As you know, she takes such good care of us. :) She left then to go check on Marius again and I dozed off after that. She came back and woke me up to tell me that my test results were fine and we could leave. Although the gauze they had wrapped me in was full of blood so she asked someone to re-do it before we left. Which it was a differently lady who did it TERRIBLY!! My ears were sticking out everywhere and my hair was a mess under it. So after we walked out to the waiting room and Court and Marius (and allll the other people out there) got a good laugh at me, Migle sat and re-did it. Court and I left then, around 9 or 9:30, but apparently Marius and Migle didn't end up leaving til 11:30. Turns out he has to get surgery this week to fix it! Poor guy!!! :(

So I feel fine now. My head hurts a little but that’s expected, nothing serious and all my tests results were fine so I'm generally ok! :) I just have to wear this stupid gauze all around my head like a mummy! Court stayed at my apartment last night to make sure that I didn't get sick (like from a concussion) throughout the night (which I didn't). No practice today, there were only aerobics this morning which I got to miss. :) Honestly the worst part right now is that I can't wash my hair myself!!! Mind you it was already sweaty from our "games practice" and then it got all covered in blood! I think the nurse tried to wash it with a cloth a little bit but it didn't help much! It's this nasty, crunchy, grody mess!!! And, as Court said, it looks like I dyed my hair red!! Lol. So as soon as Court gets back from aerobics I think she’s gonna come help me wash it. I know, such a good friend. :) And I can’t wait!!!

Well, that’s my story. Crazy how it all went down. Funny- or not so funny- that the time I get hurt is while playing soccer. And of course I have now vowed to never play that stupid sport again! Ha. But I am glad that it wasn’t too serious and that it happened during an off week with no games. I would have been even more heated if I would have had to miss a game because of it! Also lucky that I only got what I would consider a “mild concussion”. I really felt ok for the most part and after taking a week off I was good to go when I started practicing again. I got the stitches out a few days ago and it doesn’t look that bad. My bald spot is growing back and can now be classified as “stubble”. Luckily its on the right side of my head and I’m a parter on the left side so my hair should always cover it. Probably the worst part was having to be careful when washing my hair for the week I had stitches. And the fact that I had to constantly keep my whole head covered in my mummy gauze. We came up with a solution though where I could wear Marina’s loose-fitting stocking cap to cover it up. Not really my style (I looked like a gangster) but it was less embarrassing than walking around looking like I was recovering from World War 2…hahaha.

So I’ve now got my 3^rd set of stitches and just another story to add to my memories. :) And of course, my stories are always better told in pictures….Enjoy! (But warning- there's a few blood shots. Don't get queasy ;) )



Stop for a photo op on our way out to the ambulance. Smiles = still riding high on adrenaline



They wanted me to leave the hospital like this. That'd seem a little awkward/scary to me.

Hot mess. The re-do of my gauze before Migle fixed me.

Just a few stitches to hold my skull together...no big deal ;)

The aforementioned " nasty, crunchy, grody mess" that was my hair

No worries, that's not red hair dye, just blood!

Bald spot, Day 1

Hoodlum for a week ;)

No more stitches! Just a jagged scar, mild bald spot, and some terrible roots that need to be re-dyed!! (Don't judge! Lol.)

Blue Chicken, Smoke and XBOX = Belarus

Last weekend was our trip to Belarus for the Baltic League Semifinals. It was a 3-4 hour trip by bus which wasn’t so bad because we got the most pimped-out bus I’ve ever been on! Rather than the usual “bus” we take (which is really just a glorified van) we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves travelling on a bus that had big comfy leather seats that were set up around small tables, almost like a restaurant. Even better, the Fab Five crew had our very own VIP section in the back, with a big U-shaped booth like we were in a club or something. Needless to say, we were riding in style! And it’s lucky for us that we had such a nice bus because we spent a majority of the trip sitting, waiting at the border. For some reason, Belarus has strict border patrols so it was kind of a pain having to stop and wait and then have armed soldiers come on the bus and check everyone’s passports individually. Yikes! But we made it through ok, and of course made a good time of it together. Remember, having a good time isn’t about where you are or what you’re doing, it’s about who you’re with! :) So of course Vici had some fun!

