Fall Break 2016 Part I - Travel to Barcelona

Last year for Fall break we went to Rome.  This year we stuck with our Southern Europe theme and went to Barcelona.  Last year we had to take the kids out of school to go: this year since they are being home schooled (this will require a whole new post) they were on break, too!

Our flight this year was on Aeroflot, so we flew through Moscow again, but through Sheremetovo instead of Vnukovo Airport.  Our flight left at 7:30, so we caught a cab to the airport.  The flight was nice and we had a good break at the airport.  Our next flight was direct to Barcelona.  We arrived at about 4:30 pm.  We made it through passport control without problems, picked up our bags and got into our shuttle.

Eating at the Burger King at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow

Waiting for our flight to Barcelona. We've being to so many airports!

We had ordered an apartment to stay in and were met there by one of the workers - Oxana - who is originally from Russia.  The apartment was nice and was conveniently located near the Subway station and near stores.  We got settled into the apartment and then went out and found a place to eat.  We found a little cafe and ordered food - Paella and seafood dishes - and had our first introduction to Spanish food.  It was a nice introduction!

The living room of our apartment.

Our kitchen with the serving window that opens onto the little patio with the breakfast table.

Hello Barcelona!

Spencer is resting on our balcony

After dinner we walked to a grocery store that was nearby and bought some food for our breakfast in the morning.

We settled in for the night and planned our next day.

We were in Barcelona.

The night view out of our balcony.  There was a big group of students (you can see just a few of them  by the trees but there were probably a couple of hundreds of them right behind the trees) that had a band with them. They played the music and then marched somewhere else. We were told that there is always something going on in Barcelona each weekend. The next day was Sunday , and we got our proof!

Trip to Solonyeshnoe - Part III

One day we went to the cemetery to clean the grave sites of our family members. The girls went to work alongside and were a great help. My mom and aunt were telling stories about each relative, so the kids got a chance to get to know my side of the family better.

Here are Nika and Sophie are hard at work weeding the grave site of their great-grandfather.

Lexa, Nika, and Babushka weeding another grave site.

Some of the things that were part of our everyday life while in Solonyeshnoye:

Tried to catch at least one of the two farm cats.

They don't have an indoor plumbing, so every day we needed to pump water from the well for drinking, cooking, and washing.

Did laundry the old style

And we had to do laundry almost every day because of this! Lexa could find mud almost anywhere!

Washed dishes by hand

Prepared for winter by stacking the firewood.

Went on walks to the river and looked for mushrooms in the forest.  

The greatest thing about our trip to Solonyeshnoye was that the kids got reacquainted and became great friends with their second cousins Varvara and Katya, and later with another cousin Roman. There are just not that many cousins on my side of the family, and the last time we went to Solonyeshnoye everybody was still too little to play together. This time kids had a blast!

Having a picnic with Varvara just on the other side of the stream right outside of the house.

They dug up some earth worms, made their own fishing poles and went fishing to the river.

Of course, they couldn't catch anything until Varvara;s Dad came to the rescue with a real fishing pole.

And within the first minute a fish was cut! 

Our crew and Varvara

Then we went to Mirny, another village where one of my cousins lives. We stayed there for a couple of days, and the kids spent the entire time riding bikes. I think it is because we do not have bikes in Kazakhstan, and they are really missing them.

Dancing party with my cousin Irina and her son Roman

 And then it was time to say our goodbyes.

Before our bus ride back to Biysk, with Baba Lida, Glaya and Babushka

Baba Lida (my mom's oldest sister), my cousin Tanya, my mom, and Nastya (my second cousin and Varvara's mom)

At the bus station with Aunt Tanya and Uncle Kolya

At our train in Biysk with my cousin's Ira's family

The kids couldn't pass an opportunity to climb this train engine

Best friends forever now! It is great especially because we are a family!

It was a great visit and we hope to see you guys more often in the future! But after three weeks of adventure it was nice to get back home to Papa.

Happy to see each other!

Summer Fun in Solonyeshnoye - Trip to Altai Part II

We did lots of fun things while we were in Solonyeshnoye. One of those things was riding horses. My second cousin Anya works at a horse farm. They raise and train mostly Orlov trotters but also have a couple of work horses and one of some American breed. Anya rides Orlov trotters during races but she also takes care of them all. She invited us to come over and tour the stables. Those were some nicest stables I have ever seen. Anya showed us around and told a story of each horse that was in the stable (a few of them were out at a Federal championship race in another city), and then gave girls a ride. The only horse we could ride that day was the work horse (other good mannered horses were at the race), and they didn’t have a saddle for him, so Anya just led him with the girls on top. They had fun nonetheless. And since I mostly rode bareback when I was a kid, she trusted me to ride him on my own. :)

In the stable

The girls are in love with horses

Yep, totally in love!

Almost ready to be mounted

Lina is in heaven!

Sophie

Lexa

Nika

And me!

This is the cart that Anya rides in during the races

A mother horse with her baby in the pasture

 And while we are on the horse subject, every day we would have this little herd of horses walk by our house. I just love horses!

One of the days my cousin Galya, Nika, and I went up in the mountains to gather some tea called badan. This is a famous herbal tea from Altai and it grows up in the mountains around the village. Our family loves this tea, and Nika was very excited to gather her own. My cousin also taught her which wild mushrooms are good, and Nika was very good at finding them. It was a great day!

Solonyeshnoye in a beautiful valley 

Badan leaves. These are new leaves. The ones that are gathered for tea are 2nd or 3rd year leaves (they are dark brown)

Nika gathering tea.

Sharik (translated as "balloon") was our loyal companion

Nika

After the tea is gathered, it needs to be washed and then dried. Here is my mom washing badan leaves.

We went down to the mountain river Anui a couple of times while we were there. The kids wanted to swim in it, but because it has rained for three weeks straight, the water was very cold and somewhat muddy. They were disappointed that they didn't get to swim but were happy to at least wade in it and skip rocks. Summer is fun!  

Anui with some cows coming to drink

Playing on the river is always fun!