So ..... life with the hamlins since we last blogged,
- We went to the break-dancing competition and Justus and Riley had a ball - Justus couldn't control himself with  the big sound system and danced himself crazy - we also got to watch some great local dancing talent. Steve stayed to the end which apparently when the best tricks came out. The kids and I headed home  a little earlier. With the inspiration of the break- dancing competition we started trying to figure out some ways for J to work on his moves. Consequently tomorrow will be Justus' first lesson with a local acrobatics instructor - ex circus material even - hoping that he'll be into it.
- Steve had another quick trip out to the countryside to meet with some more local vets and laboratories. It's always nice to get out of the city, life rolls at quite a different pace in the countryside and the air is a whole lot cleaner too ! Plus we get to see a bit more of this HUGE country.
- Justus turned the big 5 - Wahoo ! Lots of lego and other gifts, lots of kids charging around our apartment for a few hours and lolly cake (well, the mongolianised version) with a firecracker on top for a cake. Lots of fun all round really. Justus and I are into the swing of 'school' in the mornings now and looking forward to the first Correspondence school parcel arriving soon.
- Tsagaan Sar - The big Mongolian party for the lunar new year. 4 days plus off work and lots of hanging with family and eating lots of buuz (mutton dumplings) and drinking vodka. Most families make 1000 or so buuz to be consumed over this time and family members travel around everyones house over this time and share lots of food and good times. It's also a time of paying respects to the elders and spoiling the kids. Despite us having kids with consecutive fevers over the long weekend we still managed to get along to our friend's Otgon and Bilgoons for Sunday evening which was a great insight into Mongolian culture for us and lots of entertainment for the Mongolian relatives watching the 'newbie' westerners. We were given the prime seats and the kids ate as many sugar cubes and lollies as they could fit in.
- A new bunch of VSO volunteers arrived over the weekend so  Steve did the orientation tour with them as most of the other volunteers are out in the countryside at the moment. Everyone has migrated Northwest about 18 hours plus drive (and only half of that is sealed roads!) to got to a big winter festival at Lake Hovsgol. We were seriously tempted to go, but the though of 18 hour plus each way with kids and the possible -40 degree temperatures made us decide to save our $$ for some warmer adventures in Spring and summer.
- There's a few puddles around during the afternoon sun occasionally now, a sure sign that the weather has warmed a little, although from what we understand, there is still a fair bit of cold to go yet. But nice all the same - means we can do some walking again now instead of straight into a taxi whenever we go out.
- Starting to try and gather some thoughts about what August will bring. We're thinking that we would like to keep being involved in some type of development work which may well mean that we will only be briefly back to N.Z. before disappearing again - but nothing definite yet. The latest thing we're interested in is a couple of volunteer positions in Samoa with VIDA volunteers (check it out at www.vidavolunteers.com.au if you're interested.)

Love to you all.
The Hamlins.