Anna had one day off being photographed, so this makes these shots from the 15th August. Only a fortnight behind with these photos now 🙂
Aunty Sasha was still at the in-laws, as were we, and wanted to spend as much time with Anna as possible, before she returned to St. Petersburg in Russia. We took a few shots of Anna in her new baby swing, with Aunty Sasha on the grown ups’ swing, and finally one of Anna and Irina in her baby sling.
With Google claiming that the new back end workings for their search engine having been in the pipeline for a while, and Microsoft explaining it merely as a kneejerk reaction to their Bing search engine, who should we believe? Does it really matter?
Well first I would like to give you the opportunity to see Microsoft’s chosen viral ad for Bing. I’d recommend moving sharp objects, small children and pets from your immediate vicinity first.
Next we have the Onion’s take on Google and their privacy policies. This one might make you laugh, you might not, but you won’t be wanting to time travel and stop the conception of the video maker at least 🙂
So, back to the story, what changes can we expect from Caffeine? Well, searching for a term like “Kazakh Yurt Rental” would not simply just use the old Google algorithm where the site with the most (with weight for relevancy) links would be in first place, allowing for on and off page SEO obviously. When implemented, if the rumours are true, when two sites of roughly equal ‘value’ to the reader (as pre-determined by Google) contend for a search term, the site with the most recent article/post would nudge ahead, and therefore place higher in the search results.
A day after Irina’s Mum’s birthday, (so that is the 12th of August. In case you’ve forgotten, I don’t really have some OCD thing going on with dates, it is just that I’ll eventually be altering the dates on any posts with Anna photos in them, for later importing to her blog), I think Aunty Sveta and the rest of the family from that area in Kazakhstan were leaving. Anna had coped very well with all the attention from lots of new faces the night before, and continued to impress us all with her willingness to be the parcel in a game of pass-the-parcel once more (hugs were much in demand).
Aunty Sasha And Anna In Her New And First Ever Dressing Gown
Outside The Front Of The In-Laws’ House
Irina And Anna. Anna Seems To Find The Photographer’s Left Ear Very Interesting
Another post where I can easily remember the date for Anna’s photos, as Irina’s Mum’s birthday is one day after our anniversary! So, these shots were taken on the 11th August, at a restaurant called Attila in Astana. Yes, I mis-spelled the restaurant in the post linked to.
Part Of The Meal At Attilas In Astana
Chris Anna And Irina
Family Shot Outside Attila
Two Roses Amongst Flowers 🙂
Friends And Family Outside Attila In Astana
Shot Of Attila’s Exterior Landscape
More Family Friends With Babushka At Her 60th B-Day Celebration
10th August. I’m sure on the date for this Anna’s Photos post, because it was taken on the same day as Irina’s and my anniversary. We returned to the Astana Park Hotel outdoor restaurant, and I discovered their pizzas were lovely, definitely better value for money than the sashlique I’d tried previously.
Anna was once again very well behaved, and the gazebos offer enough privacy that Anna had a meal with us at the same time 🙂 No photos of that…
However, also in this post are some photos of the Kazakh-style wiring we found at the entrance to Astana Park. I had originally thought that the structure was permanent, and thought that supply of mains electricity jerry rigged from the nearest lamp post was utterly laughable. However, the piece has now been removed (installed for Astana Day/the international conference for religious tolerance), so the wiring was only ever supposed to be temporary. Worthy of a giggle then, but not a full blown guffaw. The structure was a combination of a traditional drink vessel found in Kazakhstan, and the ventilation area at the top of a yurt.
Well, this day eight years ago, Ira and I were married (over here in Astana). Since that day, I haven’t regretted for one minute our decision to commit to each other for ever, and I want to thank her for making me complete – I’ll never be perfect (!), but I know she has helped me to move on from acting like a partying student 24/7, and try to consider the long term view before acting. With the joyful addition to our lives that is Anna, I look forward to many more memory-filled days with this new subset of the Merriman clan, and hope that our family and friends understand just how much we appreciate their support for us.
Wow, that was reasonably heart-felt/emotional considering I’m not making a toast, and haven’t had a drink in 14 or so hours!
Ira’s Mum has made pancakes again. Yum. OK, they are more like scotch pancakes (so not called blinnay in Russian, but I’ve forgotten the word Ira told me earlier, and she is asleep right now), but I like both types equally. Anyway, I happen to know there are a few left on the kitchen table downstairs, so the next time I nip out (writing these posts in the bedroom) for a cigarette, think I’ll grab a couple 🙂 That said, I’ve recently noticed that Anna can actually partially perch on my stomach when I’m sat up, so maybe I’ll just grab one pancake tonight.
This time (9th August) it was for Ira’s Mum’s 60th birthday (pictures to come of this event that occurred a few days later, will appear in a couple of posts time), but Aunty Sasha also seemed very happy to make the long train journey from St. Petersburg to see Anna again as well. This is the last post I’ll write until I get around to uploading the last remaining Anna videos to YouTube, so apologies if there a few days pass before more Anna photos appear.
