Another Fun Day in the Land of Kaz!

Saturday, June 3

Praise God, the kids did not get up this morning at the crack of dawn, we were up before any of them. They were all passed out at 10pm and did not get up till almost 9. I guess the pool did its job and wore them out. We had a fun morning with the whole crew. Garrett offered them all birthday cake for breakfast but instead they all wanted their noodles from the market. They are the kind you add hot water to and they cook in the container with little seasoning packets. Can you believe they would pass up cake?? Garrett was having flashbacks of Bill Cosby feeding his kids chocolate cake for breakfast and the kids singing his praises….”Dad is great……he gives us chocolate cake” It just did not work out like he planned. It was really not a very good cake which I think was part of the problem.

The kids had their noodles, we played Uno, Gameboy, Leapster…the usual stuff. They played together much better this time. At 1:00 Nastya came over to escort us to a very nice restaurant for lunch. We took a taxi and squashed all 7 of us into it, looking like a circus clown mobile. Actually, we are getting the hang of fitting us all into a small car, only once did we tie one of the kids to the trunk! We arrived at the restaurant called “Coffee In” around 2 and had the whole place to ourselves for the first little while. It was a nice sit down style with a waitress and everything. All the food is cooked to order and very fresh. The kids sat at one table and the adults sat behind them. The kids giggled and laughed and totally enjoyed themselves. Truth be told the adults had a great time too. Of course we had to monitor their level of fun every now and then. They all ordered a pasta dish with chicken and mushrooms in a cream sauce, chocolate milkshakes, and pancakes with the notorious condensed milk for dessert. Nastya and Garrett had a sautéed chicken dish with a cream sauce and veggies and french fries, I had beef and mushroom in a cream sauce with whipped potatoes. All the food was very good and we had a great time talking to Nastya about her sister’s wedding last month and the differences in American weddings.

After our fine dining experience we all walked about 10 minutes to the bowling alley to play a few games. The building was very nice, much nicer and cleaner than most bowling alleys at home. There were only 15 lanes, so it was smaller in size than most at home as well. The kids had one lane and we had one next to them. Nastya decided bowling is not her game so she just watched. There was only 1 other lane being used so we basically had the place to ourselves. The kids said they had played before but it was obvious they knew very little about playing. They enjoyed breaking a new record for consecutive gutter balls thrown in a single game. Sasha and Andrey were by far the better of the 4, but that was not saying much. They all seemed to have fun and we got lots of pictures and some video of the action. Garrett of course led the scoring because he is so muscley and talented. (Garrett wrote that)

After several games we packed up and headed back to the apartment via taxi AKA clown mobile to await our ride back to Temirtau to take the kids back to the detskydom. At 6 our driver arrived and Garrett and Stella stayed at the apartment (lucky ducks!) to make the trip more comfortable for us (yeah, right) due to the distance of the ride. Actually Garrett got some much needed down time. Before we left Garrett loaded Rada and Andre down with every bit of food and goodies we could find. They were very thankful for everything. They are both so cute!

We dropped Nastya at her home and headed to Temirtau. We are always greeted warmly by our friends at the orphanage. I met Rada and Andre’s mama this time and saw where they live. It is so obvious they are very loved and taken good care of. I asked them on the way there if they love their mamas and they both nodded big time and said “yes!” Before we left I went over to see Sasha and Stella’s mamas. They were both glad to see us and I asked them if there is anything we can do for the kids. We are going back on Thursday the 8th for Andrey and Rada’s birthday. They will both have parties that day. Of course we will have to “go magazine” for presents and take ice cream and cherries, a big treat for them! They will be leaving to go to camp on June 12th. We will not be able to call them because they do not have a phone but we can still go visit. Finally Sasha and I headed out for “home” in Karaganda. Sasha was very tired.

When we got back to the apartment Stella was down playing with Oolia. Good news! Ron and Sharon, our friends from Canada got word yesterday their court date has been moved up to June 5th. They will get to go home on Tuesday the 6th. They will then get to go to Moscow around July 10th and get Oolia. This is good news for them and we will miss them very much. We have enjoyed their company so much! It has made the time here so much more fun for us. We plan to stay in touch. They are good people!

We got back home in the apartment and the kids were ready to get in their pajamas and watch “Rudy” from the comfort of the sofa bed. I do not think they will make it all the way through but then again the person in the apartment has their radio up so loud the sofa is vibrating. This seems to be the usual thing on Friday and Saturday night for them. If we spoke Russian we could sing along! Anyways, that’s about it for now. We will “see” you all back here “same bat time, same bat channel!” We love you all!!! Goodnight!