Just in case we forgot, Kaluga is not like traveling to Phenix City! Man, Russia is a long way from Columbus! As Claire said, our travel was safe and easy yesterday. We got to town and checked into the hotel. We ran down the street to a 24 hour grocery store and bought water, coke light, bread, cheese, smoked sausage and an ice cream Snickers. Claire and I dined on smoked sausage, cheese and bread last night in our room. It was pretty good. Claire took some cold meds as she has lost her voice due to her sinus issues which helped her sleep most of the night. I took a pm tablet which knocked me out pretty quickly last night.
I woke up to sunshine, street noises, birds chirping, breeze through our open window (no a/c) and checked the clock. Almost 10! Man did I sleep well! It took me a while to realize but it was really 10 PM here! Why was the sun still up? I was able to fall back asleep after checking my email and working for a bit but woke up again around 2 AM. I've basically been up since. I'll do better tonight by staying up a bit later than 6:30 pm!
Claire and I both got up around 4:30 AM. We decided to be adventurous and go back to the neighborhood store early this morning. We have dishes etc in our room and a hot water pot which boils water for drinks so we thought cereal and coffee would be great. We bought Nescafe', Jan you would love our instant coffee, some sugar cubes (we feel elegant drinking from formal cups and saucers with sugar cubes to boot) milk, strawberry yogurt and some bran flakes. We figured out after returning that we didn't have any bowls from which to eat our bran flakes so we decided on yogurt. Claire poured our milk in her coffee - we are not really sure that we bought regular milk. We may have to get our translator to help us with the dairy products!
Since our lovely breakfast, we have been reading over our home study, which will be the primary subject in our court visit, reviewed all the information provided for our next trip and worked on a few Russian words.
I've been drinking too much coffee and will soon be coming out of my skin. I'm kind of hoping for a good restaurant near the hotel. I was not planning on staying in a different hotel as Claire requested our hotel from the last visit. This hotel is nice and we have no complaints but we were familiar with the area and knew a couple of places to eat that we enjoyed. It is a bit like starting over since we are not familiar with the area.
Now to Vasa! I have been thinking and praying for him since we left in early March. Will he be ready for us, remember us, be excited or cautious? We felt as if our bond was strong when we left but it has been three months since we've seen him. I pray that the pictures, games and camera we left him have been enough to keep him hopeful and thinking of us! I am excited about getting to be with my boy! I have been waiting to hear his sweet laugh. I have noticed that Allie cat has a very similar laugh and it has brought much joy to hear her laugh.
My girls are the best! We miss not being with them and hope they are having a great time without us. They are so incredible. We were able to enjoy some time with them last week as we celebrated school being out in our traditional family style, Disney! Boy how we love our family trips with the extended family. It's great to see our kids playing with their cousins.
I've still got about 2 hours until the translator comes to pick us up this morning but it's probably time to take it easy before the day begins. We will be in touch later today.
I woke up to sunshine, street noises, birds chirping, breeze through our open window (no a/c) and checked the clock. Almost 10! Man did I sleep well! It took me a while to realize but it was really 10 PM here! Why was the sun still up? I was able to fall back asleep after checking my email and working for a bit but woke up again around 2 AM. I've basically been up since. I'll do better tonight by staying up a bit later than 6:30 pm!
Claire and I both got up around 4:30 AM. We decided to be adventurous and go back to the neighborhood store early this morning. We have dishes etc in our room and a hot water pot which boils water for drinks so we thought cereal and coffee would be great. We bought Nescafe', Jan you would love our instant coffee, some sugar cubes (we feel elegant drinking from formal cups and saucers with sugar cubes to boot) milk, strawberry yogurt and some bran flakes. We figured out after returning that we didn't have any bowls from which to eat our bran flakes so we decided on yogurt. Claire poured our milk in her coffee - we are not really sure that we bought regular milk. We may have to get our translator to help us with the dairy products!
Since our lovely breakfast, we have been reading over our home study, which will be the primary subject in our court visit, reviewed all the information provided for our next trip and worked on a few Russian words.
I've been drinking too much coffee and will soon be coming out of my skin. I'm kind of hoping for a good restaurant near the hotel. I was not planning on staying in a different hotel as Claire requested our hotel from the last visit. This hotel is nice and we have no complaints but we were familiar with the area and knew a couple of places to eat that we enjoyed. It is a bit like starting over since we are not familiar with the area.
Now to Vasa! I have been thinking and praying for him since we left in early March. Will he be ready for us, remember us, be excited or cautious? We felt as if our bond was strong when we left but it has been three months since we've seen him. I pray that the pictures, games and camera we left him have been enough to keep him hopeful and thinking of us! I am excited about getting to be with my boy! I have been waiting to hear his sweet laugh. I have noticed that Allie cat has a very similar laugh and it has brought much joy to hear her laugh.
My girls are the best! We miss not being with them and hope they are having a great time without us. They are so incredible. We were able to enjoy some time with them last week as we celebrated school being out in our traditional family style, Disney! Boy how we love our family trips with the extended family. It's great to see our kids playing with their cousins.
I've still got about 2 hours until the translator comes to pick us up this morning but it's probably time to take it easy before the day begins. We will be in touch later today.
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