Cossack Island

Sure enough, today was another beautiful spring day. I wonder if this is normal for here. It has been sunny, breezy and around 50 degrees every day for over a week. I'm not complaining. I know at home the daffodils are all blooming and the trees are white with their springtime flowers. I love spring in Williamsburg. And thinking that we will be gone through most of April is such a bummer. I'd love some pictures of home if anyone can be bothered.

Today I went to the cafe by myself. I had a headache (it had to have been that shot of vodka) and Kevin had stuff to do in the apartment. I think he had a headache, too. Jessica called while I was blogging to say that the kids wanted to go a little earlier and could we be at McDonalds at 2:15 instaed of 2:45? I looked at my watch and it was not quite noon. I said no problem. I Skype-texted Kevin back at the apartment to let him know. He was making chicken salad and ham salad for sandwiches for the boys. He said we had no bread and wanted an onion, too. I said I'd get it on the way home.

We needed to change some more money but no exchange places were open. I saw everyone walking around carrying sprigs of pussywillows. I figured it was pussywillow Sunday. We only get palm leaves at home. Ukrainians get pussywillows. I got bread and an onion and went home and made sandwiches with an entire loaf. Kevin got in the shower and Jessica called about getting snacks, too. I said we could get sancks on the way to the bus. She said we should be leaving now. But it was not quite 1:00, I said. Oh no! She didn't realize that we had no idea it was Spring forward day today. Ooops. I told Kevin to step up in there and Jessica said she'd get the snacks.

We didn't have to wait long for a bus and got to the McDonalds about 2 minutes after Jessica, Anya and the boys arrived. What a crew! The boys were in their school windbreakers and we looked like a gang, for sure. We found what bus to take and all piled on. Everyone had a seat and soon the bus was motoring across a big concrete bridge. Anya had the bus driver let us off in the middle of a street, which was a bit interesting, and we started walking down a path through the woods. There were no signs or markers that I could see, and wondered if Anya knew where she was going. She said it was about a 1/2 hour walk.

We walked and the boys gradually tranformed into puppies. They began by making golf clubs out of sticks and hitting pinecones with them. Then the sticks became guns of various sorts. One particularly branchy branch became moose antlers. In a short time, everyone's jackets were shed. They chased each other, pounced on each other, and made just about everything into a game. The path was sand and the trees mostly pine. There were great areas where the trees had been cleared by fire, whether accidentily or on purpose, we could not tell.

We finally came to the water and climbed down a steep embankment to the beach. The place was fairly crowded, it being Sunday and during vacation time. There were groups of young people and families all having picnics in the sun. Most people were drinking and I wondered where they were all going pee, seeing as there were no facilities to be seen anywhere. We passed by people kicking soccer balls around, some playing badminton, some playing music, or guitar. There were rock climbers and tents, campfires and guys chopping at a great fallen tree with a small ax. It was quite a sight and we walked for another 15 or 20 minutes trying to find a suitable site to have our picnic.

Eventually we just ran out of land and decided to stop. It was a beautiful spot, lots of beach and walled in by high rock. The puppies were now all rock climbers and they scaled and explored the high wall for most of the day. Kai was ambitiously gathering dead wood for a fire. Soon a perfect little Boy Scout blaze was crackling away. We took pictures all day. Kevin found a sunny spot on a large flat rock and napped contentedly. I spread a blanket on the sand and pretended I was at the Outer Banks. (I wish!)

When the puppies got hungry, they broke out the sandwiches, and there was much rejoicing. Jessica had bought every cookie in the store, so cookies were had as well. I pulled the blanket close to the fire because the breeze off the water was cool. Some boys requested to play cards and I took out the deck and we played Spades again. Vitaly and Andrei came down from the rocks with something causing great excitement. Vitaly was shirtless and his hand was wrapped in his shirt. At first I thought he might be hurt, but I should have known better. These kids are tough and know how to be careful. What was wrapped in his shirt were 2 baby bats! They were incredibly cute; brown and fuzzy, seeming pretty scared. The boys were gentle with them and thrilled with their find. We told them to put them back when they were done with them and they complied.

While 4 of us played cards, Kai, Sasha, and Vitaly wrestled on the beach. Puppies! They were having so much fun. But it was after 5:30 and we needed to start wrapping it up. We took group pictures on the rocks and then started back. There was a ginormous staircase up the cliff wall and we opted to take that way. I counted 110 stairs. The view from up there was beautiful and the rolling, rocky hills and the plunging cliff to the river was reminiscent of Ireland. Soon, all coats were off again.

We found the path back through the woods. The puppies kicked the soccer ball at each other as we made our way. Once the ball was lodged high in an old, dry pine tree. Vitaly climbed up and quickly retrieved it. His hands were covered in pine pitch and he gladly took the Wet-Wipe I offered him. We discovered a huge old tree in a clearing off the path that looked to have been struck by lightning, or damaged by fire. The boys climbed it at my request and we took more pictures.

Soon we were back at the highway and the 10 of us waited to cross the busy street to the bus stop. The bus arrived in no time and we were back at the McDonalds. Everyone was completely exhausted. We said our good-byes and parted. Kevin and I found our bus stop and were soon on our way home. We picked up some water at the store and ate ham salad sandwiches at the apartment. I had a short nap and then we settled in to watch TV and vegetate. It was 11:00 when we went to bed and we were wiped out. What an amazing day!