April 21-26

It's been a beautiful week weather-wise. We planted some grass in our window flower box and bought a very small barbecue to place out there as our own "yard". We haven't actually tried the barbecue out there but when we do, we're hoping we have no complaints from neighbours about it. 

 On Tuesday I baked with the graduated orphan girls. There are four living in the group home and then two girls who are house parents but so far only a few have come at a time. It's been nice though because my kitchen is pretty small and this way I'm getting to know the girls on a more one-on-one basis. If there were all six, Jessica and me it would probably be mayhem in my kitchen! This week it was Tanya, Jess and I and we made donuts:

 They were awful. They were crispy on the outside with a soft middle that just melted in our mouths, blech, so terrible. And the gooey sweet glaze? The worst!! Of course, I'm lying, they were amazing. Each one was like a little ball of joy that you could eat. Jessica and August:

 Oh the fun discoveries we find when we wander around:

Dez is going to preschool three times a week and is having a lot of fun. He makes a laughable craft most days - not because his crafting skills are lacking but because the craft itself is usually really odd....for example: 

I was informed by Dez that it's a turtle, which I mean - of course it obviously is! ha ha The best part is that they usually send home the crafts wet so that there is paint everywhere and it falls apart halfway home. Other than that, Dez is really seeming to have a good time there and hopefully over time his Russian skills begin to develop. 

Today there was baseball at Raduga Park....but there wasn't actually any baseball. There weren't enough people to play so some of the guys played soccer instead and in doing so, gave the field up to another group of people who wanted to use it. In the end we all just went over to the beach and had some shashlik. I walked from home to the park and had nicely packed my three kilograms of marinating chicken in a bowl wrapped in two plastic bags. Somewhere along the way I looked down and realized that my chicken marinade was leaking through my stroller basket and onto the ground. When I got the bowl out, it was a disaster!! Both plastic bags had ripped open and there was chicken trying to make it's way out too. I managed to save all the chicken but was left with a huge mess that I had to carry with two hands while pushing the stroller. A quick phone call to Jessica and she came to my rescue with a new plastic bag. Crisis averted.

 Our shashlik fire:

 It was about +22 and sunny, a beautiful afternoon to spend at the beach. Steve is pretty red this evening!

 The first round of chicken is ready!

 There were 12 or 13 of us altogether - we didn't tell anyone we were going to shashlik, just decided that anyone who came from baseball to the beach would get fed.

 L-R: Jessica, Katya, me, Katya