Good-Bye to Russia

Good-Bye to Russia…We completed our US Embassy Appointment and have Katie’s passport with US Visa inside. Yeah! We leave for the airport at 3 am with our flight being at 7:15 am. Moscow is notoriously for taking a long time to get checked in and through Immigration, especially with adopted children, so cross your fingers that we make it through everything okay. Then we are off to Paris and then Seattle and if the volcano stays quiet, we’re headed home around 5:30 pm Alaska time, 31 hours later

Out and About in Moscow

Our morning started at 7 am, with a visit from the American Doctor, Dr. Boris. He gave Katie a clean bill of health. Said she has a Vitamin D deficiency, rickets, but that should improve with her diet and exercise. Also said she must have been a favorite to have that head of hair and that her birthmarks should disappear in time for her to be a Sports Illustrated Model… Her “cold” is actually her teeth coming in and that’s what’s causing the cough as well. She interacted well with him and was happy to run around naked… Next stop with our agency rep is the US Embassy on Tuesday afternoon and then we are out of here.

We headed down to Red Square this afternoon. It’s a nice walk from the hotel. The weather was overcast and a little cold but not like Khabarovsk, so we braved it… Here’s some photos from Out and About Moscow…

McDonald's... It was packed so we didn't eat there, but we got the shot..

Katie loved the birds, she chased them all over the place...

City streets...

Family Shot...

Pictures

In random order as I have a helper right now... Playing tea at the Marriott Playroom..

Just let me draw... A future teacher...

The Frisbee pose in the playroom...
Marriott Playroom...

Let's travel, I'm ready....

Leapfrog Mania on the plane... Going to be a long ride, wehn the battery dies as our charger broke..

SS. just has to have the emergency directions for every plane, then he draws them out in his book when he gets off...

Horsing around in the room...

Random Notes

Katie helped me pack the suitcases in Khabarovsk so I can’t find my camera cable to upload the pictures. I’ll keep digging… Here’s some random notes…
· Aeroflot gave us 5 seats all over the airplane. They did not seat the kids together. I had to throw a major fit on the plane to get them to move people to sit us together… Our travel agent told us it’s FAA law that kids have to be seated with their parents, but I’ve run into this a lot travelling and it’s very frustrating… Can’t wait to see what Air France does…
· Katie did pretty good on the airplane, she hated the seat belt, but after she napped, she was happy. She’s pretty insistent about using the bathroom and not the diaper, so we made a lot of bathroom trips. A lot of times she fakes it and says she has to go, just to go to the bathroom… Limited food, 2 meals but the kids all devoured my snack bag so I have to restock.
· Katie did get carsick on the long drive from the airport to the city. Hot in her warm gear and crazy Moscow driving helped her in this. If I had to do it all over again, I’d have the kids take off all their winter gear in the car…
· The Moscow Courtyard Marriott is really nice. After all the hassle over them making me book 2 rooms because there were 5 of us, they let us just do 1 room. So Katie is on a rollaway bed and the boys are on the floor, but it’s a big cost saver. There is a great playroom downstairs that they kids have been going to when the hotel room gets too small… Free Internet in the lobby too… Good location, there is a grocery store right around the corner, so we were able to pick up some drinks, noodles and oatmeal to use with the hot water… We also saw the signs for McDonalds and it’s definitely on our list to walk there in the next 2 days.. The restaurants tend to be a bit more expensive in the hotel but the food is very good… 390 rubles for a club sandwich and fries.
· Weather is warmer here than Khabarovsk, the wind was blowing though on our walk today which still made it a little cold. We’re hoping for a warmer sunnier day so we can head to Red Square.
· Finally, someone get that darn Volcano to stop going off. Anchorage has been having major air traffic problems. Lots of folks are stranded in Seattle and elsewhere… Hopefully when we get to Seattle we will actually be able to leave and not be stranded in another hotel…
· Next project: The American doctor comes to our hotel tomorrow morning at 7 am to examine Katie for the US Embassy. This is a change for us as last time we had to drive to him… Hey no carsickness, we’ll just stay here ..

