Trip #2 Agenda

Here is the way things are shaping up for trip #2.

• Friday, November 30: Drive to Knoxville to drop off Jason Alexei with Wendy's parents.


• Saturday, December 1: Fly to Moscow.


• Sunday, December 2: Arrive in Moscow...try to stay awake long enough to not fall asleep too early. Maybe if we get there soon enough we can do a short trip to Red Square to see Yuri before they close down?


• Monday, December 3: Drive to Orekhovo Zuyevo to visit with Grace.


• Tuesday, December 4: Court hearing to adopt Grace.


• Wednesday, December 5: Fly back to Knoxville.


• Thursday, December 6: Drive back to Madison.

This trip is much shorter than Trip #2 was for Jason Alexei's adoption. Some parts of the process have been streamlined, I guess. We also took care of some things on trip #1.

I do not know if we will get to take Grace on an outing to get her passport photo taken. This step with Jason Alexei was quite a thrill ride for everyone involved when he repeatedly closed his eyes for the pictures. Click here for a link to a post from that day. We will see if history repeats itself. I would like to do this with Grace. It just would not seem like an international adoption without some adventure like the one we had with Jason Alexei.

Having been through the process before, we are not that nervous about the court hearing. It is (hopefully) a formality. I am sure as we are waiting our turn on Tuesday the nerves will hit. Hopefully I can remember how long we are married -- unlike last time.

People ask about the weather in Moscow. Right now the temperature in Moscow is 17 degrees. It should snow some while we are there. It has been snowing since the week after we were in Moscow for Trip #1. The St. Basil's webcam has not updated since November 16, but there was snow all over it then. The Hotel Ukraine webcam is still updating and you can see some snow on the sidewalks.

Our apartment this time will be nicer than the last one. Not that the last one was bad, this one seems more updated. It is in a nice area for restaurants. We ate at one very near to where the apartment is located. Next time we will be staying in an apartment on Old Arbat, which is a very major area for tourist shopping. It will be a very convenient place to stay. It is a two-bedroom, so Grace can have her own room. That assumes she will sleep by herself. Right now she is sharing a room with several children.

We would like to get around the orphanage some more, but the vibe we got on trip #1 makes that doubtful. It never hurts to try.

I have not heard anything from other families travelling this week, so we might be on our own until Tuesday. I think we will have court around the same time, but maybe not. You never really know the schedule in Russia until it really happens.

Each trip seems to have its share of planning headaches. This trip did not have any real mistakes to correct, but the short time of preparation made for a lot of stress. We already have most of trip #3 planned out. Earlier in the week we had quite a rough time getting an airline to abide by an intinerary that was being held for us. After three hours at the airport and due to the persistance of the ticketing agent "Cindee", the airline made things right. It is shocking and infuriating to see how some folks will try to cover up a clear mistake by someone, but at the same time it is nice to know there are Cindees out there who do the right thing.

I wanted to post more this week, but there just was not any time to do that. I wanted to post some pictures from our Thanksgiving trip. Also, Jason has learned a new song that needs to be shared. The camera was cleared cleared off to get ready for this trip, so I do not have the video with us in Knoxville. Hopefully I can get to it between trips #2 and trips #3.

I had better wrap up. We'll have a computer and internet access in our apartment, so I will update as much as I can.

Da Zaftra!