Europe IIa. Russia with the Coes-- St. Petersburg

Kara and Eric live in a very nice, new apartment on the outskirts of St Petersburg. They only have 3 rooms (a kitchen, one bedroom and living room) but they are large and well-organized enough to house 5 kids and 4 adults for an enjoyable week. The girls' cousins are Ella (3 yrs), Danya (8 yrs) and Tima (6 yrs).

Craft time with all the kids


A pack of wild dogs


and one wild kid


Jet-lag meant we were up for a few hours every night for a week. The nice part was that we all slept in until 9 or 10am every morning.


The pack 'n play was an unexpected toy


Aunt Kara, doing the endless dishes


Music time with Uncle Eric


For the most part, we simply enjoyed each others company, playing in the apartment or at the playground (right outside the apartment building) or in the woods across the street. It was a cultural adventure to simply go to the grocery store, pick the kids up from school and interact with other parents on the playground. But Dave and I did get to do a little sight-seeing in St Petersburg; Kara babysat all the kids one morning so that Eric could give Dave and I the tour of the City Center.