Birthday Buddies

Friday was my birthday, and it was a great day. I spent the morning with Will's oldest three children(Jaan, 8, Raia, 6, and Asya, 4). We went to a bakery and got cookies and lemonade and then went to Imaginon, Charlotte's children's library. They just opened a special interactive Castle exhibit, full of all kinds of fun stuff. We played with all of the stuff in the castle for a while, explored the rest of the library, and played games on the computers. while the oldest two were playing computer games, Asya and I read books. The only problem is that she doesn't speak or understand English. So she told me that I should read in Russian. Gamely, I made my first attempt to translate a Russian fairy tale from English to Russian, laughing at myself as I went. Thankfully, she's familiar with that fairy tale and helped me out when I got stuck with words. Four year olds are much more patient with language mistakes than older children. =-D When we returned home, Will asked Asya how I did. "Good! (followed by a big grin and a giggle) She read in a different kind of Russian, but I understood!" haha

We spent the afternoon playing here and then Grandma came over for birthday dinner. Abby and Jeremiah arrived Wednesday and Thursday, so there's a lot of action going on here at the moment. We've been reading, and drawing with chalk. We have borrowed bikes for the children, as well as the tandem that we've had forever, my bike, and another one, so we've been out riding bikes all over the place. We've visited our neighborhood fire station twice, played in the sandbox, and it seems that there are bouncy balls and coloring books and trucks and dolls all over the house. Another very popular activity(particularly with Jaan) is playing ball and keep away with Georgie. Georgie's extremely happy to have a play companion and is getting lots and lots of exercise in every day. Lots of fun is being had by all.

Birthday buddies in the Imaginon Castle

 

Jaan, 8

 

Asya, 4. I get lots of attention from all of the kids and am so thankful for the time that I had to get to know them while living in Ukraine. But I get to spend lots of time with this one, since she doesn't speak or understand English. I don't mind at all. =-)

Bogdan, 15 months

Raia, 6 years old