First outing with the Trekking Union

The weather as we came into the middle of April was finally turning quite lovely and warm enough to think that Indy could take the boys on an outing with the Kyrgyzstan Trekking Union. The group hosts hikes, camping trips, and all kinds of other trips around the country. Most of the listings on their website say that you need special equipment or should be over the age of 12. We figured we could push things with Gwangi being close enough in age, but we decided not to push things with trying to take Sissi. Glad we went with that decision because as you look at these pictures, you'll realize that this "canyon hike" was not a walk in the park.

This was toward the beginning of the hike. The drive to this canyon was about 2 hours away from Bishkek.

At the beginning, warm and sunny.

Some pretty steep walls and a really neat view.

Our oldest guy, Krypto.

Some other people on the trip, heading up one of the canyon walls.

Gwangi, being a bit silly and telling everyone how tough he is. Indy said that our boys were the only ones on the trip and they held up very well on what turned into a 5+ hour hike up and down canyon walls.

The rocks in this area really remind me of some places we've hiked around Colorado.

Indy and Krypto.

Indy and Gwangi.

The boys, sitting on some of the rocks.

I think this is super great shot of Indy and Gwangi.

Getting toward the middle of the hike, it started to get a bit chilly as they got up higher in altitude and the jackets started to come on.

One of the higher cliffs they climbed up.

They thought this looked like a big dinosaur foot print on the ground.

Coming down one of the canyon walls.

Toward the end of the hike it got overcast and the boys got a bit cold, but they really enjoyed this hike and came home with all kinds of stories and memories!

Krypto's 12th Birthday - His Favorite Things

Having your birthday the day after Easter makes for a pretty low key, but fun kind of birthday day!

We cancelled school and our language lessons and let Krypto pick all of his "Favorite Things."

We started off with presents, because what kid can wait until after breakfast to open their birthday presents :)?! Sissi had made him a little packet full of presents.

She took her art lesson from last week and expanded it...lots of complimentary colors layered on top of each other and then designs scraped off with toothpicks to show the colors underneath.

She also crocheted Kyrpto's lobster a little blanket/harness that goes over his head and claws to "keep him warm."

Here is Krypto's lobster with the completed blanket.

Gwangi printed off a Minecraft 3D squid for Krypto.

Playing with the paper squid.

Then, on to the presents from Mom and Dad...we picked up "Wacky Races" from the used bookstore when we were still back in Winston Salem. They were thrilled (can't you tell from Gwangi's face?) and had wanted this for quite some time.

Reading about the series on the back of the case. Oddly enough, there is a "Wacky Races" arcade game at one of the local grocery store/mall type areas, and they have enjoyed playing it since we've been here.

Opening up the next gift.

Some old Disney comics, a Peanuts comic that used to belong to Indy when he was a kid, and....

one of the last reasonably priced "Dan Dare" books available. It's too bad such a fun series is out of print because Krypto really enjoys it. I think he has 5 of them now, including the "Haynes" manual for the Dan Dare spaceships.

Finally, the big gift, a new board game that he's been wanting for close to a year. It's called "The First World War" and the boys broke it out today and played for several hours. They seemed to really enjoy it.

The door way to his bedroom. Not sure if you can see it or not, but I wrote the numbers 1-12 on the balloons. 

He was pretty excited. After gifts and balloons, we had breakfast, coconut and chocolate chip pancakes! Then a few hours of game time followed by bacon cheeseburgers for lunch. It was a good thing that we found some bacon about 3 weeks ago and bought 2 of the 3 packages we saw at the time. We haven't seen bacon again since! After lunch, we had a trip to the library to get some new books to read and then, the rest of the afternoon was game time.

Dinner tonight, his all time favorite, chicken pesto pasta!

For dessert, I made a chocolate coconut cake and we put ice cream on top. We're now watching "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"...tomorrow, it's back to the regular schedule; but I think we all really enjoyed the day with our new favorite 12 year old!

A Spring Break Outing

This past week was our Spring Break, and we really needed it to recharge!

Most of the days we just slept in, watched movies and worked on crochet and painting projects, played games, and we took a few little outings...like to the library, the post office, and on Friday we took a friend and made it out of the city for a picnic.

The first place he took us was the "Panorama" which is a big hill on the south east side of town. You get a great view of Bishkek, even through the smog and clouds.

