Happy Halloween Everyone!

We had a wonderful Halloween!! We started the day off by decorating our apartment with decorations that our niece Anne sent. When Mac and Alina came in the room they were SO excited.

We gave out some of the treats we had which included t-shirts, candy, games, etc.

Ken then took our pumpkin/gourds outside with the kids. They cleaned them out and carved them. They turned out so cute.

We spent the morning just playing with various activities. We then all walked to the American Grill which the night before had been celebrating Halloween. We were disappointed when we got there and they had taken down ALL the decorations. I guess we’ll never know why they celebrated the day before Halloween.

We walked back home and took naps. After naps we handed out more treats from us, their aunts & friends. Alina commented several times that this was the best Halloween she’s ever had. This made us very happy.

We went to dinner with another couple passing through Almaty from Kokshetau. Their little boy was 7 months. We had a great time eating at an Italian place called Venenzia. Mac and Alina were all decked out in their t-shirts, masks, tattoos, etc. The couple we met was so thoughtful. They brought candy and had Mac and Alina pretend they were trick or treating. Such kindness!!!

On our way home last night we were in quite a traffic jam. Emil pointed to the car next to us. There were kids in the back seat looking at us with their masks on. Mac and Alina put their mask on and they all laughed and waved at each other. So apparently they do celebrate Halloween to a certain extent. It was a neat moment of shared culture.

We put cal to bed and continue our celebrating. I mummy wrapped Mac and Alina in crape paper. They looked too cute. They put puzzles together, read their new books and entertained us.

We put them to bed and for the next 2-3 HOURS they tried to wind down. We kept hearing them laughing in the bedroom. We had planned to go to the amusement park today but since they wouldn’t go to sleep we told them it would have to happen another day.

Enjoy the pictures. I’m going to include a picture of Emil so you will know what he looks like. He’s a huge help to us.

Right now Ken and the big kids have gone out to get some supplies AND go to the cable company where we are going to be able to pick 5 English channels for the next 3 weeks. We are excited about this.

We'll let you know how it goes.

Alison