Kazapalooza 2011

We went to Kazapalooza this past weekend, June 3-5th with about 125 other families that have adopted from Kazakhstan. This is the 4th year Kazapalooza has been held, but it's the first time we've been able to attend. The planners did an excellent job putting it together for such a large group. When it started 4 years ago, there were 4o families. Each year, more and more families have come. It was kind of hard to meet new people because so many already knew each other, and it didn't help at all that I couldn't speak above a squeaky whisper for pretty much the whole weekend! But, we met several families from all over the U.S. and even some from Canada! They did a nice slide show of all the kids by which region they were from during the luncheon on Saturday. You can see Tanek's slide in the background on this next picture. They also do a charity raffle every year...each family brings something to donate for the raffle and then everyone can buy as many tickets as they want for the items they would like to win. There were so many nice things that people brought or made, plus a lot of Kazakh gifts. We didn't win anything, but it was a pretty neat experience!

Tanek was enjoying his cupcake to the fullest! He and his new friend, Brogan, were playing "monkey see, monkey do" most of the time they were together. Whatever one did, the other one had to do, too...except Brogan's cupcake was blue.

Tanek and Brogan were playing cars with some of the other kids. Brogan was Tanek's bff while we were there. We hung out with his family a lot. They live in central Florida and it was their first Kazapalooza also. Brogan is 5 too, so he and Tanek had a lot of fun together, along with Brogan's brother, Bryson.

Some of the other kids Tanek enjoyed playing with...

St. Pete Beach

Tanek's idea of building sand castles (which we just had to do) is watching Mommy and Daddy build the sand castle while he dumps water everywhere and practices making mud. But, we had fun building a couple of different sand castles that he put the "finishing touches" on using shells that he found.

He had a good time playing down at the beach everyday before we went to the pool!

The water was a really pretty green and very calm. Not as nice as Siesta Key (in my opinion), but still beautiful. You can see the Splash Island in the background of this next picture. Looks like fun, right?! Trampolines and slides...looks pretty cool to me (depending on how many people are out there with you).

Tradewinds Resort, St. Pete Beach

This is the resort that we stayed at in St. Pete for Kazapalooza. There were several different buildings and multiple pools. The landscaping was beautiful and everyone working there that we talked to was very nice. They also have at least 5 restaurants on property which we found quite convenient. They have a huge 3 story water slide on the beach and a splash zone in the water, but of course it was not included and was a bit pricey. Thankfully, Tanek didn't ask to go on any of that stuff. If he was any older, I'm sure he would have!

Tanek was happy to have some legos and cars to play with in the room to keep him occupied when he wasn't jumping from bed to bed or climbing on the air conditioner to look out the window!

The resort also had a lazy river running through the property that you could ride paddle boats....this was Tanek's favorite part and we rode on the paddle boats 3 times while we were there. Of course, he couldn't reach the peddles, so what's not to like about taking a nice ride down a peaceful river with ducks and swans and koi?! It wasn't quite as peaceful for Ricky and I, it was actually pretty tiring....but we still had fun!

Here is a picture of one of the swans we saw on the river. Tanek had fun watching them duck under the water looking for food!

On Saturday night, we went to a pirate show at the resort with Captain Red Beard. Tanek had a lot of fun dancing with the other kids before the show started, and he really enjoyed the show. Luckily for me, he is still under 6 and couldn't volunteer to be a "pirate in training". The parents had to go with them and they had to do some embarrassing dancing! The kids didn't have to do it, just the parents! It was all fun, but I don't think I could have done it! And I know...it is something Tanek would have volunteered for in a heartbeat!