Cody's Birthday Party.

Cody turned 6 years old in August. Cakes are beautiful here but not always so tasty and we are never sure of what is under the icing until we cut it open. Before we left for Kazakhstan we had a birthday party in Canada and his Auntie Tina and Uncle George supplied Cody with his dream cake--chocolate both inside and outside. He had another small party with some friends in Kazakhstan. They had a great time being quite silly. Kyla was pretty happy, she got a few gifts 's from her aunts b/c it was her brother's birthday.

Buskers

busk: to entertain in the street or other public place in the hope of receiving money from passers-by. (wikipedia)

What this guy could do with his balls was amazing!

The Thames

The next time you see a bottle of HP Sauce, compare the logo to the backdrop of these photos. HP equals "Houses of Parliament." That's the Thames right in front. This 'statue guy' was fairly impressive. Covered in silver paint from top to bottom, he would stand absolutely motionless until someone dropped a coin in his cup.When he heard the 'clink,' he would move a little. Kyla droppped in enough money so that she could shake his hand. Street busking is a very common sight in London.

A Visit with Liz?

On our way to Canada we had 24 hours in London. We made the most of it and headed straight to the Tube and got on the first train to Buckingham Palace to have tea with Liz. She was little busy so we just walked around her place. We got the last two minutes of the changing of the guard. We saw about 10 black bear hats from Canada walk by and then it was over.

Right after the tour of Liz's place we headed down to Big Ben and Kyla tried out a couple of telephone booths. We are standing around and I am taking this picture and some Russian guy comes up to me and tells me how to take this picture and that I have to have Big Ben in the background. It was a good suggestion but we are only out of Kazakhstan for 10 hours and I am still being bossed around by the Russians!!

We were getting pretty tired but we did manage to find one geo cache in London. This one was in a very busy intersection and it took us about 10 minutes to find and I am sure a few people thought we were pretty strange looking everywhere and under everything in this little square--but we were successfull. It was on the back side of this arrow sign--seems pretty obvious now. It was a magnetic key box so it just had notes in it--no prizes for the kids.

Nectarines from China

These nectarines are from China, a scant 100km away. Can anyone out there read what it says on them? Not sure how they do it. Does it say "Produce of Chernobyl Farms?"

Cody the Orator

Cody completed Kindergarten last June. He can, essentially, read. His teachers, Mr. Cobbs and Ms. Sergeava, have been awesome with him this year. At the end of the year, the kids presented poems that they wrote and then they hosted a classroom party where they read their work. Here's Cody's first published piece, subject to copyright:

McQueen 95

McQueen is a car.

McQueen can won a race.

McQueen can race.
McQueen has a girlfriend.

Note the subtle references to angst, competitiveness, and sexual tension. McQueen is a mysterious blend of subject and object, of the ethereal and the static; the torturous relationship between the kinetic and the raw release of primal vigour has never been expressed more poignantly. A bright future for CJV.

Back in Almaty

Greetings. We are back in K'-town. We've recently moved to a new home and our Internet isn't hooked up yet. We will publish photos of our recent trip to Canada and England, shortly.

It was great to see so many of our friends and family. It was equally great to speak unabated English for 6 weeks.

We've all been back in school since August 24th: Edna-office; Kyla-Grade 3; Cody-Grade 1; me-classroom.

We enjoy getting e-mails from you and comments on the blog are always welcome.

Have a great September.

The V's.