I am still too busy to do this, but I figured I had better do it before I start forgetting the details. So here goes...
We made a last minute decision that my mother would go on this trip instead of Andy. We figured it would be a lot easier on the boys and it was. So, anywhere in the following that I say "we", I mean my mother and I.
On Sunday, September 6, I flew out of Charleston one last time. (And at this point, I mean the last time...I really don't care if I ever get on an airplane again!) We flew from Charleston to Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany to St. Petersburg, Russia. We arrived in St. Pete about 12:28 PM on Monday. My mother would not let me just go to bed, so I dragged myself around the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia for a few hours before we finally found a "restaurant" for dinner. Mama Mia's was an interesting little hole in the wall that served some pretty nasty food. You know how they say "If you are hungry enough, anything tastes good"? Well, I was starving and that was still TERRIBLE!!! After that "meal", I had had enough and told my mom we were going to bed. I think at this point she agreed!
Tuesday was very busy. We spent the day gathering documents and applying for a copy of the Julia's birth certificate, adoption certificate, and passport. But, we did get to see her for a few minutes.
Mom meeting Julia
Wednesday was supposed to be a free day, but due to poor scheduling by our in country staff, I only got to see Julia for about 10 minutes on Tuesday. So, we went back to the baby home to visit her for several hours Wednesday morning. But, at noon she does down for a nap. So, we had to leave her behind one more time. On the way back from the baby home, we (well, really my mother) had our driver drop us off at the Church of Spilled Blood. We shopped for several hours, then took a canal tour. It was really beautiful and I am sure we saw a lot of really old buildings, but I wouldn't know because the tour was in Russian! We were so tired, we just hopped on the first open boat. I guess we should have waited for an English one. Anyway, after the boat tour, we found a very nice restaurant and had a great dinner for the first time in days! It was wonderful!!! Little did I know that I would need every last calorie...our walk back to our hotel took 45 minutes and we weren't exactly going at a snail's pace! (Have you met my mother? LOL!) Well, after loosing a pant size, we decided to call it a night.
Church of Spilled Blood
Canal Tour
Thursday was a free day...by our agency's standards...my mom had other ideas. We walked 40 minutes to take a hydrofoil (fast boat ride) to Peterhoff Parks and Palace. We walked around there for a couple hours. Then, we took the boat back and walked back to our hotel with several pit stops into little Russian stores and a very nice restaurant. Don't get me wrong Peterhoff was beautiful, but at this point I was starting to loose another pant size and I didn't have any clothes that fit!
Peteroff Parks and Palace
Friday was the day I had been waiting for for over two years! The day I carried my angel out of that baby home for good! She was napping when we got there, so we walked around the grounds, took more pictures and video and had lunch (that I packed) in the playground area. Finally, at 2:20 they told us she was awake. Her caregivers said their goodbye's and handed her to me. I wish I knew what they told her. It seemed so sweet. Finally, I changed her clothes and carried her out of there. She was smiling the entire time as if she knew what was going on. We then went back to the passport office, and waited in line, just to find out that her passport wasn't ready yet. Come back tomorrow after three, they said. So, that is what we did.
Leaving the Baby Home
Saturday, we took it easy. In the afternoon, I left Julia with my mother in the hotel room to go back to the passport office. This time they had it ready which was a really good thing as I had already bought plane tickets to leave for Moscow on the following day. On the way back to the hotel, our driver got pulled over by the police. They said they had seen him driving in a bus lane earlier...no not in this place...someone drive where they aren't supposed to...noooooo. So, he starts to argue with the police officer. GREATTT (eye roll), just what I need. He gets back in the car, shouting what had to be a line of profanity because my translator turned 10 shades of red. She turns around and asks, "Is your mother okay with the baby, because the police officer wants him to come and talk to another police officer...the one that saw it happen?" Do I have a choice? So, we follow police officer A to police officer B. My driver gets out and into police officer B's car with police officer A. They sat in that car arguing for about 20 minutes...at this point I am about to just get out and find a taxi, but I didn't for fear of being arrested! Finally, across the street, we hear CRASH! Another car wreck, there has to be 1,000 a day in this crazy city! So, police officer B decides he needs to go check it out. Police officer A gives my driver a ticket and off we go. He told my translator that the ticket was as much as his salary for the day...whatever that was. But, honestly he deserved it! He was, without a doubt, the worst driver I have ever seen! I couldn't even bring myself to tip the guy. How do you tip someone that is trying to kill you? (I think he was over paid anyway.) So, finally I made it back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day packing for Moscow.
