June 12

Happy Independece Day, Russia! & Happy Birthday cousin Brianna in Argonia, KS.

This a.m. Patrick made us all our own personal omelets for our morning meal. He's got th s down to a fine art and is perfecting it to an art. Now he has a reputation that he has to keep. We had a small ceremony of the grand unveiling of the computer, but basically I've been reading a bunch this day already. We've been watching the TV a bit trying to find out if anything is happening today in the town center for celebrating independence day. So far, we're seeing nothing, but we may venture into the center later to see if it's bustling.

Since we forgot toilet paper on our outing last night, Christy & I went to the store to get some this a.m. while Patrick is busily re-formatting his new computer. It will take lots of time to get eveyrthing redone for this, but he's been working on it diligently & playing Wii in between while the data installs. The kids have spent some time outside & are now taking turns with Patrick on the Wii.

Christy & I have been reading, reading, reading & then took a Wii break to practice our tennis skills on each other & then turns with Patrick. We beat him a couple games, but never a whole match. Shucks! We gave him a run for his money.

Then it was on to making our big meal of the day, yummy pork chops, sauteed mushrooms, fresh veggies, & potatoes--topped off with of course our daily after-meal chocolate. You really would not believe how much selection of really good chocolate is so readily available. I've been in heaven & still have so many more kinds to sample before leaving. But tomorrow we go to the chocolate factory for the tour. Most excellent! Can't wait for our last adventure of Moscow. The kids have been busily entertaining themselves with outdoor play by themselves, with their new friend Leo, & creating their own music on Garage Band--a Mac music maker.

After supper, which we invited Leo to but he declined, the kids went back out to play with Leo while the adults (mostly Patrick & Christy) tidied up the meal. I slunked back to get more of my book done. I love it! Then my family from Kansas Skyped us & we caught up on their exploits as of late. Patrick & Seth talked Mac talk & the business of getting the internet up & running on his new computer. Nothing has worked here in Russia so far in the Mac area of internet for Patrick. We'll keep trying. A little sleep & a break always brings more results later, eh? While Patrick was trying to do that with Seth, the rest of us took an end-of-the-day walk. We had called friends earlier to find out if anything of a celebration was going on in the town, but they said they'd been to the center & absolutely nothing is going on. We walked a different route than normal & hit a store along the way that has a totally different chocolate stash. Now Christy knows a closer store that has a pretty good selection. I haven't tried any tonight, but from the looks of things, the kids must've found the stash. It's not all gone yet but could be if we're not careful & get our tasting in soon.

Now at the end of my day (& frustratingly no internet for Patrick yet), I'm merely pages away from finishing my book, but with it being so late & with us actually have to follow a bit of a schedule tomorrow (i.e. a wake-up call & no sleeping in), I need to hit the hay. I will see some of you soon with many adventures to tell. 'Til then . . .