Walking on water

... which is covered with ice, which is covered with snow :)

Let's rewind back to January the 4rd, which was so much fun that as some of you have pointed out I didn't even have the energy to blog about it until now! You're so demanding!

We got up early that day at 9:30am and went to my aunt and uncle's friend's dacha for the day. It's about 1 and a half hours out of the city. A cute little house, a banya and a big yard that leads right into the river.

Given that there have been two months of freezing weather, the river is completely frozen over. The first thing we did was go out for a one hour walk on the river. The weather was perfect - the sun was shinning, the snow was shimmering - just beautiful! We rolled around in the snow, not forgetting to fill Julia's pants with it :). In huge letter, we stomped out 'Happy New Year!' in the snow for the aliens to see!

Fresh air can be almost intoxicating after the city. Thoroughly aired out, we went inside for lunch (pelmeni - delicious). After lunch, my younger cousin Genya took his quadcycle out so we could ride around on the frozen river (having previously thoroughly tested it on foot). We took turns on the bike, which had some trouble getting through the snow, but was still a ton of fun.

(Before I go on, I just want to make sure everyone realizes there was drinking during lunch.)

So what's the next step for testing the frozen river after the quadcycle? How about driving on it in a car! And that's just what my uncle did. To tell the truth, riding around in the car on the river was much more comfortable than on the quadcycle :).

In conclusion the river is frozen over good and well.

Photos here