What Real Winter Looks Like

Every year the locals would tell us that this winter in Astana is going to be brutal, but we haven't really experienced it in the previous three years. Yes, it could get really cold (-40 C or F) but it didn't stay cold for too long. Yes, we could have blizzards but they usually lasted just a few hours in the city (outside of the city is a different story). This January, however, we got a real taste of Kazakh winter. It started with a blizzard which lasted all day long. Akimat (Mayor's office) announced it as an emergency and asked people to stay home if possible. The schools were cancelled, and many businesses were closed early. The winds were so strong that they blew a roof off one of the buildings in the city.

A view from our window during the blizzard

Then a few days later the temperatures dropped down to -36C - 45C (-32 F - 49F) and stayed down for the entire week. Again, all of the schools were canceled, and many government businesses closed down early every day.

Our window during the severe weather.

And because of that, Yuki the dog had to learn to to wear boots! We tried them the first year we got here but she hated them, so we never used them. But that week it was so cold, that her feet would freeze, and she couldn't move. The fun part was when we would come home after walking her, she would stop at the door and patiently wait for us to take of our coats so we could take her boots of. She would not wear her boots in the house!

Putting those boots on her was an ordeal but it was worth it.

Our little fashionista! 

Besides being cold, winters here are very festive! Here we are waiting for our bus at the Children's Palace where our kids go for all of their extracurricular activities. The entire building is covered with bright snowflakes!

Kids can always find fun activities in the winter as long as it is not too cold. Here our kids are playing in the huge pile of snow that was plowed and left right outside of our apartment building.

When the freezing temperatures started to rise, and it was only -20C (-4F), we decided to visit the Ice Village that they built right at the Expo sight across from our university. The Christmas Tree there was one of the best ones I've seen, the slides had plenty of entertainment in store for kids, and the kids were ... just kids.

Christmas Tree right in front of the Sphere, the main Expo building.

Kids are having fun on the slides.

Sophie

Lina

Nika.

A little bit frozen but happy!!!

Ice Village at Night

We have had winter here since the end of October and we'll probably have it until at least the end of March but most likely the first week of April. Yep, we have six months of cold, brutal winter. Most days it is actually OK and stays around -10 C (14 F) but some days it gets much, much colder and with the wind, it is just not fun to be outside. We do love winter though, and all of the winter activities that come with it. One of those is sledding. The city builds a few ice villages for kids and adults to go sledding, and the best one is by Khan Shatyr which is not too far away from us. You can also sled on the river banks, and we did that our first winter here. This year we decided to go to the main ice village at night to have fun and to see all of the Christmas lights. It was really fun even though it was a cold night.

The big Christmas tree in the center of the Ice Village

Kids are having fun sledding

Crash!

You can't really see it from this angle but it is a big Rooster wishing Happy New Year!

Those huge ornaments you can see all over Astana during the winter holidays.

Ice igloo. Fun!

Frozen but happy! Time for hot chocolate!

Winter Holidays 2016

New Year has come and gone, and January is almost over! Where does the time go? Please, let me know if you find the answer! Time. Time is an interesting concept. I hope one day I can have some understanding of it, for now I am just grateful we have time together as a family wherever we are, wherever we live. And now we live in Kazakhstan!

Our winter holidays were calm and crazy at the same time. Most importantly we had time together as a family. Christmas was crazy because of all of the concerts and shows kids had to participate in on that day, so we decided to have our Christmas Eve tradition on Monday, December 26. Spencer stayed home from work, and we all spent the day together relaxing and playing Monopoly. We usually have Russian pelmeni (meat filled dumplings) for our Christmas Eve dinner, and then we talk about the birth of Christ and sing Christmas songs. This year we added a music talent show since we love music so much in our family and all four girls play some music instruments. We had a lot of fun!

Decorating our apartment for Christmas

Making paper snowflakes to hang on our ceiling.

Sophie and Lexa are playing duet during our Christmas Eve music show.

Nika and Lina are performing a song

We do all of the presents on New Year because it is when Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) delivers presents to the kids in this part of the world and because in the past couple of years our kids always had to go to school on Christmas anyway. It actually works out quite nicely. We usually spend the day playing games, cooking, making cookies for Ded Moroz (just like Santa, he also has a sweet tooth!), have our big feast and then have a “moviethon” when we watch Christmas movies both in Russian and English as long as we can stay up with a little break at midnight when we go outside and light sparkles to meet the New Year. This year the New Year Day was on Sunday and so we didn't stay up too late because we had to go to church the very next morning.  The time we spend together is precious and I hope the kids will remember it when they are out of our nest and on their own.

