Large and in Charge

Is there any doubt about who rules the roost when it comes to the Riga branch of the family?  In case you haven't seen her lately this is Masha.  She's granddaughter #1.  The baby carriage in her grasp contains Maryanne, tucked away in the other carriage is Dasha, granddaughter #2.  I don't know the name of her friend at the end of the leash.

Masha and Dasha are enjoying a few weeks of R and R at a coastal retreat along the Baltic.  Fashionable Riga residents like Masha always escape the summer heat of the big city for a little quality time at the beach.  The vacation getaway is the town of Saulkrasti, which sits about 25 miles east of Riga.  The family settled down in a cozy dacha.  The dacha came with the four-legged friend but this sobachka (that's Russian for dog) won't be making the trip back to Riga.

Grandpa and grandma know that Masha's birthday is just a month away.  A sobachka might make the perfect present.  But it better be a stuffed one, otherwise we would be disowned by mom and dad!