Danya, Tima, Dasha, Ira, Ira, Lena... This is the core of the local gang. Danya's classmate Elya and her brother Ernest connected them, but then they left for a month. The rest of the kids are here for the summer--a rather unusual situation for kids in St. Pete, where most children spend months in the village or dacha with relatives. Now, everyday, from 11-1 and then from 6-8pm they all play tag, freeze tag, skeleton, teacher or shark on the playground in front of our building. They play soccer sometimes, but mostly prefer their other, made up, games. They have also built a little fort against the preschool fence, with one big branch and some rope to define the edges. They decorate it with sticks 'planted' upright in the dirt, and have a liter of orange unedible berries as 'food'. Dried nettles are part of the weapon collection, which they anticipate using to keep other kids away. (And yes, I'm sad to say we occasionally hear reports of other kids 'attacking' and being driven off from destroying our kids' fort.) Mostly, though, it's a fun, creative and linguistically developing situation for our kids. I'm hopeful that Tima is learning a lot and gaining confidence in having Russian friends. (Danya doesn't need anymore confidence, but refining his grammer and gaining vocabulary are plusses, of course.)
That is the usual playground situation. It has been hard for me to fulfill my dream of daily walks in the woods, though the boys love riding their bikes, and I can only keep up running (with Ella in the jogging stroller). But our kids are so addicted to their friends, that it's like pulling teeth to get them to give up an hour of playground time. Thankfully, there is almost always another mother or grandmother, so I can run to the store or go around the corner to the sunny playground with Ella. However, I don't feel quite free to take a 30 minute voluntary walk.
This evening, Eric brought the baseball equipment outside. Danya surprised us with a watershed moment. "Dad, I think I want to go play with my friends instead of you," he said, for the first time ever. But later, when Eric and Tima's play attracted a group of boys, Danya came back. As more kids kept coming, Danya was energized and Tima wanted to hide in a hole.
Russian kids are intrigued by baseball. Most kids identify baseball bats more as weapons than sports equipment. So we have to watch them closely! Some had a pretension of knowing what to do. At one point 10 kids were playing, though it was hard to count, for kids would bat and then drift into the outfield and then drift away. But Eric encouraged and coached and they all had a great time.
We were delighted to welcome my parents to Saint Petersburg for two weeks. It is a blessing to have so many relatives who are willing to spend their time, money and strength to see our daily lives. Our time was full of reading, playing, building a table, seeing the historical sites, and walking (or racing) in the woods. 
We were surprised to see Formula One Grand Prix boats racing in the Neva River. Not exactly the historical use of the river, but exciting none the less!
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For some reason, the Сапсан (Peregrin Falcon) high speed train brings out our kids' kung-fu moves. This trip was the first since we have had kids when we didn't use a taxi to get home. Our kids did well on the Moscow metro getting to the Richardson's and back to the other train station. Upon arrival in rush-hour traffic, we decided we could take the metro-bus route instead of a taxi. Thanks to our energetic kids, and umbrella stroller for Ella and packing light, we made it without killing ourselves! All told, a delightful trip!
Brian Birdsall levitating.