Moscow

Greetings from Moscow! We arrived safely with a few difficulties, but typical of travelling in Russia. As always, it was a long ride from the airport to the hotel. Katie got carsick on the ride, she was hot in the car with her coat on and all that Andrei driving...

The Courtyard Marriot Hotel is very nice and the adoption rate makes it affordable in the Moscow Hotel price range anyway. We've already discovered the children's room, which is a great addition to any hotel. Paperwork is completed, doctor is due to visit sometime today. Then we'll start the embassy info tomorrow. We'll probably venture out later today, we're close to many things and the boys want to find McDonalds...

Good Bye to Khabarovsk

Thank you to a great town for 3 wonderful children. It's sad to leave, but we are READY to get out of here!!! 8.5 hours air travel to Moscow... Next stop Courtyard Marriott.....

We went to the super big playground by the little store, by the Amur River. It's all new and has some great equipment... Store Picture...
Katie loved to spin around in a circle and didn't want to get off...

3 Great Kids...

Just included this one so you could see it's slowly warming up and melting off the roads, but still snow and standing water today. It warmed up to the 20s and the wind was just a little breeze today. It's been downright cold and blowing lately..

I love to swing too :)

S. used to be afraid of heights, now no fear... He's getting big!

Silly Shots

I've been putting her hair a lot to the side and on top, she loves to run to the mirror and bounce the pony tails around. I really think she never knew she had the hair ;) Here's some silly shots of Katie playing around...

Thoughts of a 2 year old...

I love my….

*shoes… Momma brought me 4 pairs and I have to change them several times a day to be sure to wear them all. (even if some of them are just too big for me).

*clothes… I have to keep opening the dresser drawer to make sure they are all still there. I get super excited when it’s time to change clothes…

*Hair… My hair was tied up all the time, these pony tails are amazingly fun. I can swing my head around and feel them move…

*food… WOW! Grocery stores are amazing places. I just wanted to eat all the food that I saw. It was very exciting… And when it’s time to eat I get so excited I don’t want to sit down. I just want to eat it all as fast as I can. Why do you have to make it first?

*crayons… I can color for hours in my book. Sorry if I colored on the wall too, mommy… I tried hard to get it off myself…

*Calling for Pappa… I look for you all the time and call your name constantly. Hey it was my first English word….. But you are still a little scary when it comes to holding me.

*Mommy… I love you so much that I have to cling to you all the time. I worry so much that you might miss me, so I follow you everywhere… Don’t worry you can carry me through the airport without any problems, I’m only 33 pounds.

*Brothers… You are so patient with me. It’s a good thing you play with me. Now if only you’d listen when I tell you it’s time to come to dinner or to play nice. Remember… No, No, No…

Introducing...

Katie Viktoria... She's 2.5 years old... Always has a smile to share... Very pleasant and easy going personality...
Acting Silly......

Loves her big brothers, follows them everywhere..

First pics together from the orphanage... Still working on getting all 3 kids to smile in the same photo... So you get two...

8 days left in Khabarovsk

Little gal reverted back to her cough again and was up most of the night 2 nights ago. Yesterday I was very agressive with the medicine, drugging her a lot and it seemed to work as last night she slept all night without the cough. Her cold seems better today so maybe I can finally take her outside to play. Our 10 day court appeal ends tomorrow! Then we can start the passport process to get out of here...
Her personality is still like sunshine as she rarely gets upset. She will holler if the boys try to cuddle with her and she doesn't want it, but rarely have there been tears. Let's hope it keeps up. She loves to clean up and organize. Still helping wring the wash out too... Still very independent at 2.5 years, going bathroom well, brushing her teeth and dressing herself. She sits amazingly still while I take a while to get her hair up. It's beautiful and I think she was so used to the tight bows that she loves pony tails and swings her head around to feel it.

The boys are kept busy with their homework, the playground outside and playing with their toys and little gal. Here's some shots of lego-mania...

Mommy's Little Girl

Little K is my helper. Not only does she constantly pick up little pieces of fuzz and throw them away. I was making the bed this morning and she went to the other side and pulled the cover up. I said "Spasiba V." She nods her head and says "da"....

