Memorial Weekend

We had a busy weekend having fun as a family. Friday night we went to the Giant's baseball game with Katie, Noah and big Ruslan (a friend originally from Russia, who just happens to have the same name as our son), and 'Hello Kitty,' who is Ruslan's kindergarten class's teddy-bear mascot. The kids draw names to see who gets to take Hello Kitty home for the weekend. Ruslan was so excited that he got picked. We had to do some fun stuff with Hello Kitty so that he could take pictures and add it to the Hello Kitty scrap book at school. Everyone enjoyed the game, including Hello Kitty. There was a amazing fireworks display after the game in honor of Memorial Day. What a great night! Our other events this weekend included bike-riding around Foster City on Saturday and a visit to the miniature steam trains in Tilden park in Berkeley on Sunday. We have included some pictures of our great weekend for your viewing pleasure.

Ruslan went to his first kid's birthday party this afternoon. We weren't sure about taking him till just recently. He has been struggling to interact with the kids in his class other than his one Russian-speaking friend, Anton. Anton was sick for a couple days this week and it forced Ruslan to branch out a little more. He actually had a couple of play dates this week with some of the other kids while Anton was out. One of them was the cutest little girl named Padina. They walked to the playground hand-in-hand. They were so darling. The birthday party he went to today was for a little girl named Sara, with a princess theme. Ruslan was a little dismayed when he walked in and saw all the girls in their princess costumes, but just in the nick of time a few boys showed up which helped him feel a little more comfortable. The parents of the birthday girl assured me everything would be alright, so I nervously wrote my cell number down for them and left him there. It was nice to have a couple hours break, even though I was thinking of him the whole time. I notice that whenever I am not with him, I worry and think about him. I guess it is a new mom kinda thing. Anyway, no one ever called me and by the time I came back to pick him up he was running around with the other boys having a great time. When we said our evening prayers tonight, he was able to pray for many of his classmates by name.