I was originally excited to travel to Belarus for a few reasons. 1- we hadn’t travelled outside of Lithuania in a few months; 2- Belarus was an unknown place to me so I was anxious to see what it’s like ; and 3- you know I’m always excited to get a new stamp/visa in my passport! :) However, the trip itself didn’t live up to the hype. About a week before we left the girls started telling us that Belarus was a “different” and “interesting” place that in fact isn’t very exciting. They also told us that the food there isn’t the greatest, including some “blue chicken” that apparently some of them had got in a previous trip. So my hopes weren’t too high going into the trip, and once we got there I’m glad I had low expectations. For lack of a better explanation, Belarus (or at least where we were in Minsk) was kind of the typical, Euro-trashy place. It was kind of drab and kind of dirty, but the worst part overall was the smoke. Apparently there are no non-smoking rules, including inside everywhereee in our hotel. Basically you woke up smelling and breathing a smoky atmosphere and it didn’t go away all day. Needless to say, it was NOT up to the Jean Kemezys hotel standards. ;)

Anyways, besides the hotel, the games were a better story! We knew we’d be playing 3 games in 3 days and had to at least win 2 of them in order to move onto the Baltic Final Four. Although this was better competition than the LMKL, the first two games were against the lower teams of the pool and we ended up beating both of them pretty handily. So even though the 3^rd game was simply for pride and a better seeding, it still had some added excitement because it was against the stronger Belarus team, which was comprised of many players from the Belarus National Team (aka these girls were more legit than our usual competition). It was an exciting game from the beginning and definitely the biggest “battle” type game that we’ve had since Euroleague ended. It was especially nice for me that they had some legit post players (both tall and wide) who I could bang around with. Since we all know that my style is more of a physical game and not so euro-finesse, it’s been killing me playing all these LMKL girls who are barely 6 feet tall and about as wide as one of my legs!! So after a tough battle back and forth for most of the game we ended up hitting some timely shots and getting defensive stops when needed and pulled the game out by 6. Overall it was really just nice to play in a legit competitive game again. Those are the type of games I enjoy the most and are why I love playing! It’s so much fun going to battle with a team you love and seeing our hard work pay off.

Also, after the final game, as the announcers were rambling on in Russian, I heard my name called, and after looking around questioningly, my team urged me to go accept an award. In all honesty I wasn’t for sure what it was, some type of player of the game or weekend or something, but it included getting a (JANKY!) trophy that has some Russian writing on it (that I of course Google translated with the results of “Best Players, Semi-final match, Championship BZHBL” where I think the BZHBL stands for the Baltic League). So it was nice to get something but even better that the team was more excited about it for me than I was. And of course the best part was that the team played well and won all three games!

My dollar store trophy :)

Overall, even though Belarus wasn’t the nicest country to visit, we are happy with the results and of course had fun off the court too. A few other comments on the trip overall:

- Luckily there was no blue chicken as expected but the food wasn’t the greatest in general. Although my food selections have increased greatly over the past year, I still had trouble stomaching the borscht and some sort of curd-filled pastry that they had (although I did try it!). It wasn’t a total food disaster, but it did make me even more anxious for American food (or even Lithuanian food for that matter)!!

- Courtnay and I each had somewhat of “wardrobe malfunctions” this trip. Before we had left Kaunas, Court, Giedre, Marina and I stopped at the Sandwich Bar for lunch and for some reason (nothing short than a miracle of God’s!) I all of a sudden remembered that I had only packed one of my jerseys. Luckily we had time for Giedre to race me home and get it before we met up for the bus. Major crisis averted! Courtnay’s was a little funnier in that seconds before our first game, when we were all taking our warm ups off, she looked down and noticed that she was wearing our Euroleague shorts instead of the LMKL uniform shorts that we all had on. It’s not really a big deal seeing that they’re pretty similar minus a few advertisements on them, but it was still a funny moment when Court pulled off her warm up pants and had a minor freak out. But all in all, we made it ok.

- Since this was gonna be a long trip Marina decided to bring her XBOX along to have in the hotel. We had a lot of down time, so her and I spent a few evenings having some heated battles on a war/shooting game (yes, we got yelled at by our hotel neighbors for screaming so loud at times…and yes, we sometimes act like middle-schoolers…lol). It definitely took me back to the great days of playing GoldenEye on N64 (still the best gaming system EVER in my opinion) with my sister and cousins (you know I always beat you Kate!! Lol). As a closet “gamer” it was fun to have that along for the trip and even though I lost every game because of home-gaming-system-advantage I’m determined to beat Marina before I leave Lithuania! Haha.

