I am 11 years old today! I had a very quiet birthday. I got these awesome penguin pajamas and the new Secret Mission Ice Bat! Last year I had my birthday with Violet in Utah, but this year she is expecting a baby brother. I was hoping he might arrive on my birthday, but it looks like we'll be waiting for him a bit longer.

I wanted to have a sleepover, since I got new jammies. However, just because I'm homeschooled doesn't mean that my friends are! I'm hoping we can celebrate together this weekend.

This is also my first year not sending out birthday treats to my friends. I'm thinking of doing them late- is anyone still interested in getting a birthday treat from me, even though it will be late?

К сожаленью, день рожденья только раз в году!!

What's up? Fall is off to a great start. My friend Sonali just got a new Liberty Jane outfit, so we decided to have a Liberty Jane day. The photo is of Sonali, Mieke, and me in our favorite Liberty Jane outfits. Cinnamon, from LJ, is actually working on a custom outfit for my friend Yeva!

Speaking of Yeva, she just got back from spending a summer at Artek. Artek is a camp in the Soviet Union for Young Pioneers. It's still around today, but it's for all children now. Here's Yeva playing at camp!



Halloween is coming up! Are you dressing up? Who will you be?

I get lots of comments & e-mails about the things I wear and the things I play with. Here's an entry telling you where you can buy stuff like mine!

• My t-shirts are homemade. Colette makes them for me using Avery inkjet transfer paper for dark clothing. The plain t-shirts are purchased from the t-shirt making stations at American Girl Place. (Just ask for a t-shirt with no design.) Find any image you like online, print it on the transfer paper, and iron it on. The Barack Obama shirts were specially made during the 2008 Presidential Election.



• Ice Bat, my favorite toy, is an Ugly Doll. He was originally a keychain, but has had the keychain attachment removed to make him into a doll-sized lovey. Ugly Doll makes quite a few (34) different keychains, so find the one you find cutest! I have Ice Bat, Secret Mission Ice Bat, and Poe. You can get Ugly Doll toys online or in premium toy shops.



• The Ukrainian outfit Violet wears was handmade by a seamstress. Colette made the vinok, or headdress, herself.



• Cheburashka is a creature from a popular Russian cartoon. You can learn a lot about him by googling "Cheburashka." The Cheburashka toys that Violet and I have were purchased in Ukraine. These same toys can also be found in many Russian shops on Brighton Beach Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, such as St. Petersburg Books and Children's World.



• My New Year ornaments came from one of those vending machines you find in the front of grocery stores. Unfortunately they don't have anything stamped on them that could help me find them online.

Hey Guys! Can you believe summer's over? Fall means it's back to school for me- not that it's a big deal, since I'm unschooled.

Thank you for your compliments on my shirt in my last entry. It's a homemade Sputnik shirt. Kudos to you if you recognized the image!

I've been home from Violet's for about a month... I'm super behind on updating.

What kind of adventures do you think I should go on this fall?

Tyotya Jess and I decided it would be so fun to throw a 40th anniversary moon party for Violetka! I organized the entire thing and we even made a moon cake! It even had a 40 made out of candy! Violet and I have been working on our album and want to post it soon, so I'll save most photos for that, but here is a sneak peek:

40 years ago today man first walked on the moon! Can you believe it? Violetka and I are going to play space all day today. We might even make a moon cake. Ice Bat is excited.

Violence and I wrote this together, here it is:

DyaDya Ethan and Tyotya Jess and my best friend Violence invited me to Utah for part of the summer. I knew we'd also be vising the Grand Canyon while I was here, and Violet and I were so excited! Both Violence and I are pro Junior Rangers, we've become Jr. Rangers at all the parks we've visited together, and that's a lot of parks!

On Friday we left Utah and and entered Arizona! Violence hadn't ever been to Arizona, and I couldn't remember if I had. Either way, exploring a new state is totally awesome. Pretty soon we entered the prettiest forests, there were HUGE meadows everywhere and pine trees all around. Then we slowed down to enter the park. Violence and I wanted a sign near the park entrance, like always!


Once we got to the park we checked in. Hurrah! DyaDya Ethan and Tyotya Jess rented a little cabin on the Grand Canyon rim! It was so perfect for Violence and I because it was close enough to a lot of the trails. We could even hike alone! Plus the Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge was so so pretty. Violet and I loved all the old radios, the sculpture of Brighty the mule and the patios with really neat canyon views.

Over the weekend we went on a lot of really neat hikes! On one hike we even saw mules on the trail! One was really funny and had his tongue sticking out like he was really tired. He was so cute!

Don't we look awesome on our hikes? And check out the view.





When DyaDya Ethan and Tyotya Jess wanted to relax at the cabin Violence and I worked on our Jr. Ranger booklet. This was a fun one because in once activity we had to be animal detectives. We saw lots of animals down there, mostly fat squirrels hanging around our cabin.

On the last day we said goodbye to our little cabin on the rim and said goodbye to the lodge. Before leaving though, we got our Jr. Ranger badges!





We have lots more photos from our trip that we'll upload into an album soon! Until then, you'll have to wait!

Violetka and I are home from the grandest of all canyons, the Grand Canyon. We are so tired, but we want to write a full entry on all the awesome things we did there. It will be posted soon.

Until then, here is the view!

Hurrah! I arrived in Utah two days ago for a visit with my best friend Violence! I haven't seen Violence for over six months. Can you believe that? It felt like such a long time. But last year I spent my birthday with her here in Utah.

Today Violet and I have a lot planned, we want to work on some tree house ideas, have a water balloon flight and pack for our upcoming trip to Grand Canyon.

