Happy Nooruz

Today is a big holiday on this side of the world. Nooruz is the Persian New Year, or the start of Spring. Today was a gorgeous and sunny day to celebrate. We walked down to Ala-Too Square, the main area in Bishkek, and met up with Mary to hear the music and watch the dancing.

It was quite a production with the songs, costumes, choreographed routines, and the crowd. And I guess different performances go on there all day long (we're at the hotel right now enjoying nap time!).

Jonas was a little wary of all of the people and excitement, so we walked around away from the crowd and held him close to let him know he was safe.

Mary bought him a balloon, and he loves those! So on our way to lunch, he felt comfortable enough to get down and run around a bit once there weren't so many people. He had a blast banging the balloon and then eating some samsa and lepyoshka for lunch before we headed back to the hotel for a nap.

Because of the holiday, we can't head up to Kazakhstan until later next week to get Jonas's visa (the embassy is closed), so we're leaving on our first family vacation tomorrow. We're going to visit Lake Issyk-Kul, the second largest alpine lake in the world. I'm not sure we'll have internet access for a few days (or I'm too cheap to pay for it if it's not free), but we'll have lots to share when we get back. Happy Spring from Kyrgyzstan!