Lydia Turns Three

Lydia's birthday party was this week. She is flanked by her three year old friend Isaiah four year old sister Maggie. 

Our City's Summer Festival: Naadam

Renee and Lydia rode this camel around while dressed for the festivities. On this day we watched wrestling and ate some carnival food from our church's booth.
Renee said she thought they were going to fall off the front when this big guy kneeled down to let them disembark. Notice his front hump is leaning a bit to the left. 

Johanna's First Birthday

Johanna enjoyed her first taste of cake and icecream on July 4th. 

High Culture

The pinnacle of the Mongolian soul is mysteriously intertwined with their horses. Along with mountains and the sky, Mongolians adore horses and specifically races like the one that was about to commence in this picture. Every summer, all over the country there are big festivals like our carnivals or county fairs. Naadam always takes place in early July. On this day, we saw 76 horses, six years and older, race a distance of about 10 miles. All of the jockeys were children, some as young as 4 years old. Their ove of horses is almost hereditary.

Last Day of Class

We had our last day of class on Friday, the last day of June. July and August should bring us more practical language experience in real life situations. Now it feels like summer!