More Shashlik...

We had shashlik again yesterday to celebrate Sveta's birthday.  Her Mom, her cousin and his family and a couple of friends from Smolensk came so it was a right Russian Shashlik.  I think there were two bottles of vodka, a bottle of champagne, a couple of bottles of wine and lots of beer.  The vodka was split between two people and another one finished off a whole bottle of wine (I am not saying who, but it certainly wasn't me).  At one point, Nikita had to run out to the store to get more wine, more vodka and more beer!  In our defence, the party did start around 2pm and didn't finish until about 11 or 12.

 Our super fab shashlik.  The meat is either marinated in lemon and onion or with a combination of spices.  Both are very tasty!  We had ribs, chicken and pork.  I think the chicken was my favorite but maybe because that was cooked last, as a second dinner and I was pretty hungry by then, again:)

 Tanya and Yuliana on the swing under the oak tree.  The most peaceful spot to rest and read...

 The other fun part for me was that Sveta pulled one of their samovars.  This is a contraption that is used to heat/keep water hot, to serve with tea.  Here, tea is made as a concentrate that you add hot water to, in order to reach the temperature and strength you would like (if you don't know that and drink a full cup of the concentrated tea, it is a bit of a shock).  I have seen these in action, only on the side of the road where a grandmother sells tea.  Many of them nowadays are almost equivalent to a kettle but some, like this one, are wood burning.  The long stack is to keep the fire exhaust away from the hot water.  So fun!

 Sophia, Yuliana and the doll that Sophia was given, hanging out on the swing.  Neither of them spoke the same language, but they managed to get along fairly well. (the rest of the photos were done by Tanya)

 We all had a chuckle when Tanya showed us this one on the camera...

 The girls becoming friends!  Sophia was so excited when she woke up this morning to know that Yuliana had stayed over night.  

 Yulia even brought some of her toys to share with Sophia.  The highlight being this tricycle, which thankfully Sophia was light enough to ride.  She loved the thing and they did a pretty good job of taking turns.

 They must have all thought me weird as I kept checking out the samovar and taking pictures of it.  At least Sophia joined me for one.

 The girls with Sveta's friend, Elena, going for a bike ride.  I like that poor Yulia got stuck in the basket, but it was probably better than...

 ...being accidentally tipped over.  She came running back to where we were saying that 'the girl knocked her over.'  Thankfully she wasn't hurt and it was forgotten rather quickly.

 This morning, we went back outside to enjoy the nice weather (it gets very hot and muggy in the house in the mornings).  Masyana was laying on the desk, relaxing and Sophia thought she would do the same.

 I loved her smile in this one, really genuine.

All of us, that were awake when Andre and Elena left, which was about 11 or 12....We all seem to sleep in here:)

Sophia, as usual, wanted to dance. Everything she did, Yulia wanted to try also.  They also pulled out the ping pong table for a few games.  I am impressed that Sophia was able to hit the ball, at all, and she even returned some that Nikita hit back at her (which of course I missed on the camera).  The other 'game' Sophia is loving is 'let's spin Sophia.'  I can't seem to handle going in circles more than once so she somehow got others, including Baba Nadia (Sveta's Mom) to spin her.  I think we are all getting a workout with the little monkey Sophia.