Advent Calendar 6

Leia has gotten so big — she turned three this summer — and we decided she was now old enough to go to the summer Children’s Archstoyanie festival in Nikola-Lenivets.

It was great. The weather, as usual, was unpredictable, with rain alternating with sunshine, but we are experienced campers, so we handled it. It was the first festival for Masha, Sonya, and Leia; for me it was my third one — Misha and I had already been there twice. For the first time we arrived on the very first day of the festival, and that turned out to be the right decision, because tents were popping up like mushrooms and it was hard to find a decent spot.

The girls were happy. In general, Archstoyanie helps raise children and makes them more independent and self-reliant. By the way, I already bought tickets for next year at the first-price release — they sold out within 20 minutes of going on sale.

The result of the trip was happy, mosquito-bitten kids with tons of impressions, three nights in a tent, learning to wait in line for the shower and the toilet, learning to wash dishes, to use walkie-talkies, to keep an eye on the younger kids, to sculpt things and make all kinds of crafts out of sticks and whatever else was lying around, to stay alert at lunch when a crowd of hungry camp neighbors is standing there with plates and spoons, and to find joy outside gadgets, cartoons, and other modern comforts.