Russian Circus

Rita invited us to go to the circus with her.  The girls have never been to the circus before so it was fun to see their reactions.  I didn't take too many pictures--I was too busy enjoying the show--but it was pretty great!  Brandon and I enjoyed the clowns the most, especially when they went up the hot air balloon.  The kids?  I think they enjoyed it all.

FHE with Rita

We invited our friend Rita over for FHE and it was BG's turn to come up with a lesson: we each had three minutes to draw a favorite scripture story and then everyone tried to guess what it was.

See if you can guess!

Rita went first (and we all found out who had the best drawing skills):

 Ammon captured by King Limhi's guards

Mosiah 7

Brandon's drawing skills got a close second:

Ammon protecting the king's sheep

Alma 17:20–39

Felicia's picture:

Jesus healing the man with palsy

Mark 2:1-12

Kiddo's picture:

Ammon teaches King Lamoni

Alma 18 

BG's picture:

 Christ heals the 10 lepers

Luke 17:12-19

G2's pic:

Christ's resurrection

Luke 24

BG's First Lost Tooth

BG lost her first tooth!  It was a big deal for her and as soon as she found out it was loose, she wanted that baby out!  She told Brandon to pull it and she was so brave!  She didn't want to give her tooth up, but the Tooth Fairy only pays if there is a tooth to collect, so we took pictures so she would remember her tooth.  Besides, the Tooth Fairy overpaid with 200 rubles, so I think it was well worth it.

Primary Program

The kids do a program at church every year and this was G2's first!  She's technically too young to be in Primary, but when all the other kids her age moved away she was bumped up to primary.  Kiddo wrote his own part:

They all did an awesome job, but I loved one of G2's speaking parts.  She said: "I am a person.  I will be a doctor when I grow up, but mostly I am a child of God."

A friend commented that it is simultaneously adorable, empowering, and feminist.  I couldn't agree more.

Pushkin Museum and Christ the Savior Cathedral

We had tried once before to go to the Pushkin Museum but the line to get in was out the door, so we knew we wanted to try again.  Luckily, we were there early enough to miss the lines.  And we were able to sell the museum to the kids by telling them about all the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian sculptures that were there (only to realize once seeing them that many were just replicas).  We spent the morning perusing.

We walked down the block to get lunch at a Bulgarian restaurant before walking back to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.  Although we've been several times, it was the first time the kids were able to go inside.  (Sorry, no pictures allowed!) And we lucked out--there was a priest chanting and choir singing the entire time we were there.  It was beautiful!

Day Off? VDNKh

Brandon had an itch to go back to VDNKh and, since he had a day off of work and the two older kids still had school (it happens occasionally--work and school holidays don't always align), we decided to check it out again. And guess what?  It was awesome!  All the buildings have been fixed up and repainted and were just beautiful. 

We walked around and then went to a space museum we had never been to before.  It was all a little too much for G2 to appreciate, but it was a cool museum nonetheless

We got a delicious Armenian lunch and then headed back home in time to meet the kids when they came home from school.  All-in-all a great day!

School Pictures 2018

These are a little late, but they're too cute not to share!

1st Grade 

5th Grade

To see last year's school pics, click here.

Halloween 2018

Hurrah for Halloween!  It was mild weather up until the day before, when we had our first snowfall of the season.  It didn't stick, but it meant we had to keep with tradition and make sure the kids' costumes were something they could have on the outside of their coats.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Kiddo's pretty easy when it comes to costumes: he was a soccer player for the second year in a row.  (Yes, he still wore shorts trick-or-treating, but at least he wore gloves this year!) BG never wants to wear the same costume to school as she does that night.  She was set on doing something scary for her school party, but our ghost costume was several inches too long and she wasn't satisfied with any of our other options.  Until Brandon suggested rock star, and then she was thrilled.  So it was a last-minute costume change, but I think it worked out pretty well. 

BG was on the decorating committee for her classroom party and spent a lot of time making pipe cleaner spiders.  She also suggested they carve pumpkins as their party activity and the class voted its approval.  Their 4th grade buddies came in to help them carve and BG was thrilled with how hers turned out.

Kiddo went straight to a friend's house after school, whereas BG came home for a quick dinner and costume change.  Then it was off to the compound for trick-or-treating until people ran out of candy and it was time to come home.

The butterfly and the spider

Japan: Disneyland, Senso-ji

This may seem weird, but we weren't sure whether we wanted to go to Disneyland until right before we left for Tokyo.  Neither Brandon nor I have been since high school and the kids, given the option, have always opted for Legoland.  Kiddo figured it out early in the trip (our code names "mouse house" and "dirt museum" didn't fool him) and he doesn't like surprises, so it was good he had a couple days to think about it.  But we didn't tell the girls until we got on the Disney tram and they could see Mickey Mouse heads everywhere.  They couldn't believe it!  BG double-checked that we weren't really going to play with mice in the dirt.

It took us a couple hours to figure out the ride system, and G2 was too short for the bigger rides, but Brandon's folks were awesome to hang out with her sometimes so the rest of us to go.  Plus giving G2 buckets of popcorn while she waited sure made her happy!

A couple other things:

I know wearing Disney character costumes is a thing at every Disneyland, but Tokyo took it to the extreme!  We never bothered to see the actual Disney characters because people were dressed up everywhere we looked--too many to get pictures of them all.  Hoop skirts, wigs, make up...  It was awesome!

We went on a 4D Nemo ride, and then Brandon took the older two kids to stand in line, while Mom, Dad, and I took G2 to a ride her size.  We were almost to the front of the line when I realized that I had left my phone at Nemo.  Since we were already near the front, we went on the ride and as soon as we got off, headed back to Nemo.  We told an attendant outside about what happened, who walkie talkied with someone inside, who said that someone had turned it in.  After a minute, she brought my phone out on a little tray.  Bless the Japanese people!

After we retrieved my phone, we found a roller coaster G2's size and we waited the half hour in line, but once we to the front, it was pretty obvious that Dad was several inches too tall to fit!  G2 and I ended up going by ourselves.  G2 got a little scared, but liked it enough to go again later with Brandon.

Best eats at Disneyland (that we tried): purple sweet potato tipo torta.  Imagine a biscotti-like outside with a mildly sweet frosting inside.  It was delicious!

We played until it was past the kids' bedtime, and then we played some more.  All three quickly fell asleep on the train ride home.

On our last day we went to probably the most recognizable spot in Tokyo: Senso-ji.  The crowds were intense, but the temple was impressive.

Tons of crazy flavors!  My favorite was the cherry blossom.

The Skytree! 

It was a fantastic trip!  Here's hoping we can visit Mom and Dad again before they leave!