Gotcha Day!

Well, I'm sure some of you have been waiting waiting waiting for us to update. Well it's here....we've got Alina. She's was snoring softly right now in her crib (rental Pack-n-Play) when I started this and then woke up cranky cranky. So I'm cutting and pasting Andy's summary.

Sunday, we were the only couple to visit the orphanage and we had such a great afternoon with Alina. She wasn't distracted and got very comfortable with us. For those of you who are coming after us, I really recommend that you do the day before visit....it's not the same with every child but it really seemed to make a
difference with her.

Andy’s 5 Rubles (Looks like a quarter)
As most of you know we spent the 10 day wait in Moscow because it corresponded with my spring break. In other words it was cheaper, and more fun to be here than back in Bama. Not to mention no jet lag. Here’s the updates.

Thursday: We went to the Pushkin Museum. Large collection of French Impressionists. And it’s inside and therefore not freezing. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.

Friday: We went to the Victory Museum in Moscow. Museum of WW2. It has the largest park of restored military vehicles from WW2. Got to see Shermans, Matildas, and a lot of Russian Tanks many T34’s and other cool things. Got my picture taken in front of a T34 before the police got mad and shoed me away. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.

Saturday: We went to a large open air market in the mud and sureenough cold. Stacye tried to stimulate the Russian economy all by herself. Lots of souvenirs. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.

Sunday: We went to see Alina and got groceries from Globus. No Tuna Pizza. Just a well balanced meal of sausage, bread and ice cream. Alina was happy and fine and you don’t care about the rest.

Monday: We went to court and picked up Alina. She was too big for her age appropriate clothes. She didn’t fit in her snowboots. She didn’t fit in her back up larger shoes. We had to break out the 14 month clothes. She tolerated the car ride much better than we anticipated. Then she played for 2 solid hours while grandparents watched via Skype. They cared since it was about Alina. We’ll spend this week on Red tape and Red, White and Blue tape....Love, Andy

Okay, I'm back. It's Tuesday now. We had a bit of a rough night trying to get Alina to sleep after she woke from her nap. I think she's teething, congested, and generally disconbobilated (if there is such a word). We're trying to figure out the food schedule and what we can actually get her to eat. Yikes. Have to keep this short....someone is crawling this way. Much love, Stacye