Rylie's Big Adventure

We just got back from a very exciting day--- Rylie got her passport picture taken! When we got to the Baby House today, she was so excited to see us. Her favorite caregiver, Gulya, was holding her and Rylie started kicking her legs and moving her arms and smiling. Gulya changed her this morning since we were in a hurry.

For those of you who we've told the story to, Gulya is the caregiver that always makes Rylie's hair stick straight up and says, "Like Papa!" Gulya is also one of the two caregivers that spoonfeed Rylie all of her liquids! After she was dressed, we took her downstairs where we put on the dreaded snowsuit. Rylie hated the snowsuit. There was really nothing she liked about it. It probably didn't help that it was three sizes too big on her. Once we got her into the van, we took her out of the snowsuit and put her in her carseat. Carseats are somewhat abnormal here- most people just ride with babies on their laps. So the good news for Rylie once we got into the van was that the snowsuit/ snowbag came off, the bad news was that she went into her carseat. Rylie hated the carseat too- but not nearly as much as she hated the snowsuit, so we were moving in a positive direction. Once we started moving, she was very intrigued by the outside world. She basically stared out the window in shock for the 20 minute ride. Once we were inside at the photo place, Rylie loved the actual photo shoot. She sat still the entire time. Here are a few pictures of our outing today.

Getting ready to go outside in the snowsuit!

Rylie in her carseat

Once we got inside, Rylie was much happier- even with her hood on!

Leaving the photo store- with the snowsuit!

Once we got back to the Baby House, we still had an hour left to hang out with Rylie. She was in a great mood once we got back. She was crawling, playing with the ball, and blowing raspberries. She was crawling over to some of the other babies and babbling excessively to them- we think she was telling them about the big world out there beyond the Baby House.

So that's basically all. As we wrote in our last entry, we went to the circus on Saturday night. The Russian Circus was in town, and it was fabulous. Lots of great acts and it was really fun to see all of the children in the audience so excited about the whole thing. Michele- no peanuts at the Russian Circus, but they do sell meat pies in case you're interested!

Yesterday, we went to the Cultural Museum here in Astana. We had been once before, but only got through the first floor. Yesterday we went back to see the remaining exhibits, which was very interesting. Then we hit our favorite local restaurant for our regular Sunday night dinner.

So that's basically all from Astana. We hope you are all well.

Love to everyone----