Heat Wave

It has been quite the month here in Moscow, Russia. We have had some seriously hot days in the 90's and even 100's. These are some of the hottest days in Russian history. The stores have been sold out of any and all fans or air conditioners. Good thing we bought ours before the heat wave started. We have not had any rain in over a month which has caused many peat moss fires. Crops and lives have been lost due to the heat. The smoke has put a blanket over the city of Moscow. The government has advised to keep windows closed and stay in doors as much as possible. The pollution levels are 10 times over the safe level. It doesn't affect us as much where we are, but when the wind blows the smoke our direction it is so strong that it seems there is a fire in the back yard. We haven't been out doors as much as normal because of this. And not having any air conditioning in our house has been a challenge as well. The upstairs gets so hot that we have all been camping out in our guest bedroom on the main level (see photo below). It has worked out well and the girls seem to sleep much better with Mommy and Daddy so close.

Because it has been so dry it has been causing MacKenzie to get bloody noses. These always seem to happen in the middle of the night. Cliff picked up a humidifer for our bedroom. We are hoping this helps the poor peanut.

The kids have been such troopers and have not complained about the heat or the smoke. They have been having such a fun summer filled with so many things. To help remember the summer I listed some of the fun things we have done:

1. pool fun
2. bubbles
3. bike rides
4. playground
5. side walk chalk
6. sprinkler
7. watching tad poles turn into frogs
8. catching frogs and toads
9. catching butterflys
10. picking strawberries and raspberries from our back yard
11. growing potatoes (thanks to Grandpa)
12. outdoor picnics
13. coloring
14. stickers
15. eating ice cream
16. painting
17. going to Red Square
18. picking out and playing with nesting kittens
19. playdoh
20. getting new toys/coloring books that Mommy brought from home
21. new movies
22. 4th of July celebration in Moscow
23. exploring big house
24. playing with toys that came with the house
25. reading books that came with the house
26. bath in a huge tub
27. play Russian game with kids at playground
28. learning Russian words

These are ones that came to mind. Like I said, the kids have had a fun summer so far.