July 13th

The alarm goes off at 7:30am. It's a gym day for Pat and Bob. I get up and fold laundry. When I'm done I write in my journal. There is a knock on the door at 10:00am. We've arranged to have our room cleaned and the girl is here. The windows are open and a chilly breeze blows in. It starts to rain. Pat arrives home with pastries in hand. He gained a little ground in the ping-pong championships of Kostanai. Pat took the day 7-5. The summer series stands at 67-58. We eat our pastries and get showered. We consult with Bob and Beth. It's not raining any longer so we'll walk to the baby home.

It's a cool, blustery day and a jacket is required. We find Mama waiting for us in front of her house. There is a small crowd of new faces. Bob presents Mama with a copy of the picture of her, Pat and Bob. He had it made yesterday after our visit to the baby home. She is thrilled! "Thank you, thank you, thank you" she says in Russian. She says a few other things we do not understand. Finally she starts to flash her fingers and we think that she is trying to tell us her age. There were many fingers flashed. We shake everyone's hand and say goodbye.

The children are inside. Pat goes for Molly. He finds her in the group playpen wearing a t-shirt and diaper. He picks her up and says hello. Mama Bibigoul takes her, changes her diaper and dresses her. Still not a task for Papa. Bob, Beth and I go for the boys. Aidan and Nicholas are standing in the small playpen when we arrive. Both have eaten and are ready to go. We're first to arrive in the marble room. A few minutes later we hear bells. Pat, Molly and the webble doll are here. The kids are in good spirits again today. I check Molly's top gums and see two teeth just poking through. She gnaws on her toys more than ususal. She is not unpleasant but it not quite herself. Aidan is a busy boy today. He crawls, stands and explores. He stops to have an animated conversation with the weeble doll. They're good pals now dispite their rocky start. He stands on the couch. Bob is at the other end and tempts him with his camere (both Nicholas and Aidan LOVE cameras). Aidan cruises two feet or so. Bob rewards him with a touch of the camera. Molly gets a little cranky. I pick her up and we waltz around the room. This makes her smile. She then enjoys a game of peek-a-boo with Daddy. Pat checks his watch. It's 2:35! We scramble to pack up and take the kids back to their rooms. Both Molly and Aidan are wide awake when we leave them in their cribs. It's raining again so we bus back to the hotel.

We head to the Internet cafe as do Bob and Beth. We check email and have only a few (hint, hint). One of them is from our travel agent, Eldo. Based on a recent discussion of our timeline with Olesya, we requested a change in our return flight from August 2nd to August 12th. Eldo's email is a confirmation of the change. Our last day in Kostanai will be Tuesday August 8th. We'll leave that afternoon and fly to Almaty. We'll have the kid's medical exams on the 10th and our US Embassy interview on the 11th. We'll fly home from Almaty on Friday August 12th and are scheduled to arrive in Newark on Friday the 12th at 9:15pm dispite some 24 hours of travel time. The countdown begins. After reading our few emails (hint, hint) we copy pictures of Molly, Aidan and Papa, Beth and me to disks. We take these to the photo center down the street and have prints made. We'll take Papa his picture tomorrow. The pictures of the kids are for our room. We knock for Bob and Beth when we return to the hotel and go to dinner.

We go to the pizza place. We asked Olesya to write down what we'd like to order in Russian and we bring the paper with us. Salads, ham and pineapple pizza and pizza with peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms. The drink we handle ourselves. We get we want and everything is very good.

We get back to the hotel at 7:45 pm and decide to have a movie night. The feature is "Anger Management" starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. After the movie we watch an episode of M*A*S*H. Bob and Beth have several seasons on DVD. We get back to our room at 10:30pm. We both write in our journals. Lights out at midnight.