Ski goggles

We finished the month with a family night out to another theatre to see "Fiddler on the Roof". Again, we caught only a little of the Russian dialog and the story was changed up just a little, but the music was classic and much fun!  

Seth took this picture for me one night while I was out.  He found John asleep with his ski goggles on!  I had gotten them out in prep for our ski trip next month.  John was so excited he wore them to school for a few days... and obviously slept in them for a night!  My sweet baby boy... I love Buzz looking over his shoulder in this picture!

Three Kings Cake

       My sister Jenny came for a visit and we actually did hibernate instead of doing a lot of touring. One evening we went to see “Sound of Music” at the local theatre. I had heard wonderful things about it and being a childhood favorite we were excited. Of course it was all in Russian so the dialog we did not follow but with familiar music it was not too hard to watch the story unfold. And differently than we expected at times! But the set was fantastic, the costumes great, and the music fun as always. I dragged Yael from Israel with us not realizing she had only seen the movie one time! She fell asleep. We laughed.
      Jenny also came with me to the Attaché Spouse coffee held at the French Defense Attaché house and won one of the crowns for the day!  Three Kings Day, celebrated after Christmas and New Years, you are given a piece of "cake" to eat and if you find a little prize in it then you win!  Funny thing I won last year!  But the best part is this cake is delicious.  A puff pastry with almond paste!  My favorite!

GYM - Goom

GYM - pronounced "Goom"

Red Square at Christmastime

Christ the Redeemer Cathedral

One evening Seth and I went on an adventure to capture some photos of the GYM (pronounced “Goom”) Winter season decorations. We were captured by the outdoor lights once again. And we were  lucky on the metro as was we happened upon the “Art Train” and “75 Years of History of Trains” metro cars both in one night!!

Victory Park

Another cold night before the kids returned to school I took them on an adventure to Victory Park. More lights! There was a type of carnival and concert going on so we walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere. I really enjoyed being out and the kids humored me as I took pictures! They are so sweet to their momma! We remarked how this is the one place we saw a Nativity! They are just not seen here in Moscow. Christmas trees, Father Christmas and the Snow Maiden are everywhere, but Nativity’s not so much.

January

November 1, 2012 So I’m 11 months behind. How did this happen? I am not sure but I am determined to get the focus back, get the creative juices flowing and move forward. But because I have blogged for nearly 5 years I just can’t skip a year! So in some ways I must go back. And this is a good time of year to do so as I begin reviewing the year for the annual Christmas letter. So lets go back so we can move forward and write a sort of summary for each month!


 I’ve come up against a small obstacle with the blog. They have put limitations on the files they will store, limiting how many pictures I can put on. I will need to depend more on my writing than on my photography to do the talking. I am a firm believer in “a picture speaks a thousands words” but in this case I must begin to use my words again. So here we go.

 January is generally a month I like to hibernate! This one was quite busy though. It started with a puzzle we had gotten for Christmas. It was fabulous to work as it was in the shape of a fan! The definition and color in the picture made is easy to put together but the shape kept it interesting.

As a fun family night out, we took the kids to the top of the Hotel Ukraina Seven Sister (now owned by the Radison) as we heard the view and food was awesome. 

7 sister next to the US Embassy

Russian White House   

The price was so awesome we decided to opt for a dessert only night. And the desserts were so awesome- they came on huge plates with very fancy presentation. The kids drink water. I had tea. The bill was nearly $100. The view was nice, but we were seated where we had to make an effort to get up and walk over to see that view. We were a tad underdressed and we didn’t care and they didn’t seem to either. Such a relaxing fun evening with the kids!! The walk across the bridge was beautiful with all the Christmas garland lights reflecting on the snow and ice. I think in the few blocks we covered there were 4 Christmas trees! Lights everywhere!

Snow Maiden

Egyptian friends

On the attaché beat we entertained with a couple of dinners in house. Also joined the Swizz attaché family to see The Snow Maiden, girls only, and then met the boys to all have fondue at their house! The Egyptian family took us out to their favorite place restaurant, which served authentic Egyptian food. We also met them one afternoon at Gorky Park to ice skate but the timing didn’t work out as it was closed. But we took fun pictures in the park where there could have been something like a snowman making contest, as there were over 70 snowmen and each one unique! The highlight for me though was teaching the Air Force Officers Spouses how to play Bunko! We had such a great time laughing and learning that none of us wanted it to end.

BUNKO baby!!  

Gorky Park