On the top of the hill is a large Kyrgyz flag. It was lovely with the sun highlighting it from behind.

Here, our friend is showing us the location of the new American University of Central Asia (AUCA.)

Right in the center of the picture is the new campus. Can you see the large grey building with the "red" windows inset in it? That is the new AUCA where Jeff has met some of the faculty and long term he hopes to teach there.

A view looking north west to the rest of Bishkek. Lots of new building on the south east side of town.

Some of the mountains, covered in clouds, in the distance.

We then went on a drive to the south of town, toward Кашка Суу and Ала Арча, a ski resort and the National Park we visited last fall. The kids got lots of climbing and sliding in down this hill.

In the distance is Кашка Суу, probably one of the closest ski resorts to Bishkek. We didn't make it there this year due to illness, but hope to next season.

The mountains in this area are just lovely, only 45 minutes south of Bishkek.

Lots of free roaming horses on these hills.

The kids again on the hills. They played while I got lunch together in the back of the car. We ate and then went back to town, it was much colder up in the mountains than we had anticipated and we were just not dressed appropriately. My hands were numb in under an hour. A long drive for a short visit, but it was needed, and we hope to return as the weather warms up a bit more.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2014

Warning! Lots of pictures of some pretty cute children receiving awesome gifts from their family and friends! We are so thankful for you all, and more than that, for His sacrifice for us in that He sent His Son to earth to take our sins and die in our place. 

Merry Christmas to you all!

Our tree this year.

Most people here don't do "Christmas trees," they do "New Years trees," due to the many years under Soviet influence. Getting a tree at the bazaar wasn't a problem and I brought our ornaments and decorations from the US.

Christmas Eve, just back from Karakol, and each of the children chose a gift to open.

Sissi got the mini figurines from the Frozen movie from Uncle Jon and Aunt Maria.

Gwangi got a Lego set that he wanted from Uncle Tony and Titi Vette.

Krypto got the classic Tron movie from us and a Wii game called "Dawn of Discovery" from Uncle Tony and Titi Vette...both from the used bookstore in Winston Salem. We just love Edward McKay in Winston Salem...we got rid of a bunch of our books this year, to reduce our storage footprint, while we were home on furlough and then used that store credit to buy some birthday and Christmas presents to bring with us!

This past summer, I took Sissi to the American Girl Doll store with our friends. She picked out a "food set" to have breakfast and a picnic with her dolls. She was so excited to open this gift and said, "I was getting worried about my dolls, they were so hungry and have been waiting to eat all this time!"

Another gift from Uncle Tony and Titi Vette. This boy loves his tank book from them last year, so this was the perfect follow on!

Duck Tales, Season 2, from Uncle Jon and Aunt Maria.

Also from the used bookstore, we found the whole set of old Kirsten books for just $1.50 a piece! Now we just need to find a more reasonably priced set for Caroline, her other doll. I gave away the one book that came with the doll when we left Tanzania and meant to replace it with the whole set this year while we were home, but had no idea how much the books cost new. I'm hoping in a couple of years, when we get home, that there will be set at Edward McKay that we can pick up.

A few more gems from Edward McKay, Tintin cartoons and a WWII airplane game, "Blazing Angels."

Some old comic books that we picked up while home this past year as well. The kids each got a couple of comics, and they love these old stories.

Ahh, yes, Titi Vette got Sissi some Littlest Pet Shop figures and Sissi was thrilled!

Uncle Jon and Aunt Maria got the much longed for "Lego Movie" for Gwangi.

An Amazon gift certificate for Krypto from Uncle Tony and Titi Vette. He used it to get a game download, called "Victoria." It's a 19th century, civilization type of game. For those that know it, it's a computerized version of "Pax Britannica," a favorite with Indy and I.

Sissi got an old Richard Scarry book.

Yep, it used to be her Daddy's book.

One of my favorite gifts to give, some old retro sci-fi shirts for the boys.

Krypto was super excited about his. He used to have another one that he had outgrown, so this was a favorite for sure. If you're interested, you can find these items at Retropolis

Sissi got an Angelina Ballerina movie and a Disney princess Wii game.

Gwangi's comic books.

It was a lovely Christmas and we still have another week off from school and language training. Our plan is to let everyone have a special day next week where they get to pick the meal, the family movie choice, and a favorite activity to do. Can't wait to share all of our special memories from New Year's week!