In my absence we've been to Tallinn, Estonia and back. We had a successful Women's Day (March 8th) outreach. Carter has started crawling and now has 2 top teeth to go along with his 2 little ones on the bottom. Gavin has become a master as peddling his bike up and down the hallway. The temps have been above freezing long enough that most of our snow has all but melted. Carter has learned to pull himself up on everything from his crib to my my pant leg. I cut my hair (for the first time since before Carter was born! eek!). We spent a week in Anapa on the black sea for our annual field forum. I'm sure lots more has happened, but those are some of the highlights!
Now... to recap- Tallinn. It was an incredibly quick trip, but despite the rush- it was great to get out of the city for a few days. We flew to Moscow and got on an overnight train from there. Gavin was SO excited. I've never know a kid who loves to travel more than him! He's still talking about when he got to ride the train! We only spent 24 hrs in Tallinn, but we enjoyed all of it! We at at TGIFriday's and the boys enjoyed the huge tub in our hotel room. We had a chance to walk around and enjoy the old city. The wall surrounding the city is 1100 yrs old! Then, of course we got back on the train and rode back to Moscow. We spent a day there with our Field Director and his family (and ventured into downtown Moscow to find Starbucks- yum!- tastes just like home!). Is it sad if Starbucks was the highlight of my trip? It will only be something we do once a year b/c it was so expensive! The beans were comparable to the states- but the drinks cost 3-4 times as much- ouch!
(The old city wall; Our Family with one of the vendors- yes, Carter is all bundled up in his stroller- complete with a rain cover- sorry you can't see him!; Gavin and I; Gavin enjoying the train ride; our family at a medieval restaurant)
We got back to Ekat just in time to be part of the Women's Day outreach- It was so exciting to see so many of those that are part of English Cafe and other's that we invited- there. We met in a room of a restaurant in a local hotel. We had live music (a jazz musician) and a guest speaker. We played a few games, enjoyed some desserts and coffee/tea, gave away some door prizes and of course listed to our speaker share a beautiful picture of our beauty that can only be recognized in our Savior.
Also, Carolina and I had a chance to get to the Ped. College again to celebrate Maslinitsa. This is the week before the Easter fast begins- they drink, dance, eat blini and enjoy lots of other things they can't do during the fast. The last day of Maslinitsa is the 'day of forgiveness' where you ask others to 'forgive you'. Blini (similar to crepes) are central- each day you are supposed to eat blini with a specific person- for example- the day we went to the college was the day all son -in -laws should go to their mother-in-law's to eat blini. The teacher and the students are always asking us to bring the kids- but it is always just easier to leave them home with Daddy- but that day I decided to take Gavin with me. He had such a great time. The students kept feeding him blini, cookies and candy and chasing him around to tickle him! While he was drinking his cup of tea he kept telling everyone that he was drinking coffee! And when he finished it his put his cup down on the table with a loud "ahh" and requested "more coffee, please!"! Do you think his mom has a coffee drinking problem? We rarely drink tea at home- so he thinks anything hot in a mug must be coffee!
Okay- that's enough for now. I'll promise I'll be back SOON to write about Forum and post some current pics of the boys! Thanks for sticking around during my absence!
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