- In case any of you are wondering, I also learned that Belarus is apparently the place to go for buying cigarettes, alcohol and some over the counter drugs. Apparently the cigarettes and alcohol are remarkably cheaper in Belarus and they also offer some drugs over the counter there that you have to get a prescription to get in Lithuania. Although we didn’t go crazy on this contraband, some of the girls did stock up on a few things, including some champagne and beer that we enjoyed during our celebratory ride home on the “Soul Bus”. So if you ever need some cheap cigs, alcohol or mildly-banned drugs, Minsk, Belarus is the place to go! You really do learn something new every day, huh? :)

 - Finally, a few of the players on the teams we played were Ukrainian and I just can’t NOT share this video clip seeing that it was all I kept thinking about. And yes, it took everything in my power not to trash talk with them by saying “the Ukraine is weak”!! Hahaha. I <3 Seinfeld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzLtF_PxbYw

More parents!

Well once the food coma from everything we ate while my parents were here, Courtnay and I had to gear up for more visitors! Courtnay's Dad and his girlfriend Nicolette came to visit and we again had a great time! I won't do the whole day-by-day break down again, but I will give a quick recap and then share the tons of awesome pics we took!

We hit up the same hot spots as with my parents including Trakai castle and Bajorkiemis. :) They got to hang with girls a little, visit the famous Sabonis center where we play at and also travel to see a not-so-exiciting blowout LMKL game. And to top off the trip, we spent the weekend in Vilnius. After spending so much time with Court it was great to finally meet her dad and to show off our little slice of Lithuaian life with some more visitors. We had such a great time as you'll see from all our pictures.... 

Courtnay, Lina and I at Trakai Castle

Such a cute bridge shot :)

Love her!

Of course we can't take serious pictures together :)

Kibinine- the famous food of Trakai (basically meat inside a flaky pastry. Not bad.) 

Dinner with friends. Including a tower of beer :)

Our "Fab Five". Love them! <3

This is how we feel during LMKL games sometimes...lol

North Americans! :)

(And dang, you can even see the hole in my sock in this pic! Just ghetto....lol.)

Me, Giedre, Lina and Court...

Always good times :)

In Vilnius...ready for some pancakes!!

So classy with our Cosmopolitans :)

Even Linas had a Cosmo!

Yellow, green and red "Lithuanian shot"...let's just say it's better in theory...

Best Parents EVER!!!

In case you didn’t know this already, I (biasedly yet whole-heartedly) believe that my parents are the best parents in the world. :) I can say this with confidence because they have always been literally 100% devoted to my sister and I. And once again thy proved that devotion by coming halfway around the world to visit me here in Lithuania! It was a great week spent together, and overall such a great experience to be able to share my life here with them. We did so much during the whole week but I’ll try to give a quick recap of everything.

[Sidenote: As a little family history- my grandparents left Lithuania during WW2 and since then only my Mociute and Aunt Lina have visited. So yes, this was my Dad’s first time in his “homeland” which made the trip extra special :) ]

Sunday

Courtnay and I picked them up at the Vilnius airport around 2:00. We got there about an hour early to pick them up, so yes, I was that nervously excited person in the arrivals terminal waiting for my peeps to get there. Once they finally came through the doors and I mauled them with hugs we ventured over to one of the malls and took them to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in Vilnius, called Vapiano. After this we just drove around Vilnius for awhile so my parents could see part of the old town and some of the city. Basically, Dad was just so excited to actually be in Lithuania that he was happy to just take in the surroundings.

We then headed back to Kaunas and spent the rest of the evening getting them settled into their hotel and showing them my apartment. They actually ended up staying in the Hotel Daniela which was the hotel I stayed at for my first 3 weeks here in Lithuania. So that was kind of cool that they truly got to experience the same thing I did…minus all the practices ;)

My sign says "Welcome to Lithuania!!"

Monday



I had practice in the morning and then surprisingly had the evening off so I went to the hotel to meet the rents. Since they weren’t expecting me and didn’t set an alarm, I woke up the jet-lagged couple at 1:30. I think they could have slept a little longer, but instead we decided to enjoy the day and head down to the Kaunas Old Town area. It was great to walk up and down the store-lined cobble stone streets and take in the atmosphere. Mom and Dad got to experience fried bread (our favorite appetizer here that is pretty much just like it sounds) and Vero Café (the Starbucks of Kaunas)- 2 staples that Courtnay and I enjoy often. That evening Marina and Giedre’s university teams (kind of like club teams that the girls sometimes play with on Monday nights) were playing each other so Mom, Dad, Courtnay and I decided we wanted to go to that. This turned out to be more of an adventure to get there than anything else. Marina had given me some directions that basically ended with us having to turn into a warehouse type area that had a guard on duty and a lot of factory buildings. Well, we found an area like that, butttt it was definitely NOT the right place. After driving back in between a bunch of old abandon warehouse buildings we got to a dead end parking lot where all of a sudden a siren started going off. Um, cue the part of the horror movie where we all get killed!! Luckily we made it out of there ok and ended up finding the gym, but it was definitely some excitement for the night. The game itself wasn’t that exciting but it was nice because Indre and Kristina were also there watching so my parents got to meet them and then they also finally got to meet Giedre and Marina after the game.

