June 14

Up, up, & on to our new day. It's gotten away from me & I don't recall much that we did. The kids played almost all day with Leo & I got pictures to remember him by. Christy even played Wii against him & Ethan some. Much of the day has brought lots of rain, complete with thunder & lightning. We even got a sample of the local civil defence drill whistle. The kids went out to splash & get soaked in the rain. All of them were dripping at the door. They came in & changed immediately, but Leo had nothing. So he unabashedly just took all his clothes off but his underwear. I guess he feels comfortable here. We were all giggling, but the kids didn't seem to even notice; they looked much like shorts so it was not big deal.

After a chicken nugget lunch, we walked to the chocolate store again to do some more sampling, too. That's a fine Russian tradition, if you ask me. We go buy a couple pieces of various kinds & come home. Then I cut the individual pieces into 3 so all we adults get a sampling. Then we in our own way vote yes or no. It's helping Patrick & Christy discover some new favorites, too. But this trip was to find a few more samplings to take home & also to stock up on the 3 we know we love so far. Yum! Much of my souvenir-ing is chocolate, but I think that's a great way to bring Russia home. The only problem I foresee is eventually (probably sooner rather than later) this souvenir will run out. Shucks!

On home to eat leftovers for supper. We got part of the fridge cleaned out, but not all. Then it was on to cleaning mode. Really. . .it was only supposed to be the kids getting started on their room, but it turned into super organize mode for all of us & we got a good start on getting their house whipped into shape for their next company who comes the same day I leave. They will not have a break from company 'til sometime in August. I must say I'm glad I got in on their first good graces. I only made them start getting tired of company, but they aren't completely tired of it yet.

Christy voted us to watch a movie tonight; we did but didn't get started 'til after our super cleaning mode. We watched "Cheaper by the Dozen." It was cute & we were all in a laughing mood so it worked out great. Bed at 11:30 with big plans to finish our super cleaning & launder & pack our clothes for the trip home. I'm ready to go home but will totally miss being here a lot. And Leo has been asking if we'll come back soon cuz he wants us to. We explained it took almost 2 whole years to save the money to come this time. His eyes got big as he deciphered this. I'm thinking most Russians think all Americans are rich--and we probably are by their standards.

Off to bed.