We're Here- Oct 7

Hi All-
It's taken us a little while to figure out the internet, how to access Blogger, and try to find some time to write but we are finally getting in a groove.  It's now Friday afternoon here and not much has changed since I wrote this yesterday.  Looks like we there won't be any more news until Monday so we're just going to spend some time settling in until then.  Here's what our trip has been like so far.

What is it about being with kids that just changes your whole attitude? If Rin wasn’t with us I would be a complete ball of stress. But with him, I have no choice but to be upbeat, positive, and excited about our adventure. He has had a blast on our adventure so far. And I have to say that sometimes people are just really nice. He loved when the check-in lady let him use the scale to weigh his bag even though they didn’t need to. He loved showing off the baby photo on his passport. It was a race up every escalator. Hallways were not walked down but instead skipped. It was an adventure. He made the long long trip fun, pure and simple fun. So who got to eat m&m’s for breakfast in the Frankfurt airport? The best boy in the world. And he even shared. If there was an award for the best traveler ever he he’d win hands down.

Our stay in Almaty was a complete blur of sleeplessness but it was nice to have a day to get our bearings being in Kaz. We got in at midnight and got to sleep by 2am. We slept until 6 and I was very impressed with us and felt we were winning the battle with jet lag. Then we wandered around, got some food, had a 3 hour long meeting (which Rinat was not a big fan of), wandered and got some more food, took a 4 hour nap by accident (not so proud of that, guess we’re losing the battle after all), went to dinner at Assorti (where 3 years ago we met a very nice woman who was adopting her second), and went to bed. Spending the day in Almaty brought back such strong memories of being new parents there with Rinat. Our apartment this time was on the same street as the hotel we stayed in before so we just wandered around saying “Hey, I remember this place!” as we passed a certain store or landmark. It was sort of like déjà vu but with the fruits of our labor all grown up and walking around with us. It was such a good feeling. Then Rin was up at 3am which was actually sort of OK because we had to meet our driver at 5:15 anyway to take us to the airport so at least we didn’t over sleep. Then it was on another plane (candy with takeoff and landing which Rinat was super excited about) and here we are. 

The boys are napping and I am enjoying some peace and quiet. All is good. And as for when we might visit the baby house, we were told one thing in Almaty and a different thing here so my attitude is just going to be a wait and see. Adoption is such a roller coaster. And as we are topping the last big hill of the coaster, I’m going to just throw up my hands, let go of all control, and ride laughing the whole way down with my boys beside me. We’ll keep you posted. Love to all, -m