Adventures of Cal and Anne: GRANDKIDS in MONGOLIA

A great dream came true when our four oldest Grandkids were able to come visit us in Mongolia.

Some people thought we might be a bit crazy flying four teenagers half way around the world by themselves but we knew they could do it!! Parker will be leaving for his mission in Albania the end of October so it was a good test run!

They arrived in Mongolia on July 21, 2013 looking bright and chipper after some long flights. The girls flew from Cincinnati to Calgary where they were met by Dave and Karri and family, stayed overnight and then Parker, Matt, AnneE, and Carolyn flew to Vancouver, Beijing, and Ulaanbaatar. The most eventful part of the trip was shopping in Beijing Airport, (not understanding the currency and perhaps spending more that they anticipated and giving Parker's Visa it's first test!)and then leaving their precious package on the plane, never to be seen again.

One of the students from our BioMedical class, Solongo, offered to show the kids around Ulaanbaatar. She took us to the "Intellectual Museum" (often known as the Puzzle and Game Museum). The founder was a man who has created thousands of puzzles and games. There were also several rooms devoted to Chess - games from many different countries with the most interesting pieces in all shapes and sizes. Jimmy and Tommy would have loved all the challenging puzzles and "magic" stuff!

The founder happened to be there
so we got a picture with him

She took us to a little cafe where they got
their first taste of Khoshuur and Buuz

A visit to Sukhbaatar Square, (with a stop for a little dart throwing), the National Museum and Ghandan Monastery filled the rest of the day.

The street is often lined with balloon boards for dart throwing.
Parker was a master

Matt and AnneE won a "Very large prize"

GHANDAN MONASTERY

There are a lot of prayer wheels

So many pigeons

and a very big statue of Buddha

In the "Countryside" we visited a family to share "One day in the life of Mongolia".

It started with a climb to an "OVOO" at the top of a little mountain.

While waiting for the Yaks to get ready, the boys had a private lesson in Mongolian wrestling, compliments of our Guide and Driver!!

And the winner is . . . .

YAK riders!!

ANIMALS - SHEEP AND GOATS

Parker's little lamb left a
surprise on his pants!

READY FOR A MONGOLIAN WINTER

YAK CART TRAIN

TALENT SHOW - MONGOLIAN STYLE

OUR HOSTESSES - THE WOMEN OF THE FAMILY

The Morin Khuur - Horse Head Fiddle

not just exactly like a cello!!

The next stop was part of the GOBI DESERT - Sand Dunes!!

Surprise that they got a "Jumping" picture!!

MONGOLIAN WILD HORSES

Mongolian horses were almost extinct but have been reintroduced into Hustai National Park after being bred in Belgium. They are a different breed and have 2 extra chromosomes. There are now about 250 in the Park. Some astute looking by our driver found some way up on a mountain side so the crew hiked up a ways to get close enough to see them and get a few pictures from a distance.