Mommy Mondays: A Trip to Binghi

This weekend, we took a little trip out to the countryside - to the village of Binghi, to be exact. We needed a mini getaway and this ended up being the perfect solution. You see, I had been wanting to visit the nearby town of Kunary to see a famous house belonging to a blacksmith for a while now (you'll see why in a second). Then I found out about Stefan, a German man who runs a "bed and breakfast" in nearby Binghi.

Stefan has three yurts on his property, where you can sleep for the night in relative comfort. He also has a beautiful garden and a lovely wife who cooks up delicacies from said garden. We went with our friends who work at IKEA (they have a 5-year-old daughter) and another couple from the German Consulate, along with the wife's brother and his girlfriend. We had a wonderful time exploring Binghi, hanging out in the garden, eating, and watching the kids play. There's even a banya, which John was happy to take advantage of (I think I'm good on the banya front). I am so happy my friend told me about this place, because we will definitely be going back!

Now I'm going to show you a million photos. Enjoy!

The yurts!

Stefan's front yard.

The backyard (complete with geese).

A view of Binghi.

A tractor. Duh.

This man makes walls. You have to build your own doors.

I'm pretty sure you know who these people are.

John chillin' next to the giant pumpkin (which Jack broke. Sigh.).

Sergey Kirillov's house (sadly under renovation).

Still gorgeous, though!

Just another brightly colored house.

This little babushka sold us some lovely blueberries.

Flowers near a yurt.

John strolling with some neighborhood sheep.

The greenhouse.

No idea what these are called,  but they are gorgeous.

We got a private saxophone concert!

"Dancing Queen." Naturally.

Our German friend playing with Jack by the banya.

Jack climbing the stairs (despite me telling him not to 8,000 times).

Jack and Anna at an icon studio and museum.

One of the icons painted at the studio.