I Am A Mom Again!

This morning, Allison and I got up about 7AM, got ready and went down to breakfast. Blini are Russian pancakes and we were both craving them so we were very happy when they were on the buffet in the hotel restaurant. After many blini and some very strong coffee we set out to exchange some money. Across the street was a bank and the "Starbucks" coffee shop where we thought we could go and get a better cup of coffee. Bonus! But, no such luck as everything was closed. I get the bank not being open but, what coffee shop isn't open by 8:30 in the morning? I know. So, we headed back to our room to await the arrival of our children.
Dimitry had told us to be in our room by 10:00. So, by 9:45 Allison and I were getting pretty nervous and excited. We kept our door opened so we could hear for little footsteps and of course, with every sound of footsteps our ears were perked. 10:00, 10:01, 10:02, 10:10 no kids yet. 10:20 I hear little feet and little Russian voices talking down the hall.... It was them!
Grisha came running to me and gave me a big hug as I lavished him with kisses. What an awesome feeling to finally have him in my arms for good! No more leaving him at the orphanage! It was great! Nina came again, too. Which was awesome because I was hoping she would so I could thank her again and say one final goodbye.
After about 20 minutes, Dimitry came back and said we needed to go and get the children's passports and Nina would stay in the room with the kids. What? I just get him and I have to leave him again? Last time.
More details to come later. Check back
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Location:переулок,Moscow,Russia

Leaving as Two

So we left DTW airport at 1:45PM yesterday and had a connection at JFK airport. The anxious part was knowing once we landed we would only have about 45 minutes before our next flight left JFK. We arrived a few minutes early, thanks to the wind, but there was another plane at our gate. So we had to sit on the Tarmac which was supposed to be only a few minutes, but ended up being about 20! On top of that, our connection was at a different terminal of the airport. Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!

So after a bit of power walking we made it to the gate in time. Now the question was, "did our luggage make the connection?" 9 hours later we would find out.

Arrived at Moscow airport about 9 AM this morning (Moscow time, 1AM at home). Did not sleep at all on the plane one, because it's impossible for me to sleep sitting up and two, I had a terrible stress stomachache. Three, my back was killing me from doing yard work two days prior. Needless to say I was in rough shape. Anyway, went through Passport Control without a problem then retrieved our bags and met Natasha, Dimitry's wife. She was there to take the guys to the hotel and to help Allison and I get tickets for our flight later to Arkhangelsk. Just the two of us were flying there to retrieve the kids the next day and then fly back to Moscow. However, Natasha said there was an issue getting tickets for the kids and now there were no seats left because the flight was full. What that means is that we might be stuck in Arkhangelsk another night with the kids. Crap! Well that is yet to be determined as Dimitry was still going to try to get tickets.

Allison and my flight was not until around 3 and the guys couldn't check into the apartment until 2, so we hung out at the coffee bar at the airport. Then, we parted ways as Allison and I checked in for our flight.

We arrived in Arkhangelsk at around 5 PM, retrieved our luggage and met our driver. It was rainy and gloomy, and the traffic was horrendous but we finally arrived at our hotel at about 6. Dimitry was there and checked us in. We headed to the room for a quick cat nap and then bought a few snacks and drinks at the grocery store. Tomorrow the kids will arrive by train and will get to the hotel around 10 AM. I can't wait!

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