July 20th

Bob and I start the day @ the gym and the girls - Alli, Beth and Cate -go for a walk with plans to meet up with Dana and see her school (she returned to work on Monday and goes in for three hours each morning). We work out a little longer than usual as the ping-pong tables are uncommonly popular this morning. When we get on a table, we play 11 games and I take the day 6-5. It's nice to win a day, but I'll never catch Bob at this rate....

The girls stopped for pastries again: pineapple pastries and raspberry cake. Mmmmmmm..... After breakfast, we shower and dress for the walk to the baby home.

The kids are in great spirits today! The highlight of the day is Molly crawling (OK, creeping)for the first time. As you know, we have been encouraging her to crawl for the past several days. Today, we turned her over to Sgt. Bob's Bootcamp for intensive, won't-take-no-for-an-answer, gung-ho Marine inspiration and training. At one point, she moves several inches, and Gunny Bob ups the stakes, moving the toy du jour about two feet from her. As we all cheer her on, Bob has to ward off Nicholas's interests while Molly considers her options in the starting block. Finally, she makes her move, and we capture her triumph on videotape amid much rejoicing. She seems quite pleased with herself and celebrates by beating her brothers head like a bongo when he stops by to talk to her socks. Being the responsible parents-in-training we are, Alli and I laugh out loud, which makes Molly laugh and the beating continue. Aidan doesn't appear to notice or mind: We think the socks told him it was OK....

After walking home, Alli and I hit the internet cafe. Cate and Zhanat are there when we arrive and tell us it's painfully slow today. We find they are not exaggerating shortly before Cate gives up and goes home. We persevere, but we are there for nearly 2 1\2 hours just reading and responding to e-mail! It's so slow we play games of Free Cell while waiting for e-mails to open or reply screens to come up...

It's nearly 6 PM when we leave. We're meeting Olesya @ 8 to go to the "Shishkabob PLace" where the four of us, Cate and Olesya will join Dana in celebrating Dana's upcoming birthday (which is not until August 4, but the "Shiskabob Place" is her favorite, and with Olesya's condition, we don't know whether we will have another chance to go before we go home and/or with Olesya as part of the group). Alli and I shake off the slow internet blues over a couple of cold beers at an outdoor cafe across from the hotel and begin to discuss/formulate plans for the first several days following our return home. Bob and Beth stop by to say hello on their way home from the Gros. After they head back to the hotel, we wrap up around 7:30 and pay the tab: 320 Tenghe (about $2.50) for four draft pints!

Olesya and the cars are waiting when the four of us go downstairs at 8:00, and we're off for the evening. As has been the case on our previous visits, the food is excellent, the entertainment enjoyable and the dance floor fun! We take some great shots of our group (and sneak in a few of the belly dancers!). At somewhere around 37 weeks pregnant, Olesya still manages to join us for several dances (though she's mortified when Bob and I pretend to make ourselves ready to catch the iminent delivery) and enjoys a couple of cold beers. One can only imagine hanging out with this girl when she's not ready to drop!

The night ends too soon at 11:30. The cars drop us at the hotel and continue on to take Olesya and Dana home. It was a great ending to a great day and we're exhausted. We're in bed by midnight....