Catching up with our lives - summer 2019

We got back to Kazakhstan from our trip to Utah at the end of June which meant that we had most of the summer here. It was the first time that we spent most of the summer in Astana. We usually would have a trip to Utah and a trip to somewhere else like Russia, but this time we just stayed in Astana. This meant we had to occupy our time with something fun and productive. So, here are some pictures showing what we did this summer after we got back from America.

We celebrated 4th of July by going to McDonalds at the Mall across the street. 

Our twins put on a fashion show which all of a sudden gave me a scary thought: they are growing up way too fast!

Our summer in Astana was really hot this year but most people were gone on vacations, so it felt like our kids were the only kids on campus. To get them to go outside every day we decided to get them skateboards (they actually paid for half with their own money). It was a great thing but we ran into unexpected problem: when they would skateboard on campus, the guards would often run after them telling them that it is not safe! Really?!

Yuki has been true to herself and enjoyed all of the attention she could get from her fan-club which became even bigger with the new group of students that arrived in August. 

We made an outing one Friday night out to the Expo site to see the Musical Fountains. 

The fountains were neat but we have seen bigger ones in our life (we did live in Las Vegas after all!)

The neat thing about having the biggest mall in Central Asia just across the street from us is that quite often they do different exhibitions there on weekends. This one was a quilting exhibition (I noticed that most of the quilts were done by Russian artists, it must be not a Kazakh thing)

This one was one of my favorite quilts - an entrance hall in the Opera and Ballet Theater here in Astana.

This summer I decided that I needed a new hobby for myself and decided to try cross-stitching. This was my very first project. I think they turned out cute!

This summer I had a brilliant idea to challenge all of our kids to really learn cooking, so for a couple of months in the summer each girl took a day of a week (every week for almost two months) when she would be cooking a family dinner. They were to come up with their own menu and do all of the cooking only asking me for an advice when needed. This challenge turned out AWESOME! Each one of our girls took this challenge to heart and cooked extraordinary dinners. Sometimes they even came up with new recipes that were exceptionally tasty! They are much better cooks right now than I was going into college! After this experience we decided to work on a family cookbook which will have all of our favorite recipes and which we are planning to publish before our first daughter goes to college.

Sophie is cooking

Lexa is making biscuits 

Lina is making garlic toasts for her chicken-n-dumpling soup.

I do not have a good picture of Nika cooking this summer but here is one of her specialties - beignets. It is definitely going into our family cookbook!

Once other American families from our church came back from their vacations, we had a fun family Taco Night together with some games that quickly became a hit! Here is Spencer going against Nika trying to shake out the most beans from his cup with a little hole.

This summer we had to say good-bye to some of our dear friends. Here we are with the young volunteers from our branch, sisters Beagly and Sever who both left to serve in other cities in Russia and Kazakhstan.

And here we are saying good-bye to one of our favorite couples, the Adairs who moved to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to open a humanitarian services office. 

At the beginning of September we had a nice development on campus - they brought a mini bazaar to us with all of the fresh fruits and vegetables! I was in heaven! These melons are my favorite!  

School started in the middle of August and with that began a new basketball season for Spencer. As our tradition, we had our basketball team over for brunch one Saturday in September. Some of the basketball girls were in America this summer on their work-n-travel visa, and were very excited to see some of the foods they came to love while in America.

And now it is fall!

Some fun before school started

After we came back from our trip to Utah, and before school started again we decided to explore our city again. They just barely opened this new playground and a Botanical Garden very close to campus where we live, so one hot day we decided to check them out. The playground is awesome and our kids are still at the age when they enjoy some good climbing! The Botanical Gardens were neat even though they are not completely finished, there is still construction going on but we had a nice walk. It is supposed to have many native plants as well as some exotic plants. The exotic plants were in these huge green houses that were not opened to public, and most native plants weren't in yet but I suppose in a few years it will look quite nice.

Girls' favorite part of the playground.

Anything that can be climbed is good in our kids' book!

At the parks here you can often find places with these outdoor exercise equipment. In general Kazakhs are very sport driven. This exercise set was at the south entrance to the Botanical Gardens. Of course, we checked it out.

Walking around the gardens. There is still plenty work to be done.

The green houses.

The green houses are huge but unfortunately the entrance is restricted to public.

At the main entrance they have this nice pond.

In the background is the Alau Ice Rink (green roof) where we go skating in the winter.

They are so happy I made them to be in my picture!

I love these flower designs they have all over Astana.

Happy Lexa.

Sophie.

Best friends for life!

Nika.

Lexa.

I always have to sneak up on Lina to catch her with my camera.

The Sphere  (or the Death Star as foreigners named it) in the background which was the main site for the World's Expo last year.

Lexa with Babushka!

Yes, I go on these adventures too. I am usually the one behind the camera.

This year they built these bike and running paths all throughout the city. This one goes all around the Botanical Gardens and connects with others.

Sisters being sisters.

Main Entrance to the Gardens.

These little islands of floral arrangements are all over the city.

Another one.

There were many different events around the city of Astana this summer to celebrate its 25th anniversary as the capital. The National History Museum housed a few traveling exhibits from famous galleries around the world. One of them was from Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow which I always wanted to visit but never had time for it whenever we were in Moscow. I didn't want to miss this great opportunity either. So, one day we all went to the museum. It was very interesting and we saw many famous paintings.

Spencer and Nika admiring art.

This one was one of my favorites; it is so real!

This painting was not part of the exhibit from the Tretyakov Gallery but I like it because it is showing one of the Kazakh traditions which they still follow. When a baby turns one year old, the parents will tie his ankles with yarn, put the baby on the carpet and cut the yarn with scissors. They believe that doing this will help the baby learn how to walk faster. Family and friends gather together to be part of this big step in baby's life.

It was a rainy day but a fun one.

At the end I thought I would through in a random picture of a mushroom just for fun! Actually these mushrooms are edible and come up everywhere on campus in early August and September mornings. One day the girls picked a whole bunch of them and asked me to fry them but by the time I got around doing it, the mushrooms turned into black ink!