Reporting From Moscow!

Hello from Moscow!!! We found out last night when Lena dropped off Jill’s passport and other necessary documents that Voloya wouldn’t be picking us up until 6:20am! Yay! One extra hour of sleep! So, since we were pretty well packed last night, we got up this morning, got ready, each ate a banana to tide us over until the flight served breakfast, and headed to the airport. Volyoa was so nice helping us with our bags, cutting into a different line and somehow getting us up front where we got our boarding passes and checked our bags. Then he walked us through to the security area, made sure we knew where to go and what to do and said goodbye! We were worried about not having a translator with us, but Voloya was just as good, or better (it looked like he “knew people” there)! When it was time to board we could see the plane from the waiting area; it was about 150 yards away. Wade figured we’d walk right up to the plane, but I warned him that we’d probably have to board a bus; that’s just how they do it here. Sure enough, I was righ.We spent 10 minutes boarding everyone on flight and all of their carry-ons onto a bus, then drove about 1 minute over to the plane, then spent 10 minutes getting everyone and all of their carry-ons off of the bus to stand in line to go up the steps to board the plane. Luckily they let families with children board first, and we walked right up and got situated without a crowd. The flight was uneventful. Wade played with the doll making it jump up and kiss Jill on her cheek so that she would laugh for about ½ hour, then it was time for breakfast. The adult breakfast was a ½ piece of ham, a piece of something that looked like fatty turkey, two pieces of Swiss cheese, one pecan, ½ cucumber, ¼ tomato, ½ piece of bread, a dinner roll, and a brownie. We also each had a glass of orange juice and cup of coffee. Now, Jill got the “kids meal”. Her meal consisted of a vanilla yogurt, a strawberry yogurt, ½ piece of bread, a dinner roll, a whole green apple, a juice box and a pastry that was like a small pie crust filled with a chocolate icing type treat. It also had a cardboard punch out thing to play with. After lunch she watched Sesame Street on the laptop, and then we were heading down! She whined a little on the way down; we thought she might have been queasy or that her ears were hurting, but all in all she did OK. We landed, waited about 15 minutes for a bus to come to drive us to the terminal, waited another 10 or 15 minutes to get our luggage, then met up with our Moscow translator, Mia, who helped us with our bags. The driver, Eugene, got us to the hotel Holiday Inn Solkoniki where Mia and I filled out a small stack of paperwork for the Embassy. After the paperwork was out of the way, Mia and Wade headed across the street to McDonald’s. Jill and I waited here until Dada brought back two BigMacs, two orders of fries, two Cokes (WITH ICE!), and one cheeseburger. She SCARFED down the entire cheeseburger and then ate a handful of fries! The boys have some competition in their McDonald’s eating now. This room has one double bed and a chair that turns into a twin bed. So, I changed the chair into a bed for her nap. She really didn’t want to sleep, but really only cried about 5-10 minutes while I patted her back before she drifted off. Lucky for us she’s a very sound sleeper because a minute after she fell asleep we had some kind of construction noise going on. It was LOUD, but she slept right through it and is still asleep now. I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin Adam and his beautiful bride Jennifer who are getting married today! I so wish we could be there, we were so close to being back in time! Have a wonderful day and we’ll try to catch up with you the next time you’re in town!