The Locklears

smiley boy

I can reach my toes! and even put them in my mouth

Favorite cuddle object: cow Zoozu - not one nap goes without her (though we recently discovered it might be a giraffe..hmm)

Couple of weeks ago we took a stroll to a nearby park, ate some ice cream and had a russian milk shake :) I wish I snapped some pictures of the place, but I was too lazy - they had different things for kiddos to do, bounce houses, race cars, etc. But, of course, i snapped a picture of the most handsome guy around :)

We walked back to our place after a few hours at the park. Since it was still August and through middle of September people sell watermelons here. They are very sweet and very juicy..and they sell them like shown on this picture - on the street in big cages.

walking back home - took us about 20-25 min to get back. It was a beautiful summer day, so we enjoyed the weather and each others company (took some Aleve afterwards for pain in the legs)

My family decided to have a picnic by the beach. Picnic in Ukraine does not mean sandwiches and chips; it means shashluk and drinking. Well, since most of us dont drink (as much anyway) - only wine and beer was bought, because there is no shashluk without good red wine - in this country its considered a sin...almost :)

So this was our cooler - a drain in the ground.

You make do with what you got :)

My dad and sister's boyfriend, Oleg, starting up the fire for shashluk. And, yes, Oleg is wearing Speedos.

Daddy is working on putting shashluk on a kebab sticks

Shashluk before its good and done (its pork meat marinated for two days in mayo and onions, and some other spices I am not allowed to disclose:) )
it can only be cooked over smoke, not over fire
Side dish we grilled: Saluguni - armenian dish, salty thin bread stuffed with saluguni cheese and herbs. OK, its like quesadillas
During

After!

So good, I think I gained 10lbs that afternoon alone

View from where we hung out (we walk down to the beach later, sorry no pictures of us in the water, because I already dropped my camera into the sand once and now it doesnt zoom in)
Attempt at the self portrait of Everette and I. Attempt failed.
Lucas hanging out with grandma. Jacket and all, while we went swimming and tanning :)

And finally, our "bar" - a big rock we found in the woods and placed wine on top of it.
Note: no green grass.

Below are going to be some random shots I took throughout the month of August.

Eastern Orthodox Church/Monastery in our neighborhood

We took a mini trip outside of Odessa and drove by a huge sunflower field. My dad got out of the car and got us a big sunflower; we decided not to eat sunflower seeds out of it as they are not as good raw - they are better fried and seasoned, just like in the package

buying watermelon on the side of the road. Like the Russian tractor?!:)
mini picnic: bolied eggs, melons, eggplant caviar, cheese sandwiches, watermelon and Pepsi.