Friday May 5th

Happy Cinco dey Mayo!! Oh how I wish I was at a little cantina along the Riverwalk in San Antonio drinking a fine margarita on the rocks with salt and Grand Marnier while snaking on chips, salsa, and guacamole. Sam slept from 2200- 0800. We once again started our daily by snuggling with Leap Pad and Magna Doodle in Mama’s bed and then had breakfast around 0845. After breakfast I watched the news a bit and noticed that the VP was in Astana today as the EU is looking for other suppliers of gas. Russia seems to be monopolizing the playing field in both production, and distribution. I guess Kaz has a decent amount of gas and oil and would like to run a pipeline by passing Russia to Europe. Good Luck to them! Anything to help boost their economy and standard of living sounds like a good move to me! This morning Sam had two bouts with sadness. We’re working on teaching him he needs to ask for something vs simply taking it and then giving you a sneaky smile. Now I really don’t care if he puts on my baseball hat, but I need to teach him that you simply can’t take something because you want it, or if it’s not yours. He took my hat and I asked if he asked first and he gave me that blank stare of “I’m a detsky-dom kid” and when I made him put it back he pouted for a good 10 minutes. I thought it was done, so when I asked him to do a puzzle and he acted as if he had never seen or done one, I knew he was still pouting and after another 10 minutes of moping and my announcement of Mama and Sam Vitalik are going to the grocery store and he was a-ok.. We went to the grocery store, Sam loves to help push the cart and put our items into the cart. My favorite salami stick was sold out, but I took a chance and bought another version from the same company, and it was just as tasty for 100 tenge less. Wow, what a risk taker I am these days. Sam still has a hard time not being where food is at all times. So I make him play in the main room while I prepare the food. Still he can’t help but stand at the very edge and stare as if it was his last meal. Again, I really don’t care if comes into the kitchen and watches me prepare the food, but he needs to understand that when either Mama or Papa ask him to do or not do something he needs to listen to us and simply do it. . So, he pouted once again and after a few more minutes of sulking all was well as I asked him to come to lunch!! We went home and had a fancy lunch of bread, cheese, salami, black olives, pistachios and a mandarin orange, it was very “yum, yum” as our Sam would say. . Ian, you’d be so proud of your brother, he loves to put his coat on the way you learned how to do so from school. Your brother also loves to blow bubbles and still likes to sing the Spiderman song!! We then played some ball and headed out for our daily walks. We went back the same way as yesterday and took some photos and then walked back to the Trash Park where I met Jo and Agnes and after a bit there son Ryan came down and played a bit. They were locked out of their apartment. Ryan is so sweet. He’s 13, a really nice guy. This is going to date me a bit, but he’s like Lloyd Dobbler in the movie, Say Anything. Jo brought his coffee and coffee maker from home and I had a great cup of coffee up at their “home”. My first coffee since mid-March, wow, was it great!! They then invited Sam and I to stay for dinner. Their soon to be daughter, Tanya, loves Sam. She wants to give him everything and help him do everything. She even wanted to feed him his yogurt. She’s a very caring girl and I really hope we stay in touch and get to visit with them whenever we head back to Mass. Talk about a small world, Agnes, grew up in Malden, MA and Tim’s dad has lived there for years. By 2130 Jo wanted to go to the market across the street from our house and insisted he walk us home. We’re going to there house tomorrow morning for a “bellini” party. Pancakes for all, it should be fun!! Oh, and their apartment, it’s like the Taj Mahal. It’s 3 times the size of ours and has a European feel. I could easily live there for 2 months. I’m actually looking forward to tomorrow. Today's photos Tanya and Sam @Trash Park, Sam spinning @ park, note pipe pumping g-d knows what, a side street in Karagnada, Belly Boy and Mama, Soviet Art, Muslim architecture, Sam and some toys.. Paka