Touring on Foot

Today was quite the day. I still just can't wrap my mind around the fact that we are, truly, in Moscow, Russia. How odd is that?

But, we are, in fact, here. Odd or not.

This morning we were all up and around quite early. We feasted on the only food we had here....yogurt and bread, which Dad toasted quite nicely in the oven.

Jason was picked up about 9:30 by Val and off he raced to the Embassy. He said he felt a little odd. There's that word again. But seriously. He said they walked in, went around the long line of people waiting, and marched right up to the window. Adoption paperwork has priority. He was waited on immediately while the rest of the folks just stood there. Monday when we go back, we have to do the same thing.

While he was gone, the children lay down for naps. They all fell asleep right away, but soon the apartment remodel job below us got so noisy that they woke up. Well, all but Jack Nickolay. He was out.

I woke him when Jason got home cause we had big plans to tour the city on foot. Of course, 'the city' is a pretty loose term.

This was the result of the waking before he was ready. Poor guy. I think he thought he was down for the night at just 11:00 in the morning. Very possible. That would have made it 7:00PM in Vlad.

Off we went. First stop. McDonalds. It was so good. And huge. And packed with people. Nothing quite like big ole burgers and greasy little french fries to welcome us to Moscow.

Food eaten, we headed off to Red Square. We'd been told it was a simple 15 minute walk, but whoever told us that obviously didn't have small children...and also wasn't a tourist. Mom stopped at all buildings to snap yet another picture.

Red Square is neat. Maybe that's an understatement.

So was the St. Basil's Cathedral.

And the Kremlin wall.

And the outside of GUM.

And the ice skating rink in the middle of the Square.

And the eternal flame.

And the Resurrection Gate.

And the......

You get my point. It was all neat. Hard to believe that many of the buildings were built back in the 1600's or so. We didn't tour anything today, but have plans to walk back down there to go inside GUM (a department store) and the Kremlin.

The children did super. Three hours or so after we left our apartment we returned and hadn't had one complaint of tired legs.

It was a little chilly, but not as cold as it sounds like it is at home. I'd guess it to be about 35*. Til we got back home, the sidewalks were beginning to ice over again.

Things are so different here. It's like a whole new world. Men on top of a five story building shoveling snow off the roof onto the sidewalk below.
The people who normally would have been walking on the sidewalk were instead walking on the edge of the street.

Small tractors with blades on the front and sweepers on the back getting rid of snow and slush.

Ice sculptures around the St. Basils Cathedral.

A man pulling a cart with pastries on it. Of course, the pastries weren't wrapped or anything. Who cares if water from the roof drops on them en route to the market?

Windows open in our apartment due to stifling heat and no thermostat.

We got back to our apartment about 3:00 and left Jason to take care of the children while Dad, Mom, and I went to the grocery.

Cupboards are stocked again.

The children all took a bath together tonight. Nothing like taking care of all of them at once! They loved it....til Nickolay started crying...then Addie started crying. Then bath time was over.

Nickolay was in bed by 7:00 tonight and sleeping approximately two minutes later. Addie and Will were in bed by 7:30 and sleeping about five minutes later.

They are exhausted.

We are too....but our phone rang soon after the children were in bed, and we skyped with my brother and his family for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Wow. We shared our snacks with them. We're thoughtful like that.

Now? We just polished a carton of ice cream. Don't tell the children.

It's rapidly nearing our bedtime, but it seems like a waste of time when we know we'll be up again by 4:00 or so anyway. This time change stuff is ridiculous.

Mom's reading through our borrowed Moscow book trying to plan what all we want to squeeze in during the next four days. I think we'll keep busy.

For those of you who sent special notes to Addie today? Thank you from the bottom of my heart. She was so pleased. You can't even imagine the way she perked up with the first note she saw which was from a girl her age from church. Then when Grandma Stull's letter came through on e-mail she soaked it all in....so glad that her bedroom was fine even if the downstairs of our house is a wreck. And the animated e-card topped it all off like icing on a cake. She and Will watched it over and over and over and over and over. She's pulling through. Her fever is nearly gone...I only gave her tylenol once this morning. Her eyes are starting to have a little life in them again. Our little girl is returning. She won't tell us what's going through her little mind, but she's slowly getting back to normal. Thank you all for your prayers.