Sunday was a good day. At this point, I was so tired and just wanted to go home. So, I knew getting to Moscow would get us one step closer to home. This was also the day that we discovered that in Russia, they drive planes as poorly as they do cars! We were certain that we were not going to survive the landing. But, by an act of God, we made it and I seriously almost kissed the ground when we got off the plane!
Monday was a interesting day. I was told on Sunday that the doctor doing the baby's exam for the embassy would come to our hotel between 5:30 and 6:00 AM. So, I set the alarm clock for 5. Well, at 5:25 AM, we hear pounding on the door. It was them that I realized that I set the alarm, but didn't turn it on! I jumped up, threw on a sweater, and answered the door. He says, "Did they not inform you of the time of my call?" I pretty much rolled my eyes and pointed him to the baby! He told me to undress her as he washed his hands. So, I wake a sleeping baby to make this guy happy. I really think he would have been much better off to just leave her asleep because now she was just screaming her head off...Not quite literally, but she did turn a nice shade of purple. Well, he looks at her, listens to her lungs and heart, measures her head and length, then he "weighs" her. He picked her up and said, "aw, about 18 lbs." I wanted to laugh, as I knew this was wrong, but I was paying this guy $300 dollars for this exam, so I kept my mouth shut. Well, after 10 minutes of checking her out, he handed me a receipt and says, "have a good day". Now, I am no expert, but he has to be the most overpaid man ever. $300 for 10 minutes of pretending to be a Doctor. That is $1800/hour...in RUSSIA! Come on! Well, anyway we were already up so we decided to get on with our day. We took the hotel shuttle to Red Square and saw...drum roll please...yep, more old buildings. This was getting really old! I just wanted to go home. Also, the food was 100 times worse in Moscow than it was in St. Pete. We almost did a little dance when we came across the McDonald's at Red Square. Did you know "Big Mac" in Russian is still "Big Mac"? That was really great because were getting really tired of playing charades just to order food.
Moscow
Tuesday was a day of great relief! The Embassy Appointment! FINALLY!!! It's really simple...on Monday, a representative from my agency had me fill out several documents that he added to a stack of documents he already had and he dropped it off at the Embassy with a power of attorney from me. The on Tuesday, I go and pay $400 and they have everything ready for me. Well, sort of...I did have to have an interview and swear that (in official sounding voice) "to the best of my knowledge everything listed in that stack of documents is true and accurate." They also wanted to confirm that Andy had seen the baby prior to the adoption being finalized. This is necessary for the baby to come home on an IR3 Visa. This entitles her to US citizenship the minute the little guy at customs stamps her passport. That was it! Were were officially finished with all the paperwork!!! I was ready to go back to the hotel, pack, have a early dinner and go to bed...little did I know my mother had other ideas! "Let's go to Pushkin," she says. You have to understand that when she is in one place too long she turns into a caged animal :). Well, we get on the shuttle to Pushkin Square. Then about 20 minutes later we are dropped off on a street corner...there is nothing around us! We have no clue where we are and the only thing at Pushkin is a guy on a horse...??? Come On!!! So, she decides she wants to go back to Red Square to finish up her shopping. Keep in mind there is no shuttle for Red Square at this time of day...no sir...we had to walk it with baby in tow! By the time we got there I wanted to cry and we still had to shop and turn around and go back! Well, we did get some very cute souvenirs, but I am not sure they were worth it!
Julia enjoying the new souvenirs that I almost died for.
Wednesday...Home!!! This trip was much easier than all of the others. We had a direct flight from Moscow to DC (This was where my little girl became a US Citizen.), then directly to HOME! It was still a long trip, but much better than going from plane to airport to plane to airport...
Going Home
It was a very long trip and one that took me about four days to recover from, but in the end I would do it all again...it brought me my sweet little Julia!
Well, she quickly figured out that maybe he isn't so bad...he leaves toys????
Her first Easter Egg Hunt.
She was VERY serious about finding those eggs!
A few formal Easter Pics.
One more sweet one with her big brothers.