Their first fried bread experience!!



Love this! In the streets of Kaunas Old Town!!

Dad outside the "Gentlemen's Club". I think this pic was for either Uncle Arvid or T-Bone. Lol!



Tuesday

With 2 practices for me, Mom and Dad were on their own for the day and got to explore some of the city themselves. They walked up and down Liberty Blvd (aka “The tree-lined street”) that’s next to the hotel and that I frequented often when I first got here.  I then went down and met them for dinner at the Akropolis mall and we spent the rest of the night walking around there.

Dinner at Akropolis. I made them try out the whole "Lithuanian smile" thing ;)

Wednesday



Game day! After travelling all over the United States to watch almost every single one of my games since I started playing basketball in 2^nd grade,  it was pretty cool that my parents got to see me play a professional game "across the pond" in Lithuania. I wish it would have been one of our exciting Euroleague games (that have been so well documented in this blog ;) ), but they had to settle on seeing a 121-55 blowout against the worst team in the LMKL. Ha. So it wasn’t the high quality “professional” basketball that you’d think, but they were just happy to actually be there and watching a game. They also got to briefly meet the rest of the girls on the team which they enjoyed since they have obviously heard so much about them from me and followed them in the games and stories online.

Thursday

We were lucky enough to have the morning off so after the suggestion of Migle and the girls we headed to the nearby town of Trakai to visit the castle there. Without getting into the history of it (which I don’t really know so you’re better off with Google anyways…), basically it was just neat to be in a castle and feel like you were in the Medieval times. Pictures say it better than words so here you go…

Mops and Pops with the castle!

Dad's dream come true to have me locked up?? :)

Although he looks happier about this one! Haha.

Oh just hanging on the draw bridge... :)

Mom and I headed in :)

Russian soldiers?? Or part of the Wicked Witch's army from Wizard of Oz?? Haha.

Eating lunch with a castle in the background. No big deal...

After evening practice the 3 of us and Courtnay went to a restaurant just outside of town called Bajorkiemis. (And after our teammates making fun of us for pronouncing it just how it looks, we were reminded that a “j” in Lithuanian is actually pronounced like a “y”. Just thought I’d save you from the same embarrassment in case you ever go there. Haha.). Although you can get what’s considered traditional Lithuanian food at almost any restaurant, this place truly makes it feel authentic. Andddd makes you feel like you’re in a food coma afterwards! Not to mention that the seating at the tables are actually couches so it really does just scream “comfort food”. It was an overall fun experience though and my parents really seemed to enjoy the atmosphere.

Loving Lithuanian food!

Cool atmosphere...

Having a great time! :)

Remember, it's like BaYorkiemis :)

Friday



Again, we had the morning off! Hollerrrr!!! They really did luck out and come the perfect week! And we again got another suggestion from the team and headed to Vilnius for the Kaziukas Fair. It’s the annual folk-art fair in the Old Town and although all the stuff was a little too “folk arty” for our tastes, it was neat to see all the hand crafted Lithuanian stuff and just to enjoy the time walking around.

HUGE street market in Vilnius

My parents got a little surprise in the evening when I decided to cook them dinner at my apartment. I made them my standard night-before-game meal of salmon, rice and pasta and they seemed highly impressed! Although I’ve come to enjoy cooking a few things on my own here I just hope they don’t expect me to have dinner on the table every night for them over the summer. I may have dug my own grave here people…

Saturday

Another game my parents got to see. And another blowout of course. This one was 81-51  and against a little better competition so at least that was good.

Best fans ever!! :)

Me and Court (who was unfortunately hurt for the games my parents saw...)

The Kemezys love them some Migle!! She fits right in with us, huh?? :)

That evening Courtnay and I took Mom and Dad to another of our favorite places in town, the Grill House steak house where they bring you out your slab of meat on a skillet and you get to cook yourself at the table. It’s definitely a cool place just for the experience and the food is good…especially when you smuggle in your own A1 sauce from America!! :)

Courtnay and I at the Steak place (and yes, that's more fried bread in front of us. Lol)

DIY steak

A1 Sauce...don't leave America without it!

