Last Morning at the VMI

It hardly seems possible that we're finally ready to hit the skies again.  We're sitting outside on the restaurant deck having our last breakfast together.  Our drive picks us up at 11:30 for our 2:15pm flight.  Next stop, Moscow!  We've got six nights ahead of us in an apartment that we're renting about five blocks from the Red Square.  I'll post more on our travel and Moscow adventure next time.

Since our train ride adventure, we've been busy passing the days by playing, partying and completing paperwork.


One of the blessings of being at the Vlad Motor Inn is that we get to enjoy the company of several other American families traveling the same adoption path.  We knew we'd all be missing out on the 4th of July festivities in the US, so we decided to have our own little get-together upstairs in the White Rabbit recreation room.  The gals at the front desk were kind enough to send out the information to all the US families and we were able to put together an impromptu potluck complete with entertainment for the kiddos.  


There were six families gathered for our event.  All of us are enduring the 10-day required wait, and all but one of us families had our new children with us.  Five of us have already have custody of our new children and our new friends Pete and Casey from Alabama are still waiting for the director of their new son's orphanage to let little AJ come live with them.  We all did our best to locate or whip up some yummy things to share.  We enjoyed  deviled eggs, fried sausages, cheeses, chips, sodas, olives, pickles, hot dogs in italian sauce, a smoked fish dip (I was finally able to use that fish), and baked beans.  By looking at pictures on the canned goods in the store, I was able to purchase what I thought were Heinz pork and beans in a tomato sauce.  It's funny how many brands are international... at least the brands are, all the foods have been adjusted to the tastes of each country.  Coca Cola here tastes like Diet Coke to me.  I haven't tried the Diet Coke, so I can't tell you how that tastes.  You may have seen the photos with the Lays potato chips on a facebook post...  the chips are the same, but the flavors are different.  (Bacon, Pickle, Shrimp, for example.)  To make the pork and beans, all I could come up with was the canned beans and I added some ketchup  (Heinz), some sugar cubes, and some cut up ham and let it cook for a while.  When I tasted them, they were really good... but they had a pretty spicy kick to them.  I'm not sure what type of pepper is in the Heinz recipe here, but I think it would be popular if they introduced it in the U.S.   We were all pleased that we were able to come up with quite a variety of foods.  


After we ate, we had arranged for a local clown to come entertain the kids.  This hotel seems to host a LOT of kids events and we've seen various clowns and balloon professionals here frequently.  On the 3rd of July, I noticed a clown in the lobby, so I asked the nice gal at the front desk if she could ask him if he were available for our 4th of July get together, if he could come and make red, white and blue balloon animals for the kids and how much he would charge for an hour.  It was only 1200 rubles.


He was terrific for the kids because he spoke Russian, of course, and so did all of our kids except for Evan. He also spoke some English so he was perfect.  We were so happy to see how much fun the kids were having... I would doubt that any of the kids had ever had a clown entertain them before.  Evan made a comment to me that he wasn't using red, white and blue balloons...  I said, "It's ok, nobody noticed except for us and I don't think any of the kids mind at all."  Evan didn't seem to mind either... he was so excited all evening.  Max had so much excitement that he fell asleep on the couch that night instead of giving us his normal bedtime battle.  We were grateful.

The last few days, we've spent running the paper chase.  Jose accompanied Ivan, our coordinator, to the Passport office, the orphanage, the notary, the bank, and who knows where else.  I just know it was lots of hours of running around.  I stayed with the boys both mornings.  On Tuesday I received a phone call explaining that Maxim's records were missing a current TB test and unfortunately, we'd have to take him to a clinic to get this fun test done.  It's no big deal if you're an adult, but when you're a kid and someone wants to inject a bubble of some liquid under your skin to see if you develop a skin reaction, it's just not a good time.  Jose and Ivan met us at the clinic and luckily Jose was there to hold Maxim.  He was a screamer and a kicker and it didn't help that the nurse administering the injection was a stereotypical, stern, non-smiling Russian woman.  She even filled the syringe facing Max so he could see exactly what she had planned for him.  The screaming started before she even got near him. No warm and fuzzies from her.  Somehow we got through it and we felt so badly that we headed directly to a toy store.


The next day, poor little Max had to go to another doctor's office to get a basic check up and report that we have to take the the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.  It's a requirement for his visa.  Luckily this doctor had a terrific manner for dealing with kids.  She calmed him and played with him and he made it through like a trooper.  It helped that she had no needles.


Well that's it for now.  I've got to go finish packing the last few things.  I'll try to post some photos when we get to Moscow.


Wish us luck on the flight.