July 22nd

The alarm sounds at 7:30am. It's a gym day for Pat and Bob. Beth and I also head out at 8:00am to go for a walk. The sun is shining and the weather is already warm (but not beastly hot like we hear it is at home). We're both wearing shorts. Victory Park is our destination. We run into Dana along the way. She is going to work. We stop and chat for a minute and then continue our walk. We do several laps around the park before heading back into town. When we get back to town we decide to keep on walking and go to the river. Our last stop is the pastry shop before going back to the hotel. We walked for 2 hours and 20 minutes. I rinse and wring a pair of pants I have soaking in the sink and write in my journal. I have one more day to do and then I'll be caught up. WHEW! Pat returns from the gym just of few minutes after me. His workout was good. Ping pong was fun but he ended up one down for the day at 7-6. The summer series now stands at 86-74 with Bob in the lead. I finish journaling, eat a bowl of cereal and shower. Pat gets our stuff together after his shower and we're ready to go. Bob and Beth knock at 12:15pm.

It's another warm walk to the baby home. Our friends are not in their usual spot today when we pass by. We get to the baby home and find the children outside. Molly is snoozing in her crib when I arrive. Mama Bibigoul wakes her. Molly is dressed in tiny underpants and a bonnet. Mama Bibigoul diapers her and hands her to me. Molly has not eaten and lunch has yet to arrive. I sing to her (Molly Had a Little Lamb) while we wait. She is not quite awake yet and looks at me like I have 3 heads. Lunch is served and I feed Molly. Today's menu includes applesauce, ground meat and carrots served with a shot of pear juice. Molly cleans her plate - no surprise there. I wash her face, dress her in a pink onsie, find a pair of sock and babushka and we're ready to go. Everyone is in the marble room including Cate and Daniel. Daniel is making great strides and is now comfortable joining the kids in play on the floor. Molly is out of sorts again today. She shows little interest in her toys at first. We take turns sitting her on our laps and she seems content to do this. I bounce her on my knee and get a little smile. Olesya arrives after her massage and we have Molly creep for her. Everyone claps. Aidan is equally disinterested in toys. He prefers to try and crawl into the hallway and is quite persistent with his attempts. Pat and Beth each foil his plans several times. He is then content to stand at the sofa and play with the ziplock bag filled with nuks and nipples. He then visits with my necklace for a few minutes. We rub foreheads and he head butts me to both of our sursprise. He rests his head on my chest. I look away for a minute and then look back to find his eyes closed. I hand Aidan to Pat and he puts him on his shoulder. A few minutes later I notice Pat's eyes beginning to close. He stretches out on the couch and falls asleep with Aidan on his chest. They both sleep peacefully for about 20 minutes. Aidan doesn't wake up until Pat puts him in his crib. I put Molly in her crib. She puts her head down while I rub her back. Her head pops up when I stop to leave. We meet out front and take the bus back to the hotel.

Pat and I stop at the Gros for Pringles and Coke on our way to the Internet Cafe. We need to get the Blog up to date and will post two entries each. Our progress is slow as connectivity is less than speedy. We get our entries posted and have time to quickly check email. Not a lot of time to respond. We head back to the hotel after 3 hours at the Internet Cafe.

We run into Dana in front of the hotel on the way back. We drop off our stuff while she knocks for Bob and Beth. We decide on dinner at the Dom. We find a table outside in the shade and enjoy another good meal. We pay the bill and go back to the hotel. Pat and Bob are going to watch Braveheart while the girls play cards. Dana teaches us a Russian card game called Fool. It is fun but somewhat complicated and it takes Beth and I several practice rounds to get the hang of it. The game is called Fool because if you loose you get a letter and when one player spells F-O-O-L the game is over. Despite feeling like I was doing well I end up being the Fool. I console myself with an ice cream bar. At 10:00pm we knock on Bob's door to let the guys know we will be walking Dana home. We arrive back at the hotel at 10:45pm. Pat watches soccer and I read. Lights out at 12:30pm.