This week I was delighted to get our first letter. Meredith sent it the day after we left for Armenia. Of course that tells us nothing about how long it will take mail to arrive in the future. Seems there is sometimes an issue getting our mail. It was fun to get a letter from her though and she included a little picture.
We continue to enjoy yummy fresh fruit such as cherries and apricots. The boys always make a mess with cherries. Justin's two front teeth are loose so he kind of gnaws on the them using the side of his mouth. Ryan just always manages to make a mess.
The boys started going to a summer camp this week. They are going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 until 1:30. It gets them out of the house a bit and gives me a little break. Ryan seems to really enjoy it so far. Justin has a typical Justin attitude about it. Hopefully they will meet a few kids from the neighborhood. Right now a lot of people are out of the country on vacation.
Wednesday was the Fourth of July party at the Embassy. It was the first time the boys and I had gone out there. The kids loved the playground and got to play with a few other kids. We had a BBQ and played a few games before we decided it was time for us to go home. It was past the boys' bedtimes and since Justin was upset over losing the tug of war it didn't seem like the best idea to stay for another hour to wait for the fireworks.
Rob didn't have to go to work on the 4th so he and I headed off to the grocery store while the boys were in summer camp. It is frustrating to try to get familiar with new stores, what is available, how to find what you want, etc. etc. We were mostly successful and are hopefully stocked up for the week. Even if I had Rob leave the car here with me AND I could find the grocery store on my own, it isn't like I could quickly pop out and grab something if I realize I need something. SAS delivers groceries for about $1.25 fee and might become my good friend since they have an English website.
After lunch we decided to go to the mall to check it out. Traffic wasn't bad going out there. Guess most people were at work and the mall isn't right in the city either. It is a beautiful building and easy to get to. There really isn't anything there that I think I need though. Too bad. I don't know that I have plans to go back.
Ryan saw a store in the mall called New Yorker and was thrilled that he could read that the store was called New York. Of course Justin corrected him and told him that the -er on the end of it meant it was New YorkER and not New York. What was I thinking telling Ryan he is reading more and more everyday when he can't even get that right. Poor little guy. Justin makes sure to let him know who is the better reader.
The 5th was an Armenian holiday and we went to a BBQ at one of Rob's co-worker's summer house. It is outside of the city not too far beyond Argel, for what that's worth. I can see why people go there in the summer and not the winter. The roads are not paved for a lot of the way and they are narrow and full of potholes. It was much cooler out there than it was in the city and we enjoyed a pleasant day eating fresh fruit picked right from the trees/bushes (cherries, apricots, apples, mulberries, raspberries, and something like gooseberries), talking, eating some more, and hiking.
I ate my first Armenian meal and it was pretty good. I would say that it is definitely not the kind of meal you want to eat if you have to impress someone with table manners. Chunks of meat mixed with grilled veggies and lavash bread may taste good, but aren't so pretty.
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| For awhile we had to force the boys to take a break from eating raspberries. We were afraid that all of the fresh fruit they were eating was going to upset their stomachs. They just ate and ate and ate... |
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| The stones mark the graves where people are buried. |
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| Looking down into the valley |
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| Some of the cows we saw as we walked around the area |
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| I'm sure this tells all about the remains we saw. |
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| People come here and pray and then tie cloth to this bush so that their prayers will be answered. |
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| Church remains. Someone in the group said that they are from 750 AD but I have no idea if that is true. |
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| This was made recently (sometime in the past ten years) as a commemorative something or other for the remains. It was beautiful in person, but disappointing to see the date stamped into the side. I couldn't read anything other than the date. |
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| The remains of the church again |
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| The remains yet again |
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| Part of our group |
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| Justin taking a rest |
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| Street lights along the way |
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| Justin and Ryan proving they could get up the rock. No, they could not get down by themselves. |
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| Tomatoes on the grill. I hadn't thought to get the eggplant, green peppers, pork, fish, or other items. |
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| Fish! I stuck with the grilled pork. |
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| Cherry cake (Yum!) and the not-so-Armenian flan. It was brought by a Mexican and it was absolutely delicious. |
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| The green areas are where people have summer homes and keep things watered. |
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| Some fairly typical looking apartment buildings that I saw outside the city on our drive home. |
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| Little produce stand we drove by. |
Saturday was a lazy day and we picked some apricots. I made some apricot fruit leather (which we don't care for) and prepared some apricots for freezing. I have 3 pounds frozen now and will probably do some more. I wanted to see how they looked and tasted. I know they weren't frozen very long, but they seemed to do well and not turn brown or mushy. Since there is no way we can eat all of our apricots now I really have very little to lose by trying to freeze them.
Sunday I had a horrible headache and slept most of the day. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to sleep all night to Monday as well. Headache seems to be gone so here I am updating the blog for Mom. :) Hopefully I will do something besides laundry and dishes so I have something to write about at the end of the week.
