Ukraine: Life on the Dacha

My uncle's dacha is located one minute walk to the biggest river of Ukraine--Dniper river. On the first afternoon when we arrived, Robert took the boys to see what it looks like. 

That's the central part of Kyiv in the background. 

This is Alex walking back towards the dacha--that street is unpaved, full of pot holes, and is quite long. On the right, that cement fence looks kind of scary but it's actually a very nice house behind it, and security cameras;)

So here is the dacha house. It's basically a summer house to spend long hot days in a bit of a countryside setting, but still within minutes of the city. 

Dacha is the place to entertain as you can hang outside and cook outside. This is Andriy's domain (my cousin's husband). Shashliki is his specialty:)

But it was still super chilly outside when we visited as the weather cooled down drastically right before we arrived. So we opted to stay inside and fit at this table, cozily:)

This is also when one of our second cousins visited with his family, the more the merrier. Babushka Maya got to sit next to me:)

In the evenings, my mom treated the boys to head massages. They loved it as she has a magic touch:)

During the days, the kids could play outside in the fenced in yard. Football is king in my family, so of course, the boys had a blast playing together.

That's Petrusik, Mark and Mika.

The big boys and Katya joined in as well. 

And in the evening, once, we walked over to the river again to watch a spectacular sunset. 

Alex feeling special as only he went on a walk with us. 

Love:)

I was trying to remind them of the picture they took in FL when Alex was little. 

Back at the dacha, Mark was competing in a chess tournament against this smart cookie--Petrusik. These two have lots of fun together. Petrusik is amazing!

And in the evening we talked for hours, and I tried to absorb as much as possible of my Babushka's memorable stories:).

And so it was very relaxing not to be going places and sightseeing but spending time with the family talking, playing and eating.

Lyana.