In Mongolia it is a tradition to go to a summer house in the countryside for part of every summer. If you don't have your own summer house then you usually have a relative or friend who has one. So we explained to Alesia on the three hour drive to Jamieson on New Years Eve that we were going to Noni and Pa's "Summerhouse". I may have trouble explaining the size of this summer house to our Mongolian friends!
Initially we had trouble getting the girls out of the summer house. All that open space, grass, flies, bugs, dogs, cows....It was too much for our apartment-bound, urban dwellers. After daddy and Pa built Alesia her very own swing, and Keira discovered the canoe behind the shed, the girl's decided that the Summerhouse was a pretty good place afterall.
After celebrating a chilly new year on the deck of the summer house we spent a part of each day on the river. By the last day the weather had gotten hot enough that even I had a dip in the river.
We also got to hang out with our Sydney relatives - Aunt Sallymae, Uncle Mat and Aunty Tan
