My Wednesday on Tuesday

Tuesday, June 23rd

I considered not even blogging about today because literally nothing exciting happened. I went through the whole day thinking that it was Wednesday. Alex and Allie's flight leaves on Sunday and they have to take the night train to Kiev on Thursday so that Alex can go to the Embassy on Friday and do some paperwork. Oksana said that we could go to the notary here on Thursday before Alex left and sign some papers and then I won't have to go to Kiev with Alex - which will be very nice, since I wasn't looking forward to taking the night train to Kiev and then turning around and taking the night train back. So when we got back to the apartment tonight, I pulled out the big suitcase and gave it to Alex, along with all the stuff that I want him to take with him so that I don't have to, because I thought that he would be catching the night train tomorrow. Then my mom reminded me that today was only Tuesday. Darn! (I actually really wanted to say something else here - something a little more explicit - but I know that some of you read this with your kids so I will make this a "family friendly" blog). It is not that I am excited for Alex and Allie to go home, it is that I am excited for me to go home and Alex and Allie leaving means that my leaving is all that much closer.

We have all come up with something that we really miss about home (we aren't homesick at all!):

Alex: Red Robin
Alex claims that he will be getting picked up from the airport, and heading home to pick up his beloved car (that he just reminded me that he hasn't seen for three weeks - poor thing!), and going straight to the Red Robin at the District in South Jordan. If anybody would like to join him, you are all invited!

Allie: Hot dogs
Allie will be going home to her mom's that night and they don't eat pork at their house. So, Alex is considering going to the Costco to get Allie a hot dog on his way to Red Robin. Does anybody know how late Costco is open on Sunday?

Annie: Ice water
I know this seems like a very silly thing to miss, but I want a big tall glass of water with ice cubes! Here, they don't have a problem drinking water or soda warm. Gross! Mike Lawrence said that he told Elena that he wanted a Diet Pepsi with ice cubes and Elena asked why he would want ice cubes. Duh!!!!

Mom: Flushing toilets
This seems very strange, too. However, you don't realize how lucky we are to having flushing toilets that don't clog easily and that we don't have to squat over a hole in the floor.

Tony: Aunts
I think baby Tony is missing all his aunts :). He is usually watched by Aunt Kim, Cathy and Audra at least once a week and I think he is tired of all of us here. For all of you at home that are interested in Tony updates, however, he is getting dangerously close to crawling. We will keep you posted :) Tony will really miss all the bumpy stroller rides when he gets back, though. I think he thoroughly enjoys them - it is like a moving vibrating chair!

We ate lunch at the orphanage today. It was actually pretty good. It was fried chicken, potatoes, borscht, and wheat bread. We were impressed that the food was pretty good and that it seemed like a very nice meal for the kids. Then we realized that we were the only ones that got the fried chicken. That made us feel bad - that we got special treatment!

One more down, six to go...