May 30 & 31

Today is our first outing into Moscow--the excitement is mounting! Thinking we might be out of the house by 10, we didn't actually leave 'til 11:30--it takes a lot of primping to even come close to looking as polished as the Russian people do on a daily basis--and Mad & I did actually forget our stiletto heels/wedges that seem to be the rage for women from about 10-55 years old. After our bus trip to the metro station, we took the metro to another stop to catch authentic Russian food at My My (pronounced Moo Moo's--yes, Mom we got to eat here). It had cow decor all over with spots on the chairs, the dishes, etc. Madeleine was thrilled they had chicken noodle soup & mashed potatoes--that's really all she got. Moo Moo's is a cafeteria-style restaurant with excellent food & we ate down in the dark basement simply because it was cooler. It has been uncharacteristically hot while here--we were warned it would be 80's (nice & balmy I was thinking & packed appropriate clothes for that), but it's only been in the 90's since getting here & most of Russia does without air conditioning. Not to complain. My menu choices included a mushroom wrapped tomato & fresh herb bite, pork fritatta-type thing with rice & a mushroom/cheese bake which was both sweet & rich tasting.

On to ice-cream for the kids which gave them a tremendous amount of energy. We also browsed a bit in the small open market souvenir shops before heading on to better things. Here we bought a couple of neat items for the fam & sent Patrick on to buy our tickets to the river cruise tour of Moscow. While waiting on Patrick--who braved the traffic element for the tickets--we splashed & played in the plaza fountains. We all got wet to the core, which kept us cool at least through the river tour. We got to the tour a bit early & Madeleine taught Megan & Uncle Patrick the entres chacat ballet move, but it was harder than Patrick imagined, especially with his heavy clod sandals. It should be hard, Mad just learned it this year & she's good.

The tour doesn't have any guides--just Patrick & Christy pointing out the sights & letting us know all the fun things we could do on our 3 weeks here. It was refreshing to have the breeze to keep us cooler & we sat on the top under the open awning section of the boat. This was relaxing & took over an hour. At the end, right before our stopping point, there was the hugest billboard/advertising space I've ever seen for PS3--we have a picture, but the magnitude of it can't be captured; sorry, Davis & Connick--you should've been there.











From the tour, we walked a good jaunt to Red Square to look around at touristy sales booths--again--& then to just see many of the typical Moscow tourist attractions--St. Basil's, the Kremlin, the museum of history, countless statues depicting many Russian heroes, the huge gold-domed Christ the Savior Cathedral, countless fine arts theatres (Bolshoi ballet), etc. Madeleine was jumping all over the place with every new thing she saw. It was fun to see how much it was worth bringing her & that she appreciates the beauty of this historic city. But her most excitement came when we walked by & into the biggest, most opulent shopping mall of Russia--Gum (pronounced Goom)--not air conditioned in the halls but some of the stores were. We walked around a bit & saw a tremendous Mac display (pictures captured for our dear Seth) with plenty of technology through the years--almost a museum of Mac through the ages. Patrick & Christy wanted to go look at the Mac store so the rest of us ventured through the malls to see what could be seen. There was even a dance outfitting supply store, but we found nothing there to buy Madeleine. She was beaming the whole way through the mall; we met back at the entrance (3 stories back downstairs) & then went to explore more of the plaza area before hitting a McDonald's & Sbarro's for a quick bite to eat before heading back to the metro to catch our train. We all got super wet (except Christy--she kept all our bags & cameras dry) walking underneath sprays of water that go over a pathway. Even though all of this sounds like it took little time at all, by the time we left Elektrostal at 11:30 a.m. (remembering that we had a one-way trip of 1 1/2 hours to Moscow & then that again for the ride home), we didn't walk through our home doorway 'til well after 11 p.m. But also remember that dusk doesn't even set in 'til after 10 p.m. each night with complete darkness by 10:45-ish. We arrived home to personal graffiti decorating the hallway outside the door & the doorbell button detached form the wall to Patrick & Christy's apartment. They know the kids who do this--used to be close friend of Ethans, but don't really know why this 13-year old boy started being mean & defacing their property. I couldn't read the messages, but saw the picture & knew it was directed toward us. Christy spent 10 minutes washing the art/writing off the walls.

Needless to say we had a full day.

May 31

Today we slept 'til 9 a.m. again while Patrick & Christy accepted a Skype conference call from their home team who will be visiting them the day I leave to go home. It was a good call & they also learned this a.m. that the first half of their money needed to buy their car was successfully wired from the U.S. bank. So. . .we're thinking that by tomorrow they should have the full money & we or just Patrick will go pick up & drive home their new Nissan Quest. Nice for them after such a lenghty process of getting approval, etc. from the home mission organization. It will simplify their life much but will not take the place of all the walking they already do to get their daily life accomplished. Breakfast is usually on our own with the kids eating theirs earlier than us lazy adults. We knew today would be a free, catch up on relaxing & odds & ends phone calls, etc., so we did just that. I started my blog--with a little help from my techy bros, but with a few glitches hopefully to be corrected soon so you will get pictures to go with my daily entries. Christy spent some time on the internet to find a day, place, & time for us to go to a ballet. We were successful & will go to "Sleeping Beauty" on June 13--just the girls.

Then we got in a cleaning mode, mostly because there was grape juice that had been spilled the night before, so Patrick swept, I mopped, & Megan & Mad super-cleaned & vacuumed the kids' room. The kids being home all day & not going outside much were hyper nut beans but in a good way. They wrestled, chased, screamed, etc. & I believe it became girls against boys. Ethan's job was to vacuum the living room, but his lovely cousin Madeleine took that job over for him so he was out of luck.

The late afternoon missed us a couple of calls from home, but the 4 of us oldest people (Mad included) left for errand-ing: grocery store, internet flex card & then home to have orange-pineapple julius'--Christy's an excellent cooker/hostess--and on to make fajitas for supper--even homemade tortillas & guacamole. It was heavenly! More chocolate! I love this place--again! With darkness settling in around 10:30, supper often comes late. Generally we have 1 big meal a day & leftovers or snacking the rest of the time. I tried a yogurt snack bar: kind of a cheesecakey innard with yogurt-coated outside--yum!

The great Mikey called this evening to try to help us with my blogging issues--picture loading. And then we called home to see the Kansas fam--this free calling is super cool. Skype, to the rescue! They're paying me to say that. Off to bed by 10:30--early by our usual standards so far. I thought I lost all my blog, but Mike found it this a.m. & said everything had posted, so thank goodness there cuz my first attempt at recording my thoughts/memories is always best.