Hello From Moscow

Well we are finally in Moscow. We don’t know what we would have done without Irina and her husbands help. They helped us get the luggage and the kids into the airport and get our tickets. We made it onto the plane and the kids did great for the takeoff and landing. The inbetween is another story. Of course none of them wanted to sleep (God forbid you miss anything). All was good until Eric was trying to get AJ to sleep and the man in sitting in front of me decided he was going to help. He would not leave the kids alone the rest of the trip and it really made me angry. He would just come over and pick AJ up and carry him around the plane. When the food came he actually came back to feed him!!! I could only hold my tongue for so long before she had to tell him to stop and that she would take care of her children. We got our luggage without a problem and the lady with CHI met us and helped us get to the van. It was only 4:30 in Moscow but it was past 10:00 PM in Vlad. The kids were beyond tired and we had about an hour drive into downtown Moscow to get to our hotel (Holiday Inn Moscow Lesnaya). Of course Max got carsick on the way (we are getting to be pros at this). By the time we got to the hotel all three kids were asleep. The lady from CHI came up to the room to do paperwork on all three kids to turn into the Embassy on Monday. It was the easiest night to get all three kids to sleep!!! While I was filling out the paperwork all three of them crawled into bed with their clothes still on and were asleep within 15 minutes. Monday was a free day for us so we decided to take our chances and go to the Kremlin and Red Square. It is about a 30 minute walk from the hotel which we knew would not be possible with the kids so we took the Metro (underground system) and it was wall to wall people. I thought Eric got detailed instructions on what to do but soon found out she was wrong when they got to the Metro station and Eric has no clue where to go or what to do (Eric said he just couldn’t understand the girl at the hotel desk). We found several people who were kind enough to help us find our way (thank God for maps!). I gave the card reader to Irina for another family to use if they need it otherwise I would have posted some of our pictures from today. We were quite the crew. Their was no mistaking that we were American. I had Olivia in the backpack carrier and Eric carried AJ and held Max’s hand. We made it to Red Square and it is just beautiful and quite large. The St. Basil Cathedral (the thing you see in all the pictures of Russia)is even more beautiful in person. We took the small tour of the inside and the murals are just awesome. It is amazing to think off all the history in that one area. It is a shame it was so cold out and we couldn’t spend to long there with the kids. They had a beautiful shopping center right there too with some very, very pricey shops and a big skating rink outside in the square. On the way back we met a really nice old man that helped us find our way back (sort of). It was funny because the only English he could say was “I love breakfast”. He had us stop one stop short of what we should have stopped so we had to walk the rest of the way to the hotel ( A VERY, VERY LONG WALK). This probably wouldn’t have been that bad except that of course AJ had to pee (what’s new!). Their was really no place to go until we got to the Marriot. Thank Goodness they were nice enough to let us come in and use the restroom. I think they saw the pain on AJ’s face. Eric is quite the saint because AJ screamed and kicked the whole way and we walked for blocks and Eric did not even flinch. When Eric took AJ into the bathroom he had to get his coat, gloves, jeans, long underwear, and pullup off (which he had already loaded full of pee, Eric said his pull up hit the ground with a thud!) before he could even put him on the potty. We are not sure where he drank so much but he could have filled a small pond! Eric wanted to go to McDonald’s but by the time we got back to the hotel, myself and the kids were cold and tired so Eric ventured out on his own to forage for food. Eric ended up having to walk all the way back to where we got off the Metro (we were only 5 minutes from McDonalds when we got off). The kids are very picky on what they will eat now and split the first cheeseburger fine but when I tried to give them each a part of the next cheeseburger they turned their noses up (like this was the first I was giving it to them!). McDonald’s has never tasted so good to Eric and I, even though it was cold. Tomorrow we will be going to the American Embassy at 1:30 to get the kids paperwork done at that should be it for us in Moscow. It is a really neat city and we are glad we had the opportunity to see the beautiful and historic places here. Just two more days and we are home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!