Our fun day in Almaty

We have had a fun day in Almaty! We started with cold breakfast in the hotel.  It was not supposed to be cold though.  We left here at about 10:30 and walked to a gondola ride.  Kazakhstan and Kgstan are both very mountainous and beautiful.  At the top of the gondola is a fun family entertainment area.  Rides, games, a small zoo and a couple of restaurants.

We had lunch at a grill and the food was pretty good.  This picture was taken from my seat in the restaurant.  We sat on the observation deck and it was very nice.  I had a steak and bbq potato (baked potato).  The steak was really good.  It is hard to know if it was really *that* good, or if I am just starved for familiar foods!  Mike had baked fish and Asa ate off of our plates. 

It is so nice that he is not a picky eater.  He will eat just about anything we put in front of him and really seems to do well at limiting himself.  When he has had enough to eat, he will push his plate away. 

After we ate, we walked through the zoo.  It was mainly chickens of all sorts, some rabbits, some other birds and some goats.  Funny thing about the chicken exhibit, each chicken pen had the name of the particular chicken breed that was housed inside, where that breed originated and the average number of eggs that breed produces each year.  I guess egg production is one of the top three items of interest when people in Kaz think about chickens!

Another attraction at the top of the gondola is a roller coaster.  Each person has their own car and the rider controls the speed of his car.  All three dads, one mom and all four kids rode the roller coaster!  The kids loved it!  Here are Mike and Asa about to "take off"!

Here is a picture from the top of the gondola, on our way down.  I do not like heights.  Not at all.  But this was okay as long as I looked out the side of the car and could not see directly under the car.  It was a bit of a clown car scene with all of the people that were stuffed into each car.  The question was asked numerous times, "What is the weight limit on this thing???" 



After the gondola part, we walked back to the hotel.  It was about a 20 minute walk, most of it uphill.  It is not hard to notice that Almaty is much cleaner than Bishkek and much more modern.  The people here have much more disposable income and it shows by the way of the stores and merchandise available.  On our walk to the hotel we saw an "Apples" store.  Haha, something was lost in the translation, as this was an Apple store, as in iPhones and iPads. 

After a short break at the hotel, we walked back to the nice mall down the street for supper.  We had some Asian noodles for supper and stocked up on water and juice at the grocery store.  On the way back to the hotel Asa fell asleep in the stroller.  He was worn out!  It was a good day.

Tomorrow morning we will go to the SOS clinic and have the kids' medical exams done in preparation for their visa interview.  Please pray for peace for them and wisdom for moms and dads.  So many things are so new to the kids and they are still easily frightened by strangers and new places.