Europe IIb. Russia with the Coes-- The Finnish Gulf

We took a weekend trip to the Finnish Gulf, just outside of St Petersburg. It was beautiful; again, such a scenic time of year.

The woods




The beach









Ella

Danya


Tima


Sand falls out of your hands when you open them!



Probably Adi's favorite part of the Finnish Gulf

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.

Europe I. England with Cristina, Andrew and James

You probably know that we were crazy enough to drag our 3-year-olds around Europe for 3 weeks in October. To be honest, I was dreading it. All in all, we took six flights, stayed with five families, visited four countries, met three new babies, carried two huge backpacks and had a singularly wonderful time.



Part of the reason it went so well was that the girls slept on the long-haul flights. We left Denver at 8:30pm and by the time we'd had dinner, they were very tired. It took about 6 songs until they were asleep but then they were sleeping deeply enough that we could reorganize them head-to-toe across our seats.




Upon landing in England, we stayed with our friends Cristina and Andrew and finally met their baby, James.






The weather was beautiful, the leaves were turning, and our accommodations were cushy enough for us to spend several hours awake each night. We explored near Reading University (where C & A both work) one day:



The girls type on bus-stop-seat "computers"


The girls were interested in all the new flora; Mae met a stinging nettle bush for the first time. (They also noticed the differences in the toilets and the bathroom lights, describing everything as "funny"). We also visited a few fabulous playgrounds in England which made us wish they would export some of their designs to the US.

I found this particular mushroom patch interesting as there were examples of each stage of the life cycle:

Birthday cakes

For months before their birthday, Adi and Mae were both asking for a 'Thomas [the tank engine] cake'. I figured I'd just draw a blue train on a sheet cake until their day-care provider, Gail, showed me a magazine with a picture of a train made out of a loaf cake. So with help from Grandma Coleman (see the charismatic faces) we made standing-up Thomas cakes!




Other than my first crafty-cakes, the biggest difference between the Cake Ceremony this year and last was the skill the girls have acquired for blowing out candles.

Happy birthday, Mae!


Happy birthday, Adi!


We also celebrated Grandma Coleman's birthday ( a week later and my original due date), although her cake was a little more subdued. Happy birthday, Pat!

Drinking Buddies

It really is just milk in those sippy cups...

Summer recap

It was another great year for our garden. The girls actually pulled these turnips.


We went to visit a nearby farm. Here, Adi & Mae pose in a carriage (without a horse).


And there was a huge pig (named Bacon Bits)


Adi's love of animals expanded even more this summer. She would have fed these goats a ton of corn if we hadn't moved on.


Along with that, Adi's obsessed with dogs. She drags stuffed animals around the house on leashes and likes to walk next to the jogging stroller, holding it's leash. (She's named it the Stroller Dog). One day at the park, she got to hold the leash of this real dog.



On a visit to Auntie Megan's place in Vail, the girls got to ride real ponies. Despite the appearances to the contrary, they said it was fun.


When Mae got off, she told us "I was falling off the whole time!"



Along with the agricultural theme, we picked raspberries and strawberries with our neighbor and friend, Avery. Or rather, "we" picked them.


The rock star and dancing queen



Reading books to each other



A princess-themed birthday party.


They moved from their cribs to Big Girl Beds


And rode amusement park rides


All capped off by a visit from Grandma & Grandpa Coleman for their birthday. (More on that soon). Mae was sulking this morning and deliberately turned away from the camera, in contrast to the usual reason I don't have many pictures of her- that she is running around too fast to appear as more than a blur.