We are here!!!

After a plane ride that seemed fairly quick, we arrived an hour early into Russia. Now has that ever happened to anyone? A plane that is actually early? I have no idea why that was the case, but it was good for us... Making the plane was an adventure! Stressful! It was my fault too, as we left late... and it rained the entire drive to the airport! We got in at 3pm and our flight left an hour and 1/2 later. Thank goodness this one airline rep took great kindness upon us and the boys and we made it through check in and all our bags arrived in Russia as well!! We are so thankful for her! We made it within 10 minutes of boarding..... and that was that!

The boys did great on the plane, but are definitely jet lagged. It's funny but they took different avenues to show that jet lag. One was super tired, and one was hyper. We ate at a pizza place for dinner, and went to the grocery store afterward. They are amazed at how we must walk everywhere. One asked if we could get our driver to pick us up after dinner and take us to the grocery store. Ahhh the convenience of a car in the US.... they will appreciate it when they get back. My more extroverted of the two (ds2) said he couldn't wait to get back to the US. When I asked him why, he said, "So I can talk to people again, I don't understand what anyone is saying!" lol!

My ds1 naturally made a friend on the airplane. They shared game boys and he talked his ear off. I think everyone in our general vicinity knew of our adoption, what he likes and dislikes about planes, and his love of roller coasters. And that was the less extroverted of my two! I'm sure there was much more, but I fell asleep. :-)

Onto our apartment... it isn't nearly as nice as our last one... I'm definitely not as thrilled. It's older than all the rest and it's freezing. Typically we are roasting inside, but this apartment is very drafty or the heat is not as strong. Plus the heat in our kitchen isn't working at all. Not good.... So, I'm hoping all this gets rectified tomorrow when the work week begins. They did bring a portable heater to help in the bedroom...and some extra blankets. If anyone needs help with apartments when you get ready to travel, I can definitely tell you what to look for and what to avoid.

Which leads me to my next topic... the cold! Oh my goodness it is FREEZING HERE! I am truly adjusted to the south now, as even the winters we lived in NY did not feel this cold. (And we had two 15 inch snowfalls that year.) Today's high...when daylight actually breaks will be 19 degrees. I don't even want to venture outside in that! But I can't say our apartment is warm and toasty either! Pray the apartment can at least warm up.... (the outside, I'm not so sure about.) But, it's supposed to snow here mid week! Yay! It will be nice to have snow on Christmas Eve again. I think tomorrow we will try to get all our grocery shopping done, so we don't have to venture out if it's too cold!

Here are some photos of the airport and all our luggage.