This year we had turkey for New Year's dinner. Turkeys are very hard to find here and when you do find one, it usually costs a fortune! We never had a full roasted turkey even on Thanksgiving here but I was able to find one right before New Years. This baby cost us $50 but it was totally worth it!

Our little Christmas tree after the kids have gone to bed.

New Years morning - always a happy time!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And may thins year you will have a gift of time, time with your loved ones, time with your family!
These candles were a present to Nika.  She made them out of a kit.

Ice Show - December 25, 2016

We got back from our trip to Tbilisi on the morning of Christmas Eve and were planning to have a nice evening with the family but instead we got a message from the girls' figure skating coach that they were needed for the last practice before the show that was taking place the next day. Our life got busy once again. Since we moved here two and a half years ago we became quite flexible in our expectations! :) So, on Christmas Eve we had to go to the figure skating practice, on Christmas Day we went to church in the morning, and then I dropped Nika and Lina off at a place where they had their guitar recital. Then as soon as they came home from that we all got dressed and went to the Children's Palace where our girls were participating in the big Ice Show.

Last year it was a fairy tale. This year the kids were divided into groups, and each group prepared a synchronized dance. Even the little kids who could barely stand on the ice, got a part, and it was fun watching them! All of the kids did great and even though I might be slightly biased (may be just a little bit), I think our group was the best. The common theme for the show was the fairytale of the Snow Queen. Our group played special forces, AKA the Snow Queen's guards. Nika and Lina had the leading parts. It was fun watching them! Afterward, all kids got a bag of candy, which is a standard present for kids during the winter holidays.

Snow Queen

I think they were playing flowers in the winter garden.

Raven

I think they were supposed to be crows but they look more like magpies.

Snow Queen's guards (special forces) are getting ready to perform.

I don't know who is who, I just know the one with the glasses is Lina!

I unfortunately pushed the wrong button while filming their performance and only recorded the second half of it (the second video). One of the other moms recorded the first part but not the second (the first video), so you would need to watch both videos to see the whole dance. Nika and Lina are the ones who are doing "swallows" (skate on one foot while the other one is extended in the air) at the very beginning

Gangsters

Kay and Gerda

Little mice

Trees

Snowflakes

Shamans (medicine men)

I am not sure who they were playing but they did the best jumps.

Blizzard

Special Forces all together after they got their presents

They can take on any task!

Going home. This is right outside of the Children's Palace.

A train with presents!

I love this time of the year! Everything is so festive! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ice Skating at Alau

December 16^th was Kazakhstan's Independence Day. It was 25 years since the collapse of Soviet Union when Kazakhstan gained its independence status. There were a lot of celebrations in the city but we decided that we would take the kids skating to the Ice Arena (like they don't get enough of skating every week with their figure skating lessons! :) Unfortunately, Veronika and Polina managed to get into a big trouble the night before and were grounded for the day. I left them with babushka to work on their homework and to clean our apartment to earn a trip to the movies to watch Moana that afternoon, and took the twins for a fun morning at the skating rink. Last year when I skated with them, they couldn't keep up with me. This year I couldn't keep up with them. Either I got older or they got much better (I prefer the later one!). They did make an amazing progress over the last year. They do spins and little jumps and a lot of other little tricks and were happy to show them off to me.

Twins on the speed skating rink (there are also two hockey rinks in the middle)

Enjoying themselves!

Lexa getting ready to do a jump

Sophie is doing the same

You get to see all kinds of people on the rink! Love it!

Because of Independence Day, there was a little program at the Ice Arena. Elsa from Frozen was showing tricks with bubbles and fire. They also had a little speed skating competition for kids. Sophie and Lexa wanted to participate, so I signed them up. The kids raced in pairs, and the twins ended up racing against each other. They were the fastest skaters, and of the two Sophie won because Lexa started slowing down upon seeing what she thought was the finish line but it wasn't, and Sophie just couldn't stop because I sharpened her skates half an hour earlier (their description of what happened at the finish line!). All of the participants (they only allowed 8 kids to compete) received a little gift, a stuffed toy Alau, the symbol of the Ice Arena.

Elsa making bubbles dance

And here Elsa is setting a poor kid on fire! The audience was very excited!

 Twins racing against each other.

Racers!

Winners!

Skating is fun!

Happy kid!

Satisfied!

Happy and a little tired, ready to go to the movies!

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

All in all we had a lot of fun that day, and I am so happy that the girls take after me in loving all the winter sports, especially ice skating!