Violetka was so happy to see me, and so surprised by all the presents Colette and I got her. I'm glad she is happy.

Back in Utah! Back at Violet's house, my second home.


See how happy she is?

This weekend was fun! I went with my family to the Heritage of Pride parade in Manhattan. There were so many families like mine! I got this little flag as a souvenir and I waved it in the air as I watched all the floats go by.

After the parade, we went to Pridefest. I had fried plantains- yummy! There were fun games at different booths; I won a rainbow discoball keychain from the Dancing with the Stars booth. I love going to festivals and parades!

Have you ever been to a festival or parade? What was it like?

Tonight was so much fun! I went to see American Ballet Theatre perform Swan Lake. It was so beautiful! Violet and I actually saw Swan Lake a little over two years ago, when we were in Ukraine. It was fun to see it again, with a different company. The theatre was so beautiful; we were at the Met!  Isn't the chandelier pretty? It reminded me of Sputnik.

I love ballet so much. Do you have a favorite type of performance?

It has rained almost every day this month. Every morning I wake up and want to go outside to play, but it's just muggy and drizzly. I'm running out of indoor games to play. I have folded so many origami cranes, played lots of Scrabble, and even made my bed.

What do you like to do when it's rainy outside?

I've been pretty busy lately! I played with my friend Susanna on Thursday, then on Sunday I went to the Met and played with a really cute 70s doll. Today I met up with annaleemerced , one of Violet's friends! Anna Lee and I got along really well. We went to Veselka, one of my favorite restaurants. Anna Lee had a lime rickey and I tried an egg cream for the first time. Yum!

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What's your favorite park? What do you like to do there?

Yesterday I had an adventure in Rhode Island with my new friend Susanna. We took a walking tour of historic Providence; there were so many pretty, old houses. I went to the bathroom at the Providence Athenaeum, which is a special library. We also went to the Roger Williams National Memorial.



Guess what we did there? That's right! The Junior Ranger program. I was a little sad that Violet wasn't there to do it too, but I will make sure to take her there someday. We learned about Roger Williams, who was the co-founder of Rhode Island. He believed in Liberty of Conscience, which means the freedom to believe what you want to believe. Roger Williams also believed in the separation of church and state & paying American Indians for their land.



Here we are with the park ranger who gave us our badges. He was surprised to see us! It was a fun day, even though it would not stop raining. I also enjoyed riding the train to and from New York. I left the house at 5:45am and didn't get home until 1am the next day! Whoa!

What's your favorite thing to do when you visit a friend?

I was just thinking today that I can't believe it's already been two years since Violet and I went on our amazing trip to Ukraine together.  We had such an amazing time.  If you haven't seen it already, please check out our photo album of our trip.  I was looking at it today and realized that the pictures were all out of order, so I spent a few hours putting everything right again. It would be really fun to get a few new comments!

I'm really hoping that Violet and I will have the chance to go to Ukraine again within the next year.  Where is your favorite place to go on vacation?

It's my ballet class! I have been studying ballet since I was really little. I'm Russian- and Russians tend to love ballet! Since I moved to New York City, I've been studying at the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center. During the school year, I have ballet class on four days a week, even on Saturday mornings! I'm in Girls III- you can tell by the color of my class's leotards. I'm hoping to move up to Girls IV soon, where I'll get to wear a hunter green leotard. I'll also get to start pointe!



I practice all the time, because I have to make sure that my muscles stay strong. During the summer, I have off from ballet school, but I still try to do practice at the barre as much as possible. Luckily, Violet also take ballet classes, so when I've visited her, I haven't fallen behind.



This fall, I think I am going to audition for the Nutcracker for the first time. I've gone to see it both Christmases that we've spent in New York, so I know that it's a really big deal. If I make it, it will be a big commitment. There are rehearsals for months, plus performances several times a week for a little over a month.

Have you ever been in a performance? Were you nervous? Excited?

This afternoon, my friend Lia and I went outside to play with our Ugly Dolls on a giant tree. I love how big the roots are- they're perfect for climbing and pretending that Ice Bat and Poe are in caves.  We pretended that Ice Bat and Poe were two babies who lost their mother and had to search for her in a jungle. 

One of the best parts of summer is the Mr. Softee truck! Lia and I could hear the truck coming when it was all the way down the street.  I had a regular cone with chocolate sprinkles.   It was Lia's first time in my neighborhood; in her neighborhood they have the Good Humor man.

What's your favorite thing to get from an ice cream truck?

Tonight I went exploring in the dark! In only a few more weeks, I will get to go to the Grand Canyon. We'll probably camp there, so I wanted to make sure I was ready to scurry through the dark to the bathroom cabin! I played in the bushes downstairs by the front of our building; it's not safe to go into the park at night in the city. You never know who could be lurking there.

Actually, Violet's mama will probably walk with us to the bathrooms, but it's good to be prepared just in case.

It's been muggy and grey outside for the last several days.  I had wanted to go skating in the park, but it kept looking like it might rain. Of course, since I decided to stay in, it didn't rain after all!  Zuly is sleeping over tonight. We dug out my British Scrabble game that I bought when Violet and I had a layover in Gatwick Airport two summers ago.  It looks really different from American Scrabble, doesn't it? I wonder if the letter distribution is different.

What's your favorite board game?

I have a new friend! Her name is Zuleikha, but she likes to be called Zuly.  She's half Iranian and half French, but luckily she speaks English just as well as she does Farsi and French.  She came over tonight and we played Big Brain Academy, one of my favorite games on the Wii.  

I think Zuly looks a lot like Marisol.  Isn't it funny how two girls can have totally different backgrounds, but still look so much alike?