Going on a Picnic

(I had mistakenly believed this post to be posted already... sorry for the delay!) 

Getting everything set up for our picnic at Tavshanka

On most week days, our host dad Akop only gets home from work around 7pm.  On Monday (July 2), the weather was clearer and warmer than it has been in Akhalkalaki for about 2 weeks, so Akop came home early and the whole family surprised me with the news that we were going to Tavshanka for a picnic.  

Tavshanka (sometimes called Tashvanka; people here tend to transpose consonant clusters, especially in place names.  So "Tiflis" as Tbilisi is in Armenian often becomes "Tilvis" in local Akhalkalaki Armenian) is the little hill at the edge of town, covered in trees and sidled up to the river.  It's a really pretty place, and the go-to location for any kind of outdoor activity in Akahlkalaki.  (It was the location for the summer camp that Sam and I helped out with when we first came to town, and the place where we'd go to walk around when we needed some green.)  

A pretty little spot for a picnic, no?

Some nice views of Abul

Lilit and Shaen helped Akop get the fire started, both by supervising the work and by collected pine cones to throw in 

We got started off pretty well, although it was cool by early evening when we arrived.  We had dressed warmly enough for the weather, so we started up the fire, got things in place and got the grilling started.  Soon the winds picked up, though, and we were wishing for some extra sweaters as we clung to our picnic gear and food, trying to keep them from taking flight.  The kids huddled in the car, trying to keep warm, while the adults got the food ready as quickly as possible.  And though the scenery was pretty, as soon as everything had cooked and we'd eaten the warm barbecued veggies and meat, we piled back into the car and made our way to Armine's mother's house to finish off our feast.  Lala (Armine's mom), supplemented our dinner with tea, coffee, cake and fruit (as if we'd needed any more food!) and having a warm, wind-free spot to continue our eating was much appreciated.  Shaen appreciated it so much that, after stuffing himself, he promptly fell asleep on the floor of the living room.  After making our way back home, I quickly followed suit (although I managed to make it to bed before keeling over).

Armine supervised the veggie skewers.  I helped by eating lots of the fire roasted veggies.

Lilit, mugging for the camera

Seriously, how cute is this kiddo?

Shaen ain't too far off in the cutie-pie category

Shaen was practicing patience, although not too successfully, as the food was prepared

Lilit staked out the best spot, right next to her grandma, Emilia, who gave her the best pieces of food as soon as they came off the fire

So even though the weather didn't cooperate entirely and even though it was a little crazy getting food prepared and then packing it all up again and moving locations, this picnic was one of the best possible ways to spend an evening. Having all these fire-roasted veggies (peppers and tomatoes and eggplant) reminded me of how much I'm definitely going to do this at home.