Then I was doing wash by hand and she started putting all the dirty clothes in the basin and then was helping me wring them dry. I said "spasiba V." She nodded again and said "da"...

It was so cute... Kind of like we have to stick together mom to get things done...

The temp was above freezing today in Khabarovsk. The street crews were working on the side street right outside of our window, which led to hours of entertainment! Here’s a grainy shot through the window of the backhoe scraping all the winter snow off the road and putting it in the dump truck… (Sorry 3 kids and just me I wasn't going outside for the perfect shot!
It was a great day of bonding with little gal. She LOVES the boys and follows them everywhere. They are great big brothers. For those waiting, we did receive little K before the 10 day appeal was up, those from Orphanage #1 are NOT getting their kids until after the 10 day… It’s been a long wait for them. It’s entirely up to the Orphanage Director and it’s done on a case by case basis, but they are saying #1 is pretty consistently NO. You do get to visit every weekday but it may change your travel plans a bit knowing this so it’s a heads up.

We had a great dinner tonight with Martha and her daughter Ella, who leave for Moscow tomorrow! And with new friends Dawn and John who have a little girl in #1 and are travelling on the same flight as us to Moscow. We will have 3 little girls all around the same age running around the next 2 weeks, as Tiziana gets back tonight from Vanio with her little gal too… Very surprising to see all the girls around here… Isn’t anyone adopting boys anymore?

She's here...

We picked up little K today from the orphanage. She had no issues with leaving, said “baka-baka” to her group and walked out the door with me.

She is swimming in her 24 month coat, but the size 2 clothes seem to fit her well. She eats well, not a real fan of broccoli but eats it anyway. Very independent-dressing, eating, and brushing her hair herself. She tells me when she has to go bathroom and loves to go on the toilet. I unwound her hair from the Russian bow and WOW it’s long… She’s in the crib right now talking to herself and keeps playing her lullaby glo-warm…
Some pics to share…
Window watching... It was a grocery bag flying in the wind, but it kept them occupied for quite a while...

Her beautiful Russian hair bow...

And look how long my hair is.....

It's Monday and She's better...

We're going to pick up little gal today at 3 pm!! Getting her passport picture done today too. Let's hope she's in an agreeable mood :)

Sunday in Khabarovsk

We took a walk out today in the sunshine to find the “new” grocery store. The little grocery store is still a block away down towards the river. But there is a new 24 hour one that is pretty big, located in this building, (it’s visible from the apartment).

It is very big, I was impressed with all the choices. Also the only place, we’ve seen Pepsi so far J Our agency took us to the big one, with the elevator, and this one was very comparable just a short distance away.

On the other side of the building, is a new book/video/CD/toy store. This was a very impressive store, very big and a large selection of books. There’s also a pretty nice playground along the walkway if you go between the apartment buildings.

Saturday Update

We saw little girl Friday night and she was still sick, running a fever and just wanted to be held. She was still eating when I got to her group so I was playing with another little girl, well little K finished eating very quickly and beelined for me to pull me away. Attachment ;) We do not get to visit the orphanage this weekend, so we'll find out Monday morning if we get to pick her up, hopefully she'll be feeling better...

On Friday we also delivered all the donations and money to the orphanage. Finally met the director too, who is very nice and talked and talked with the boys.

We had dinner Friday night with some Martha and Ruth, 2 gals who adopted older girls, it was good to start up those potlucks again.

Also got a photo album from the orphanage of pics of little K that they've taken over the years--priceless!! And they filled our camera we had left with pics too, so can't wait to get those developed. Note: Elle remind me when I get home and I'll send you some, there are shots of Christmas and your gifts I believe!!

Quiet weekend planned, everyone is battling a bug, so we're just nesting in...

Boys at Play

Some older shots off the camera of the boys at play in Korea and then Russia. First shot waiting on the plane in Seoul. They can be entertained for hours just watching planes... Playing in the Seoul Airport Playground.

Playing at the Markuel playground. No ants to find this time.

Good thing I have a brother to help hold the other end of the seesaw.

