As all our other days, we lazed around all a.m. & didn't get gone to Moscow 'til 11:45-ish. I made veggie pizzas for breakfast for Megan & me; she announced them to her parents as Aunt Pam's invention. Poor Madeleine had to wait 'til Christy--the last one up & at 'em--was ready to open her presents. She got a cool glass prizm with lazer etched St. Basil's inside from Megan & Ethan & a few extra cool presents from me that I was able to sneak into our suitcase before leaving the state of KS. She also was told by Uncle Patrick that their gift was the circus that we would go to tonight.After that formality was out of the way, we left in our trusty Nissan Quest, armed with a map (that's proving to not be helpful at all) & a DVD, to brave the metropolis of Moscow. We figured out that the DVD system was a bonus, but that it's not wired well & is more of a pain than we'd like to admit. I must say that I'm sure the circle system of streets is something the Russians are used to but the jungle that Moscow appears to me is not so easy for me to figure out. I'm just along for the ride. However, it took us close to 2 hours to get to the first place we needed to get to because we couldn't find anyplace to make a left turn. We saw the street we needed, but miles later was the first time we could get pointed back in the right direction. Needless to say, we helped chart new territory for everyone--even the driver. A lot of the Moscow ride was stop-n-go & basically it's a dog eat dog, drive-at-your-own-risk driving adventure. I think I told you earlier that the Russians use their blinkers. I take that back--at least in the bustle of the city. And. . .they are so crazy, making u-turns helter skelter, pushing their noses where they want to go whether there's room or not, squeezing in as close as they can get to the next vehicle, etc. And even in the middle of the city, it's about 10 lanes wide. Wee haw!
Finally we arrived near to where Patrick needed to still pick up my visa registration--I've been so illegal for several days now. He metro'd to do that while the rest of us ventured into Gorky Park--an amusement/carnival park that we learned is not worth going to again. It's a small price to enter, but all the rides are outrageously priced & don't work quite like the American rides. We browsed the whole park first to see what there was & then opted for bumper cars to start our fun. Little did I know that bumper cars aren't to be bumped; Madeleine & I got kicked out. Oops! They look like bumper cars, but it's just a little ride for people to drive all over in & not touch any other cars. It was fun while it lasted! Then we moved on to bigger rides & finally opted for a tiny roller coaster called the Twister Coaster. Madeleine's a bit intimidated by roller coasters & 
this one was the biggest one she's been on. It was a funner ride than it looked like & I got some good shots of the park from above & also of the kids' in-action faces as they experienced the coaster. I was the designated adult that had to ride with them--the sacrifices we make in the name of fun.We then headed out & grabbed ice-cream to get us through 'til supper that night, which was to be Rostiks (the KFC chain here) pre-circus. We traipsed across town & found the circus no problemo, arriving 30 minutes prior to when we were to meet friends who would join our forces for the evening. Patrick & Christy entered the ticket place & found out that there was no show tonight. Argh & Oops! The kids enjoyed rock climing on the wall while all this was happening but were a bit disappointed to find out we'd have to postpone our Happy Birthday plans 'til Wednesday. I guess we'll use it to celebrate Mom & Dad Neifert's anniversary instead of Mad's birthday. We caught the friends before they left to meet us & made alternate plans to meet at the same time & place on Wednesday instead. These friends are moving back to the states (missionaries with Wycliffe) on
June 10 & had wanted to hit the circus one last time before moving away from their beloved Moscow. This really bummed Ethan out (cuz the young boy of the fam is a good friend & will be gone soon). We drove to their apartment anyway to pick up a few things that they were "selling" to Patrick & fam, so that helped ease Ethan's frustration in having to put off seeing his friend Daniel 'til Wednesday. During all of this, Grandma Carla called to wish Madeleine a Happy Birthday.Plan B became going to a different IKEA/Mega Mall since the last one we tried was practically closed when we got there a few days earlier. This mall was complete with an ice-skating rink, but that part was closed for the night when we mosied on over. Here we ate salmon & meatballs at the IKEA cafeteria--Christy had been bragging on the food here & it was delicioso--all it was cracked up to be. Then we took the entire IKEA tour, taking billions of pictures of everyone jumping on beds, chairs, etc. in the showroom. Madeleine & I loved this store--I think the closest one in our area is Dallas, TX. We bought Mad a souvenir, prince charming frog air chair, that she just adores & will pack easily going home. We are still searching out the cool hair bands (Loretta, the kind they bought for Megan in your neck of the woods) so I can buy some for my little Sydney before coming home. It was decided that we'll bring one of Megan's home & buy some material for Grandma Carla to make a few & then Christy will pick Megan's up when she comes to their house in a month or so. Okay, Mom? We're infringing upon your creative genius to re-create these hairbands that are oh-so-neato (they'll be easy to make, I promise; I could even figure it out)! Even though they didn't have any of our hair bands, they did have a Baskin-Robbins, something that I had told Patrick I had to do while in Moscow since I don't have it anywhere near me in Kingman, KS. It was my favorite ice-cream growing up. And they had one of my prized flavors--red raspberry sorbet. It was an outrageous price but definitely worth all my rubles. We went to McDonald's for another of Madeleine's favorite cherry pies & then headed home for a shorter trip than we had on the way to Moscow earlier. Once again there was pictoral grafiti in our hallway to greet us. So annoying, but it washes off easily. Back to earlier in the day, the lady who repaints the walls, rang our flat to ask if Alex lived there (since the griffiti artist signs his name). Alex is Ethan's first friend who began turning on him earlier this year. We were thrilled that at least one apartment official is trying to get to the bottom of this, but were disappointed to find more when we arrived home after a super full Moscow day.
We got a Happy Birthday Skype call from the Argonia, KS Neiferts before heading to bed at midnight. Thanks, Krista, Shannon, & friend Allison.
Later, comrades.
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