my russian family

Here are my Grandma (on the left) and my great aunt Lydia.

I met my cousins.

Here I am with my cousin Xenya. She is cute but can be dangerous. Dad says this is normal for Russian women.

winter sports

There is a lot of snow in Russia. I went sledging with Grandma

… and Mum

… and Uncle Kola

… and Dad

… and even on my own

(in the background you can see Dad pretending not to be worried)

I went for a walk in the forest.

And I had my first skiing lesson with Mum's friend Dina.

One afternoon I went for a walk with Grandma while Dad gave snowboarding lessons to teenage Russian babes.

Mum didn't mind - they were her friend's daughters. Dad didn't seem to mind either.

russian culture

I learned about Russia's musical traditions

Grandma cooked traditional Russian food for me and Dad. We like piroshki. There are lots of piroshki in Russia.

When I am older I will be able to drink vodka.

But at the moment I like home-grown apple juice from Grandma's dacha. (And anyway, Dad was poorly after he drank vodka at Mum's friend Lara's party)

Russian wildlife is also very interesting, such as these Siberian tigers:

… which we saw in Munich zoo the weekend after we got back.

With such a full schedule of sports, social and cultural activities, it's important to get plenty of sleep

pictures ©2004-5 Alan Little