Savoring 24 hours of internet access

Three more days and we are heading home! The accommodations in Moscow are not as comfortable as we had in Vlad. If we were on a business trip it would be fine, but for our purposes we are missing the Vlad’s cheap internet access, the washing machine and dryer, the friendly staff, and the other adopting families. The internet here is kind of expensive, but we were told by the Fritsche family that we can get 30 minutes of free internet at the McDonalds across the street. On Friday night we took Blake on his first trip to McDonalds. I logged in to the internet and just hit post on the blog entry and my computer died. So it didn’t matter that we had 30 minutes of internet access cause the laptop will only hold a charge for 5 minutes! I didn’t even know if the entry had posted. So now we have coughed up the money for 24 hours of internet access so we can chat with Brady and Madison one last time before heading home. I have added pictures to Friday’s entry below.

Blake is doing great communicating with us and is showing great signs of attachment. He says please, up, nose, eyes, Blake (sounds like Blawck), Brady (sounds like Breey), and Madison (sounds like Mayeson), and sebaka Annie. Words like sebaka (dog) and paka (bye) are too cute to change. We know he will lose all of his Russian babble in no time. He loves to be tossed around by Justin and to cuddle with me when he is tired. He is a major copy cat so we have to be careful with what we say and do.

On Saturday we walked around the streets in the Sokolinki. There is a big ‘amusement park’ that we spent hours walking around. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant to eat. We have since decided that Russian Mexican is not the best choice! We can’t wait for Guadalajara and El Ranch at home.

Today is Sunday. CHI set up a tour of Moscow with Olga for us. It was good to see some of the sights, and Justin enjoyed hearing about the history behind the area. Olga was great with Blake. It was fun to have her speaking to him and tell us what he was saying. She asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. She asked if he wanted to be a sportsman or a soldier. He said no, I want to be like my papa. She thought that was very sweet (and so did Justin!). Often times she said she was surprised by how much he speaks for a three year old. By then end of the tour he had her laughing because he asked her if she could take us back to the room so he could play with his toys. He also told her he is very happy to be with us forever. He is just wayyy to cute! We hope to post one more time before our 24 hours of internet runs out! Paka…

First McDonald’s Happy Meal. He wasn’t too impressed. Right now he loves bananas, yogurt, and tomatoes which probably have a bit more nutritional value than a hamburger and fries.


Here we are on some bridge – I couldn’t keep track of the name of everything!


This duck monument was cute. The inscription read…”This sculpture is given in love and friendship to the children of the Soviet Union on behalf of the children of the United States. It is based on the beloved American children’s story “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey. The sculpturess is Nancy Schon 1991. Presented by Mrs. Barbara Bush.”



And here is Blake eating his first ice cream cone. We wouldn’t dare do this in Vlad as they believe that you should not give children anything cold because it is bad for their glands. They serve their milk warm and would never dream of giving children ice cream. It appears as though here in Moscow they are a bit more daring and no one scolded us or even looked at us funny for giving our child ice cream!