Sick Little Girl

We have been unable to bring little K. back from the orphanage right now. She has a cold and cough so it's day by day until we can bring her. We were still able to visit with her though for our 2 hour time slot.

She is still a very happy girl, sick or not. She comes running when she sees us. She's very aware of where the boys are and what they are doing. She has patience for them. Little K is the keeper of the crayon box, she can't stand it when the boys lay the crayon down on the floor and picks it up and puts it away :) She did get a little frustrated/confused yesterday when we all put our coats on. She knew we were leaving... Her favorite caregiver was there though, so the transition went smooth to get her back to her group. I don't think leaving with her is going to be as difficult as I originally thought. She seems to want to go with the boys anywhere. That's a really good thing!!

Power Outage

We dropped our power converter which has led to no power for any of our electronics. Our agency was wonderful and took us all over Khab looking for a 220-110 converter but no luck so far. I've borrowed one for now to post. Will post more in a bit :)

Court

Wednesday Update...

We are now a family of 5!!! Court went extremely well, very fast, about 10 minutes with the male judge. He asked me most of the questions and just asked Mark a few. They have built a new court house, and of course I didn't take the camera...

And here's the even better news, we may pick little gal up tomorrow for good!!!!! It's up to the director, who we've never met, but the social worker said it was highly likely!!

Elle--Not sure on the photos, Olga told me when I was back in the US, but maybe I"ll post at the 10 days, once I know she is legally ours ;)

Larry-Mark is very disappointed in the little grocery store, they stopped stocking MGD.

Lots of American families here right now, a wonderful family entertained the boys this morning with their 2 year old boy during our court, we are thankful to them!!

Tuesday Update

Tuesday March 10th in Khab
4 am… Kids are awake and not going back to sleep. Time zone changes are tough on them. Good thing we have the legos, as they can entertain themselves for hours with them. They have a desk in their “bedroom” here and they love playing on that, plus lots of shelves. I’m trying to save all my surprises for the trip home. We’re travelling a lot today with a pretty full agenda.

2 pm... Just got back from the orphanage and meeting about court with Irina. Boys are very tired. Heading back out again at 3:45 until 6 pm to meet with the orphanage caregivers. Little gal has a cold, again! Very clingy to Mommy!! Came right to Mommy with little tears this time... Boys overwhelmed her at first, then she was telling them what to do, in no time. She'd point and S. would hide the dog for her.

4 pm Visit Little gal came running this time to us, and led the way up to the room upstairs. She really took to the boys this time and they pretty much controlled the 2 hour visit. They played with toys and spent the last hour coloring together. I can’t believe at 2.5 years, she would sit and color so long, but she enjoyed scribbling on the pages and S. was a good big brother letting her scribble over his pictures. She loved to put the crayons back on the box as well and would hand out the color she thought the boys should use. They did a great job playing with her.

Here's some pics. We are not allowed to post actual pics of little gal until we land back in the US, so here's some non-facial shots...

Playing with the boys. The boys are on their knees, if that gives you a height reference.

Look Ma, I can trace my hand!

Tomorrow is Wednesday and court @ 10 am with the Male judge…. No visit with little gal tomorrow is scheduled...

Welcome to Khabarovsk.

Monday March 9th... Greetings from Khab!

We arrived safely with all bags and we are in the Markuel room 201, same room as 2005!!

We are off to see little gal Tues morning and afternoon. Our court is around 10 am on Wednesday. We arrived following a snowstorm and the crews were busy trying to clear the runway. The plane had to be towed up to the airport through the snow. Had a small problem through passport control, but have no idea as she finally just cleared us through...

View of Amur River from Room

So Long to Korea

Well around 5 pm Korea time last night the boys crashed and fell asleep immediately upon hitting the pillow, no arguments which shows how tired they must have been. I had to play line of demarcation in the middle of the night and jump into bed with them as they were having fights in their sleep over the blanket, pilows, bed you name it. Hopefully we'll get the apartment at the Markuel with the twin beds. Then there will be peace.

