It is that time of year again when the Bogott family must make their yearly visa run. As tradition would have it we went to Helsinki to renew our visas. It was a bit of an adventure since Ramona and I are without car and they place we were staying is about one hour by bus to Helsinki. After two days of trying we finally got our visas just before the holiday weekend. Phew!

The weather was lovely in Porvoo, Finland where we were staying. Not terribly warm, but it sunny weather sure made everything feel warmer. The kids spent several afternoons playing in the park. They actually got to play in several different parks due to our visa problems.

The second half of today we spent second-hand shopping downtown and we also walked around a bit. Timothy and I went out on the bridge which overlooks the old part of town and shot a couple of pictures which I stitched together after getting back. Porvoo is the second oldest city and boasts of great second-hand shopping and the marvelous Brunberg chocolate factory. We had a great time.

For anybody wanting to get away to Finland we highly recommend you stay in Porvoo at a retreat center called Soltorp. Write me if you would like more information.

Ramona helping Abby ride the rocking horse

Abby preparing for her run down the big slide

Timothy on his umpteenth time down the slide

Today was my sister’s day off from the team. We decided to take her to some parks, out to lunch at Carl’s Jr and finally to Spas na Krovi (Church of the Spilled Blood). This is the church that looks similar to St. Basil’s of Moscow.

We started the day off by walking through Kazan Cathedral. This is an amazing building with a lovely interior and most of the Orthodox Churches in Russia. The picture above is of us standing outside the Kazan Cathedral looking across the street to the old Singer building. This has recently been restored both the interior and exterior. It’s also has a nice coffee shop in the second floor.


After Kazan we decided to take a walk through a local park and on our way we met our old nanny, Sasha. She was out walking the daughter of my former boss. What a lovely surprise to meet her there. The picture above is of us sitting at Carl’s Jr. Abby was being a little rascal so we sandwiched her and took this picture.

After the meal we sent Ramona home with the kids and Amy and I continued on to the Church of the Spilled Blood. This is the place where Tsar Alexander was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt. There is something like 70,000 square feet of mosaics on the walls inside the church. It is an amazing view. Above Amy is standing in the middle of this lovely church.

Finally a little panorama from inside the church to give you some perspective. I recommend clicking on the picture to see the enlarged version. An amazing work of art (the church not my photography)!

Wow, we are so excited to have Auntie Amy in town. She has come with a YWAM team to minister in Russia. The team will be in St. Petersburg, Moscow and MerEl. What a blessing it is to have them. Ramona was amazing and had the team over for two meals: a pizza dinner and a chocolate pancake breakfast. They really appreciated it all 13 of them.

This is a picture of Amy and Timothy the day she arrived. Timothy went out to the airport with me to meet Amy. He unfortunately thought that we were going on a plane to see Grandpa and Grandma. Boy, was he disappointed!

Auntie Amy hanging out at our place. Kids are having a blast, can you tell?

Auntie Amy is helping us celebrate Abby’s birthday. We had a great time, but the kids got a little too much sugar and were bouncing off the walls that evening. Thanks to Grandma Rand for the lovely gifts. Abby was able to get a Thomas the train bath set and a Little People play set with the money that Grandma Rand sent. Thank you!!

Tim’s first bike ride!

Today we finally got our new pedals from Grandma Donna and have fixed Timothy’s bicycle. He has asked for months to go out and ride his bike and finally that day has come. He is having lots of fun, but keeps hitting the brakes when he tries pedaling.

Abby also give the bike a go, but it’s kind of difficult seeing as she doesn’t reach the pedals. It’s a good thing mom is there to help give her a good push.

A day out in our courtyard would not be complete without a little game of soccer. The kids enjoy kicking the ball around and running after it.

It’s a lovely spring day in St. Petersburg. Walking home today I decided to take some panorama pictures of the canal where we live. It’s lovely with the sunny shining.


Click on the pictures to see the panorama’s in a larger view.