Sunday



I can without a doubt say that this was one of the top 5 days of my Dad’s life. After making contact with my relatives here in January we made sure that we would see each other when my parents came to visit. The rents and I started off the day stopping in Šiauliai to visit the famous Hill of Crosses. This was a pretty big deal for me because for some reason I have a distinct memory of seeing a picture of this in my 7^th grade Social Studies book and saying then that I was bound and determined to visit it one day. (I know, so corny, right? :) ) Again, rather than me trying to explain I’m just gonna plagiarize and let the Internet tell you the details- http://sacredsites.com/europe/lithuania/hill_of_crosses.html. Overall, it’s a very sacred place, with a strong sense of Lithuanian nationalism where people come from all over to leave crosses. My parents and I bought a small wooden cross at the gift store there and took it out to hang, marking our trip. It’s unbelievably amazing to think that I actually got to visit this place, albeit with my parents in tow. Pretty cool that we got to leave our mark on my #1 Lithuanian destination. Along with leaving a part of us at the Hill, I also took some parts of the Hill back with us. I got matching cross necklaces for Kate and I and also got matching rosaries for Mociute and me. I’m definitely big on having shared novelties/mementos and am pretty excited that I could get them from such a special place to share with 2 of the most special people in my life. :)

Hill of Crosses (Kryžiu Kalnas)

Breathtaking...

Literally millions of crosses

The Kemezys cross!

Me giving the JC statue a new necklace :)

The Kemezys were here!



Now all that being said, that part of the day pales in comparison to the rest of the day. We got to Mazeikiai for the evening to spend time with all of our relatives here. For me, it was so good seeing them all again, bringing back that indescribable connection of long-last family. And even more so, my dad got to experience that times 10! They were all so happy to finally meet him and my mom and the day went perfect. There was a total of 10 of us and we literally spent 8 straight hours sitting around their table, talking, laughing, eating, drinking (of course they brought out all the hard alcohol, we’re Lithuanians!!), and getting to know each other. One of the neat parts was that they had a photo album full of pictures that my Mociute had sent them over the years. It was pretty special to think that although we’d never met them before and really knew nothing about them, here they were, for all our lives, following us through pictures. Also, we got some good laughs at seeing my Dad, Uncle Kestas, Uncle Arvid and Aunt Lina in their childhood and teen years!! (Don’t worry those pictures are below! Hope you're happy Uncle Arvid!!! :) ) 

Little Mociute with her brother and parents :)

Mociute on the right. Such a cute bowl cut! :)

Uncle Kestas, Uncle Arvid and of course my goofy Dad in the front

Ok I admit it, I look like my Dad (minus the sideburns ;) )

My Dad, Kemo, the football stud :)

Looking good Uncle Arvid!!! Hahaha

Aunt Lina and Maria are like twins!!

Dad as Santa with baby Katie

I know, we're adorable :)

Mociute and her girls <3

I love this family picture!

Cute little Maria with Kate and I in awkward phases...ha

The evening went on perfectly, and the only things missing were Mociute and the rest of our family being there. It’s sad to think that those reunions might not happen, but it is also heartwarming to know that we could be the link between the families. Mociute’s sisters- sweet Maria and crazy Irena- were just so happy that we were there and were again fawning over us just like they did with me at the funeral.

Just some of alllll the food they had for us!

Mom, me, Edita and her husband (whose name I can't remember right now..ha)

A little dark, but all of us at one end of the table

This is how they do candles on cakes in Lithuania!! Sweet!

Welcome! (Just like my airport sign! :) )

Maria, Irena and Dad

Mociute's on the phone so it's all 3 sisters together! <3

Dad's cousin Marius with his wife and daughter

Dad with Maria's husband and his aunts!

She's hilarious!

 None of us wanted the night to end, as I feel like we could have stayed and enjoyed each others’ company for days. But we were all so very happy for the opportunity to be together and even my dad got pretty emotional when we had to leave. As he was saying it’s crazy that there are these people who you always heard about but never really thought you’d meet, but now you meet them for one day and fall in love with them all, just to have to leave them with the thoughts of never seeing them again. As sobering as an idea that is, I’m so happy that I could see them all again and this time bring my parents. It really meant so much to my dad and it is amazing to think how my basketball career has led to bigger and better things like uniting family members like that. God really does see the big picture in things!! :)



So overall, my parents visit here was even better than imagined!!! I am so happy that they were actually able to make it over here, to see what my life here is like, see some sights, meet my Vici family and also meet all of our actual family. I think Nicki Minaj says it best in her song—“No I’m not lucky, I’m blessed! Yes!!!” :)