Saturday, July 21, 2012

Picnics in the Parks

The boys and I love picnics, whether it's a very minor affair with crackers and juice boxes or something a bit grander with actual peanut-butter sandwiches. Here is a slough of photos from our recent excursions.

First, the most elaborate: In June, our friend Siynat drove us all out of the city to a popular picnicking park called Seyil. Other elaborate picnickers set up camp for a day (or more) to cook plov and shashlik over fires. We brought a roasted chicken, tuna salad, bread, fruit, and chocolate - a nice feast! 







Teenagers rode around on horses and donkeys offering short rides to children. Sebby jumped at the chance and sat proudly on his donkey, trotting away with the unknown boys without so much as a backwards glance.




The river was a great source of entertainment - from jumping across the stepping stones to tossing leaves and pebbles into the current. Misha got into the photo mood, so I snapped away!





Happiness is: finding a caterpillar.


Some attempts at badminton...

Our other recent picnics have been simpler outings at local parks in Bishkek. The following photos are from Drujba Park (Friendship). We have been making use of our nice plastic blanket! We snacked on peanut butter and crackers, then walked through the leafy, shady park.









The boys were entranced with the great many soldati bugs (sort of boxelder-ish insects) that were crawling around the paths, many of which, to their complete fascination, were mating.

On our walk home, I bought some Shoro for Misha. Shoro is a hugely popular drink here made from wheat, which is refreshing without being at all sweet. Surprisingly, Misha likes it! Sebby's not so sure. :)




Last weekend, I decided it was high time we saw Bishkek's Botanical Gardens, so we took a taxi to the edge of town to make a visit.  It pales in comparison to the amazing McCrory Gardens of Brookings, as the Botanical Gardens here looks just about the same as any other park: overgrown and unlabeled. However, it was certainly beautiful in its own way and we enjoyed a picnic in the shade.


The "welcome sign" was actually a list of prohibited offenses, such as walking on the grass, picking flowers, or leaving garbage. 


Most of the gardens looked like this



or this.


We spread out our blanket, hoping we weren't technically "on the grass," and snacked as we looked for birds to sketch.


We spotted this beautiful magpie with its commanding presence.




We ambled through the gardens, then found another spot to relax. I read while Misha and Sebby gathered a huge pile of pine needles to make their very own "hay stack."



 More pictures of summer fun:




Playing on the playground in their matching bright blue and gold SDSU overalls from Grandpa and Grandma!



We took a trip to Park Lubvi (Love Park), and both boys were so excited to wear their backpacks full of juice boxes and crayons.


A cafe sits at the edge of the park's small lake.




Fun at home:




Painting our baked dough creations with intense concentration.




Our homemade stratego game (with help from our printer).


The story of our Zinnia:







1 comment:

Tanya said...

Sebby alone on the donkey -- so cute! And those blue and gold overalls are really something. :) So is your huge zinnia. Such fun!