Fountain Square in Spring March 2015

We decided to get out and about for some fresh Spring air and vitamin D in Fountain Square near the downtown Baku area. The kids loved just running around in the grass and checking out the fountains....and then they found a playground and of course made new friends....even though the kids didn't speak English...it really didn't matter.
We wrapped up the day at home on the patio grilling some yummy steaks. 
Here are some pics of our beautiful spring day in Baku. 

 Grace and Tyler by the fountain.

 Mommy joins the twins for a pic by the fountain.

 Daddy was taking pics and told us to put our thumbs up so Ty and I did but Grace decided to give mommy bunny ears instead so she got "the look".

 My babes and I by the fountain.

 Grace and Tyler walking by the fountain. Grace often has that motherly arm on Ty to keep tabs on him.

 She is NOT giving you the finger...it is her first finger even though it doesn't look like it from far away lol.

 Grace actually took this great pic of Daddy and I.

 And Ty took this one.

 Ty on the playground climbing up the rope.

 Grace found a stray cat to play with.

 Ty hanging out on the slide at the playground.

 Ty knows he can't touch the cat because he is allergic....but he still wants to see it.

 The cat really liked Grace and crawled right up in her lap and closed her eyes and purred.

 Two cute girls came by to pet the cat too.

 Ty ready to be a monkey lol.

 The cat decided to take a nap in Grace's lap.

 Just dancing in the street....my silly little girl.

Ty posing as we walk back to the car.

 Checking out the fountain together.

 Not sure what is going on with the bunny ear phase lol.

Spring Break continued.....

We finally got out of the house today! 
Headed down to the Boulevard and took some pics of the flaming towers, the torch, the water, and a fountain, plus the gondola area. Then had dinner at Chinar....

 Grace before we left the house.

 Daddy, Grace, and Ty on the bridge above the gondola.

 Ty and Grace checking out the water on the other side of the gondola bridge.

 And they are off and running....that's what being cooped up for 2 weeks will do....

 They asked if this was the "sea"....

 With daddy by the water...

 With mommy by the water....

 The Azerbaijan flag....and Grace and Daddy below it.

 Grace and Daddy and Ty with the flame towers in the background. I think this one turned out really good.

 Since Grace and Daddy were so little under the Azerbaijan flag pic I took another one of them there.

 Grace found this really cool all white rock that looked like an egg.

 Ty loved all of the flowers....

 Posing by the flowers...

 Just HAD to get more running in....

 Grace liked the flowers too....

 Just out for a family stroll on the curb.....

 My sweet girl, really loving this pic of her....

 Grace is pointing to the gondola on the other side.

 Now she is telling Ty here it comes this way.

 Grace is pointing at daddy who is in front of the funicular and next to that the brown awning is Chinar where we had dinner.

 Ty at this point was done walking he said.

 This is inside an underground tunnel that allows pedestrians to cross the street without getting run over. Just like the ones we have at home that go over the highway, these go under instead.

 Grace ready for some sushi at Chinar.

 Ty could care less about the food at Chinar.

Spring Break 2015 in Baku

Spring Break in Baku is not at all like Spring Break at home in the U.S. For one thing, they have 2 weeks off of school instead of 1. Which is actually quite nice! This happened to be a God send this year as we were all quite sick and unable to leave the house.....Barry and I somehow got a horrible flu and we literally took turns napping and taking care of the kids....we were THAT sick! 
After we recovered, I was putting the twins in the bath one day and low and behold they had chicken pox all over their stomachs and backs!!!!!!!!!! I was a bit in shock as they have both had the varicella vaccines! Apparently, it is possible, what little chance it is, to still get it, and luckily because of the vaccine it was VERY VERY mild...in fact, no fever, no itching, only about 15-20 spots each mostly on the tummy and back and it really didn't bother them at all. Still....we had to stay put in the house for days on end because there are actually only 3 countries that vaccinate for chicken pox.....the U.S., Canada, and Australia! We may have had a mild case but do one google search on chicken pox to see how bad it really could be for those who have not been vaccinated...I was NOT going to be the person who spread that....

We did get a bit of cabin fever though so I took the kids out for a walk on the first day of spring. It was 55 and beautiful so we checked out the courtyard and playground here and loved finding our turtle friends. We played on the playground and rode on their scooters for hours. And we still have 1 week left of spring break to enjoy! 
Here are some pics! 

Ready to go on their scooters.

 My little Gracie bear..............

 My Ty man.....

 Off they go....headed to the courtyard....

 This is a good one as they are posing together but also because you can see the way some of the people have to live here behind them...the apartment has a lot of clothes lines and open windows and yet they all have satellites....this is common here....and I wonder....what would you or I choose....the satellite or the dryer? I would choose the dryer.....the wind and sand here makes me think those clothes cannot be clean anymore....and we don't use satellite for tv here or cable....we use internet and watch everything we need on amazon prime or netflix.....honest!

 Love this smile on his face....such innocence while he plays in the dried up mud....

 They found this dried up mud and pulled it apart and said they were planting the berries they found....

 I swear to you they sat here and dug in the dried up mud for hours....I sat in the sun and enjoyed the vitamin D and what it was doing for my immune system....I could literally feel the air filling my lungs with good air and the sun's vitamin D helping me feel better....I felt kind of like a cat sleeping in the sun....I was awake...but very relaxed....

 Our old friends the turtles that we found when we first moved here back in September (seems like a year ago already) were still in the courtyard just where we saw them last....wonder how they survive the winter?

 Mommy please come push us!

 Grace's turn to push Ty.

 Grace is ready for some teeter totter (see saw?) action....

 But she is not happy because she cannot get Ty off of his favorite part of the playground.....the merry go round.

 Ok this is not fun by myself Ty, come on, get off that merry go round and play with me already! :(

She was pouting in this tunnel area until I said Cheese and the girl just can't resist posing.....

 Checking out the fake grass. She actually lifted it up and told Ty it is not real you know!

 Just can't not love looking at this boy....soooo handsome!

 Yeah I know he needs a haircut....but do you know how hard it is to find a good haircut place here? A barber who knows English? Impossible!

 My cute little pumpkin.....you can see her two front teeth are growing in here....

He told me yesterday I have to change his nickname...he doesn't want to be called a stinkbutt anymore...he likes the nickname Tyster.....hmmm ok...what do I say to that?

 What a beautiful girl with all of the innocence of childhood on her face.....

My boy.....loving twisting the swing around and around.....