June was...

June was a long time ago.

Especially since, the thermometer read 18 degrees this morning.

June is also a long time away.

And June is my Grandmother's middle name.

Here are some pictures from June 2011, because I can't in my own mind post about September and October until I've told you a little about June.

Even if it isn't very exciting.

First, the Last Day of School:

Owen had his last day in preschool. It was sad for me. Especially because his Montessori preschool was so great! Not only did he function really well in that environment, but he had great teachers who orchestrated these big productions/parties every few months. The last day was a travel theme, and the kids dressed up and danced and sang about travel. This is Owen with his good friend, Christopher.

Evelynn's school closing ceremony. Students carry flags as they announce all of the different nationalities that attend the school, and everyone cheers (the loudest cheers were for the USA. what does that mean?). There are a lot of nationalities here. The parade goes on for like five minutes (okay, so maybe that doesn't sound so long, but how many countries can you say in five minutes?).

Evelynn's ballet class got to perform a Russian dance in front of the whole school (K-12) and a bunch of parents. They were pretty excited.

Saying good-bye to friends. This was one of Evelynn's good friends last year, Tia.

And this was Owen's good friend, Owen.

Owen and Tia moved in June.

And we will be moving next June, and saying goodbye to more friends.

Ahhh, life in the foreign service.

Barbara is funny, spunky, and cute.

After a Saturday morning baptism, we stopped at a new mall. It's very "Western" (as in American). And it has American Eagle, Gap, Banana Republic, even Payless (or so I've heard). When I first got here (to Russia), I used to love to go to places like this to revive a little and feel more at home. This time we went to check out the GIANT matryoshkas and Pinkberry!!! Just our luck, we made it in time for the grand opening. Or so we thought. True to Russian style, it was running about 30 minutes behind, and when it did open was in complete disarray. We stayed long enough to get free t-shirts and then got out of there. We went back for yogurt another day.

And believe it or not, it does get hot enough here to play in the pool.

(especially when the hose is hooked up to the warm bathtub water in the house)