One last day in Moscow

Hello All -

One last day in Moscow, and we are on our way home!!! Here is a quick overview of our last few days in Moscow. Saturday we did go to the Moscow zoo. Very different than Toledo. Different types of animals, and the buildings and cages were not as nice. The boys seemed to enjoy seeing all the animals. On Sunday we went to Arbat street. It is the main street for souvenirs and neat little shops. It has no room for cars, so you can walk slowly. People do not have the right of way over here, you always have to be watching for cars. They drive very fast, and also park on the sidewalks... This makes pushing a stroller a lot of fun. Today we went for another walk. We went to the Bolshy Theater, the old KGB headquarters, and warmed up in the GUM dept. store. It was cold today, about 20 degrees C. This will be our last post. Tomorrow we went all our paperwork back from the Russian embassy. We have a 3am wake up call on Wednesday for our trip home. We are hoping the boys fall asleep on the flight to Amsterdam, and we pray we get some extra seats on the ride home to DTW. The attached pictures are from the Moscow zoo and a church in Red Square. Also my little Hun. (as in Attila the Hun)

Thanks again to everyone for the prayers, kind words and emails. Also for all the help with the animals at home. There is no way we could have done this without every one's help. Sergei can't wait to meet everyone. Please brush up on your Russian.....words like, No, drop that, please don't throw that, do you have to pee pee, etc :)

Love - Rick, Marcie, and Sergei

Moscow Update

Hello All-

Sorry for the delay. Internet access in Moscow is very expensive, and I am not able to log on everyday like in Kras. It's about $15 per hour. Everything is very expensive in Moscow. Our airplane ride from Kras to Moscow went pretty well. We started Wednesday at 345am for our ride to the Kras airport. Sergei was sleepy, but was fine for the hour ride to the airport. Flying domestically in Russia is an adventure. Long lines, no computers, poor service. When we checked in, they could not find my ticket, and had Marcie and I not seated together. After but an hour, and an additional 1,300 rubbles for over weight baggage, we were ready to go. We were told to ask when we got on board to try to sit together. Luckily that did work out, and Marcie and I could sit together. Sergei did very good on the plane. He watched the take off, ate a little lunch, and fell asleep for about 3 hours. The plane left 45 mins late because they could not get one of the engines started "technical delay". The flight time was just under 5 hours.

Once we arrived it was straight to a medical exam for Sergei, as required by the US Embassy. After the exam it was off for pictures for Sergei's US visa. Sergei is currently a Russian citizen with a Russian passport. He will not be a US citizen until we arrive in Detroit, and he gets his passport stamped. Finally to the hotel at about 2pm Moscow time. Time change between Kras and Moscow is 4 hrs, so the boys were a bit off schedule. Sergei has adjusted fine, and is back on schedule.

Thursday was a day off, and I spent most of the day in search of diapers. Millions of people in Moscow, and no pampers. They don't sell them in a grocery store, you need to go to a special pharmacy store. We found a nice place to eat and off to bed. We have a stroller in Moscow, so long walks are not a problem.

Today (Friday) we had to go to the US Embassy to get Sergei's visa. Everyone at the embassy was very nice, and the place was packed with adopting families. (At least 20 couples) We also went to Red Square to get some pictures with the boys in front of some landmarks. We went into a store that had Russian Olympic hats and shirts to look for souvenirs. Hats were over $50 each. Yikes.... People here would go crazy if they ever went to a Wal Mart.

Tomorrow we are going to try to go to the Moscow zoo. The weather is much cooler here, and it has been raining off and on. The h0tel room is a great improvement from Kras. There is 400% more of everything (including the cost :) Big beds, space, pillows, soap, and I don't have to use a hand towel to dry off after a shower! The bathroom is as big as the last hotel room. Very exciting.

The attached pictures are; the 3 of us in front of St. Basil's, Sergei standing in the center of Moscow, and our ride from Kras to Moscow. (Boeing 767 this time, we stepped up a couple decades from the last trip)

We are counting down the days until we come home. Only 4 more days.

Love - Rick, Marcie and Sergei