Super Spectacular Saturday

Hello everyone!
We just got back from seeing our baby girl! What an amazing experience. When we arrived, she was eating, so we waited a bit for her to come out. She appeared relatively quickly with the pink bear we left her. Papa Bear, as she named it, is totally looking shabby-loved. Clearly, she hasn't put it down in 8 weeks! She smiled from ear to ear when she saw us and then pushed each of the buttons on the hands of the bear so that you could hear Ian, me, Corbin, Collin and Aidan say, "hello" in turn. Apparently the Peek A Boo Baby photo album is also looking rather worn from being kissed so much. She went right to us and was sooo excited to see us. She says Hello and Love, both words she learned from the bear. We bundled her up (in a London Fog coat!- thank you to whomever left that beautiful donation!!) and went outside where we went for long walks, used the swing, pushed the bear down the slide, rode a toddler bike, and taught her some bad bad habits. Somehow our peek a boo game turned into her total enjoyment of blowing raspberries at Ian. I don't know if that is a common term or not, but what I am describing is when you put your tongue between your lips and blow, resulting in a vibrating car-like sound. And Ana thinks we are hysterical for playing this game with her. Ian loved it so much, he took some video to send to the boys. I saw my dreams of a girly-girl in tutus fading fast! Mmm Mmm She is going to love having crazy silly brothers.

On the way back from the orphanage we stopped at Globus Hypermart. Hello! I hit the lottery. It is like a Walmart! We ate in the restaurant there, and it was super delicious. What fun it was to sit in the suburbs of Moscow and eat in such a normal place and experience "real Moscow". We drive by it all the time, so we are going to stop in there now and then. When it is time to shop for our apartment, we are going to go here so I can get good prices. Next time, I am going to get my nerve up to take photos. I wanted to blend in so much that I just couldn't take out my camera and expose myself as a tourist, but I really want to next time so everyone can see what I mean when I say it is like being in Dallas, LA or any large city with lots of space (not like New York where everyone is crammed on an island- people here have BIG homes and big yards).

On the way Tanya went through our photos to pick the ones she wants to lay out for the prosecutor to look at and the ones to give the judge for the file. We have photos of all 3 of us from trip 1, pictures of just her and 1 of us from trip 1, photos of her room, her car seat, her clothes and toys, our home and our boys. The judge also has a photo essay in our dossier we had to make of our family, home and neighborhood.

We were excited to head over to the children's store which is next door to the Hyatt. Sadly, it is being renovated, like every other building in Moscow. They are all beautiful, and all still being renovated. Not sure what we will do with the rest of our day, but I am sure Ian will drag me off somewhere soon.

Paka until then!
Michelle