It has been a while since we've done a post. Surprisingly it was a really busy holiday season for us. Saileey spent too many nights up too late and we spent a lot of time with friends who stayed in Tashkent too.
Our most recent outing was a trip to the mountains! There is a place here, Chimgan (or Chimyan in Uzbek), where people head up on the weekend to do winter activities. They have sledding, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiles, ATVs, and horseback riding. The thing that sticks out the most is the sledding. Instead of your normal plastic/rubber sleds they have two varieties; first, they have a traditional style sled that has skis on the bottom with a steering wheel that is apparently more for decoration that practicality (same thing for the breaks). The second option is a little more makeshift than that. They get something that looks like the wall padding you find in a basketball court and they tie a rope to it and you hop on. It was actually pretty fun.
As you can barely tell, those yellow things people are dragging are the sleds. If you link up with a few of them, you get going pretty fast!
Snowboarding is a little interesting, but it is snowboarding so one shouldn't complain. There are other slopes nearby that have your traditional, albeit frightening (think Soviet Union), ski lifts. Our side had a cable system that was built more for skis than a snowboard.
This is the rope with a stick that you are suppose to sit on, the sitting is easier with skis. The rope works great for most of the hill, that is until you make it up to where it hits a steep angle with a huge drop-off.
Don't worry Andrea, it fits two :)
Here's Andrea like a champ!!
Andrea was brave enough to try the horse back riding while I chose to stay on the sideline. Not only is it because someone had to stick around with Saileey, but I noticed various holes throughout the area where a horses leg clearly went through the snow. Additionally, when we first arrived, I was a witness to the near demise of one rider whose horse was slipping on the snow. As a side note, this is the bottom of the sledding hill, for those who don't know horses=manure
Saileey was bundled to immobility and her favorite part was being dragged around on a sled. She was not happy to get so many layers on her, I was equally unhappy when it was time for diaper changes :)
While Andrea and I went snowboarding, some friends watched Saileey and the little girl was pretty tuckered out. With all the layers she probably thought we was strapped to a mattress anyways.
Below are some older pictures that I wanted to throw on because it has been a while since we have posted on here.
Saileey and Dad going for a walk. This was early December and they still didn't have any snow.
Snow finally did come and Saileey really enjoyed the snow.
An old trick, but still just as cute!
This is the first day of the New Year!!!
We went to a carnival type thing (well, at least it felt like a carnival) and this is the walk home. Saileey was held the whole time and was really excited to get down and walk to the car.
This was also the day I realized that my house will probably filled with useless crappy toys that I bought to bring a smile to my little girls face (like every other child). BTW China sends its nice crappy stuff to America while the rest of the world gets the crappy crappy stuff.
She is excited to walk around.
She is like...really excited to walk around.
'Til Next Time!!
