Spring Market

We went to the Spring Market in town on Saturday. There were fruits and vegetables as well as vegetable garden starter plants and flowers for sale. Lots of "fresh" meat for sale out the backs of vans/trucks and even live small animals, for pets, I hope.  Check out this man chopping meat with a battle ax on a wood stump!

Swans

The swans come and rest on Sakhalin island in April every year during their migration north. We drove to Okskoaya beach and saw 8 beautiful swans in the ocean. It was a lovely cold day on the beach.

Quick trip home

We accompanied Bryan to Houston for a quick last minute trip while he had some meetings and Alyssa had a term school break.  We loved every minute of visiting family and friends and eating delicious foods!  Alyssa and I made the long trip back to Russia by ourselves, since Bryan returned earlier. That is a rough 2 days of travel without sleep!
A highlight was meeting our newest relative. Bryan's sister, Jill, had a baby girl. Bryn was born while we were in Texas. Alyssa loved cuddling her new cousin. My brother and his wife also just had a baby boy, but we missed meeting him by a few days since he was a little late. We look forward to cuddling David this summer. I was also very pleased to get our annual bluebonnet pictures!
Here are a few pictures from our trip.