Easter

Just a few pictures from a photo shoot over Easter with the boys and their cousins:

And of course their first experience of an American-style Easter egg hunt as well!

This will be our last post from the US of A!  Regular, almost-weekly updates to start again next week when we return to our home country.  Thanks for joining us, and hope you'll be back again then.

Post-trip Pictures

Pictures are starting to pile up, so I thought I'd post a few.  You've probably noticed that we haven't been posting as often since we've been in the US; a big part of that is that most of you are around us more regularly, but rest assured that we'll be back to our regular schedule once we return to T-land.

However, for your viewing pleasure, a few pictures of our time in the US since we got back from our marathon trip:

Cary Kite Festival

American food really DOES make you get big fast!

Steven and Matthew on a fun trip to the zoo with their cousins.

At a science museum, Steven volunteered for the demonstration on electricity.  Not a great picture, but he's holding a rod to show how the power arcs from the source.

Trip Pictures

 These pictures are all out of order for some reason, but I figure that just gives you a better sense of the confusion that happens when you're cooped up in a car for a month.  Of course, as you can see above, it doesn't seem to bother some people ...

 Whatever your criticisms may be, there's no denying that the US is a beautiful country.  One of the best parts of traveling around was seeing all the scenery.  I think the above photo was taken of Mt. Shasta in northern California, though it's entirely possible it's in southern Oregon somewhere.

 Above: Steven demonstrates what Siberian kids do with snow.
Below: Saya tries it out herself.

Yes, gas is still available for this price ... as long as you're willing to drive to Wyoming to get it!

Can't remember whose bathtub this is (though I'm sure Bobbie would know) but it's beautiful.

One guess as to where this is (answer below the picture).

Did you get it?  It's the (highlight for answer) Mormon Tabernacle in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.

Above: feeding a horse in central Oregon.
Below: I have decided that we should all move to Montana to live somewhere like this.

Above: Enjoying a visit with my dad's aunt in central Montana.
Below: Why yes, I AM dressed as a hot dog, thank you very much.

In Portland someone gave us money to do something fun with the kids - we took them to this kind of indoor playground thing where they had air-powered guns that shot nerf balls.  The boys enjoyed a pitched battle for domination of the ball pit.

 I don't know why we don't have more pictures of it, but in Indianapolis our friends took us to a wonderful children's museum.  Here Matthew is dressed as a dinosaur and about to go sit on his eggs.

 Valentine's dinner at a group in Billings.

 There are a lot more pictures, but I think they must be on the other camera chip or something.  Hopefully we'll get them up one of these days.  At least I can say I put some of them up now.

Thanks again for stopping by; we should have more to tell you about in a week or so, so come back soon!

Cross-Country Trip

More on this trip when we have some more time (and have downloaded the pictures off the camera), but I made this picture of our route on google maps to send out with our email, so I thought I'd post it here for you to see in the meantime.

Way Behind

I know, I've been amiss in keeping this updated.  Since we came back so much has happened and we have so many pictures that it's just too hard to come on here and post a blog.

But for those of you who have been pestering me, here it is: a post full of pictures.  I have to be up in a few hours, so you're only getting captions, but I hope you're satisfied. :-)

Above: trimming the Christmas tree
Below: Steven's birthday presents - I'm sensing a theme

Learning to ride a bike.  Also: rubbing it in our Russian friends' faces that we can wear short sleeves in December!

Reconnecting with: (above) cousins and (below) abuelas!

Also, because it's still 'Murica, Santa Claus.  And below, Steven as a shepherd in the Christmas play.

And I'm going to bed and I refuse to write more and you can't make me.

But thanks for stopping by. :-)

A New Hemisphere

From here ...

 To here ...

 

So, obviously it's been a long time, and I should apologize, but I'm refusing on principle after I was admonished for continually starting my posts that way.  This is my way of apologizing for the delay without really doing it. :-)

The Wandering Family has been living up to its name of late, managing to go from one continent, through another one, and on to a third.  But before we talk about that, we should cover the last part of our time at home.

Above: I AM the coolest man alive!
Below: Me in my new office, cramming before our departure.

I know most of you won't be able to read this, but I found it a fascinating bit of Russiana.  It's an old Soviet poster that hangs in an officemate's cubicle: "The Moral Code of the Building of Communism."  Fascinating.  It lists the "principles that make up the moral code for the building of communism, according to the party."

A couple of dudes just ice-fishing.  A cold way to spend the day, I've always thought.

I took this picture in the Buddhist temple one day last month; it's where the worshipers come in and light a candle.

They also sell some beads and scarves for worship there in a little booth next to the temple.

The trip here was very, very long.  We were stuck in the airport in Abakan all day with a major delay.  Fortunately, a very nice Chinese lady who didn't speak Russian got my help translating (she did speak some English, though her husband didn't) and in exchange let our boys play with her iPad.

The airline gave us some food, but mostly it was just a long wait.  We sort of made friends with the Chinese couple and spent the day with them.

It was kind of cold.  On the left there you can see Matthew bundled up in a coat and blanket, just sort of waiting out the cold day in the airport.

So, that'll do it for now.  Hopefully soon we can post something about our time here so far, which has been fantastic.  And just as a reminder, we're still making plans for our "tour of America" in February and March, so if you don't live in North Carolina and you'd like to see us, write us an email and let us know and we'll plan to stop by if we can.