We spent two weeks
in Krasnoyarsk and then took a trip to Altai region to see my
extended family that we haven't seen for 4 years. Spencer had to go
back to work, so he took a train with us to Novosibirsk and then flew
to Astana. My mom, the girls and I got on another train to Biysk
where we took a 3 hour bus ride to Soloneshnoye, our final
destination.
On the train traveling from Krasnoyarsk to Novosibirsk. It was an overnight ride, and Spencer was still with us.
Babushka with the girls
We had to wait for about 10 hours at the train station to catch our next train to Biysk. We did go out and walked around the city a bit but then a few hours were spent playing and reading!
While we were at the train station, this couple came and performed some beautiful music for an hour. The husband (Michael Blam) played the violin and the wife played the piano (the piano is behind the poster). It was amazing, and we were truly impressed. Later we found out that the director of the train station decided that music helps people relieve stress from travel, so there are concerts like this one a couple of times a week.
Here is the video of Michael Blam playing (well, mostly it is a video of Babushka and Lexa listening...:)
On the train again. Another overnighter.
Soloneshnoye is a
village of about 2000 people located in a beautiful valley of Altai
mountains. When we got there, they said it had been raining for 2-3
weeks non-stop. It was still raining for another 10 days after our
arrival. However when the sun finally came out, it was beautiful. We
stayed with my aunt (my mom's oldest living sister) and my cousin.
They live just by themselves, so when the six of us arrived, their
peace ended! :)
They live in a log house with no indoor plumbing, an outhouse, a bath house called banya (a steam room), and a well – a dream come true for any adventurous kids. They also had chickens, a hen with chicks, a dog and a couple of cats. When I was a kid, I used to spent all of my summers there. Then they also had a cow with calves, some sheep and pigs, and horses. They don't have those anymore since my uncle died but even with just a dog, cats, and chickens our girls were in heaven!
The fog after the rain
Our happy crew
Hunting for worms to feed them to the chicks
They would look for worms under the logs and wooden boards
And by the dog house...
And then feed them to these happy chicks.
Some neighbor's calves playing on the other side of the creek
There is a little
creek that goes by the house, and the girls spent most of their time
there just playing in the water and trying to catch some fish. They
made fishing poles out of hoe sticks, and tied metal paper clips to
them, dug up some earth worms and went fishing full of enthusiasm! Of
course they didn’t catch anything but the final result wasn't that
important after all. They were just happy to have freedom to do
something on their own, even if it was fishing with metal paper
clips! :)
In front of my aunt's house. The creek is right behind the girls.
During our visit, the girls started a project sewing clothes for the stuffed animals that they brought with us on our vacation. The girls really got into the project, using the scrap cloth that Babushka had been saving to make their creations. They started off sewing by hand, but eventually began using the machine as well.
Our girls are really creative and hands-on. This was a great experience for them to try something new and interesting.
