Taylor's 7th Birthday

I am still in shock that Taylor is already 7, and her birthday was a couple weeks ago. Moving to Moscow with Merrick being the age that he is has brought back a lot of memories for me moving to Dallas with Taylor over 5 years ago. So many things were so similar at first. Taylor and I moved to Dallas, and were in a crappy apartment, knew no one, didn't know where to go to play, didn't have TV, and had to watch the Wiggles over and over again. Taylor was in MN when we moved here this summer, so Merrick and I were in a crappy apartment, didn't know anyone, had no idea where to go play, HAD a TV -- but everything was in Russian, and all Merrick wanted to watch was Thomas the Tank Engine, over and over again. Thank goodness he was never really exposed to the Wiggles. To this day, I still can't stand the Wiggles.

For Taylor's birthday we woke up, had pancakes, and opened all of the great presents that people sent over here for her. We then got ready, and went to our first ballet at the Bolshoi Theater, Cippolino. It had something to do with vegetables coming to life in a garden and defeating some bad guys. There were a lot of kids there, and Taylor didn't once get bored. She loved to look at the orchestra during intermission, and she decided "that she would never play the bass because it it too big." It was funny. I told her that she didn't ever have to play the bass :)

Here is Taylor posing with her new webkinz from Shandye and Chandler, and the movie "Clue" from her dad.

A picture of Taylor and I on our balcony before the ballet.

After the ballet, we met Burke and Merrick at home and wend to Build a Bear Workshop (YES, they have those here) and Merrick and Taylor make their animals. Merrick made a "sloan" which is elephant in Russian, and Taylor made a sabaka, a dog.