Our luggage arrived last night around 7 pm. I really think the Hyatt guy had something to do with us actually getting it, as China Airlines didn't seem too concerned about it. They wanted to just ship it back to the US, instead of onto Russia.

It was faster getting here for us to fly direct from Anchorage than to fly down to LA. China Airlines was OK, it's not as good as Asiana. It was an older 747 so there was no individualized movie screens, a little rough for 11 hours. But they did earn brownie points by meeting our plane and escorting/running us through the Taipei airport to catch our flights. We NEVER would have made it through the maze of Taipei airport that fast.

The Hyatt Hotel is very nice. They really cater to you and want to help you. I went to get ice and the guy took the bucket from me and did it for me. The rooms are much bigger than the transit hotel. It was a good break for the boys and us too.

Next stop Russia!

Greetings from Korea!

We have arrived safe and sound at the Hyatt in Korea. The boys did great on the planes, they slept alot and ate a lot, they love the international food, S. just watched everyone eating with chopsticks. Our China Airlines flight was 2 hours late leaving Anchorage, which led to us being escorted/ran through the Taipei airport to catch our flight to Seoul... We were the last ones in the door... China Air has lost 4 of our 5 suitcases and don't have an estimate on when they'll find them.... Good thing we had carryons with changes of clothes and our court clothes. Most of our luggage is food and orphanage donations...

Our room overlooks the airport and the boys are loving the up close look at all the planes taking off... The airport looks a lot like a spaceship...

Departure Day

Well it's finally Friday! Our flight actually leaves at 2 am Saturday morning, but with the long drive to the airport we'll leave tonight...

I'm breaking all my luggage rules this trip. We have 5 suitcases!!! Yes, my life of travelling with carryons is apparently over... 2.5 are just for the orphanage and gifts. Another 1 is primarily food and then 1.5 is clothes for all... My problem is the luggage weights differ on China Airlines and Asiana Airlines, so I'm still overweight and will have to repack them all again to average the weights out. It was a tad frustrating last night, trying to figure out what could be heavy in the suitcases, so instead of 4, we upped it to 5 suitcase so we won't have weight issues. To add more to the luggage nightmares, we will probably have to claim them and recheck them in Seoul, lugging 5 suitcases to the Hyatt and back, will not be fun. And the rules are just a tad different in Seoul too, so I'm trying to cover abide by the rules for all.

Checking things off...

We got our Visas and passports back from Seattle today. I opted not to panic and have them arrive Friday night, so I paid the extra for the 3 day turnaround. I feel much better knowing they are here than biting my nails waiting on them to get here Friday... All hotels are now confirmed and booked, we have our flight itineraries too :)

I still have 2 days left of school, but have 8 weeks worth of lessons and projects ready for my sub! Yep, I'm taking 8 weeks off!! :) I'm going back for the last 2 weeks, and that's it. Good bonding time with little gal. (FINALLY, this is the first year the state recoginzes adoption as family leave, previously I was only allowed 20 days, now I can take up to 16 weeks if I want!!) Yeah for progress!!

Tomorrow we work on the bank stuff and notarize the last few documents. I'm also planning on getting laundry done, organizing all the paperwork and getting the packing close to done. Plus I meet with the boys' teachers to get the homework for the time they are going to be gone so we can school in Russia.

Friday Mark will grab the paperwork from Olga and he'll give her the scrapbook we've been working on of all former clients, it's looking great and almost finished!! And then we leave!! I"ll try to post before we leave and as we travel throughout the journey...

Travels

It's been a busy couple of days trying to get all the travel arrangements finally finished. Since we are flying on so many different airlines it complicates the luggage issue a bit, as each airline has their own rules and weights. Ug.

A. has been my super helper, he is SO excited... I have a "staging" area upstairs and he is constantly running things up the steps!

We have almost half a suitcase full of food: lots of dried soups, oatmeal, and other comfort foods for the boys...

Just finished confirming the hotels this morning as well. Moscow is definately budget breaking, as it's expensive even with the adoption rate and apparently we exceed their defination of a family for 1 room, so right now they are saying we need 2...

That's a random rambling of our travel updates. My brain is still going in so many directions :)