July 5th

The alarm goes off at 8:00am. Pat and Bob are going to the gym for ping pong only today. Beth and I have pedicures. My appointment is at 9:00am and they're ready for me when I arrive. I remember to bring a book to read. No Russian Cosmo this visit. I select a shade of red for my toes. Beth arrives at 10:30am and I stay and chat with her until my nails dry. I find Pat back in the room. Bob had the better of the play this morning beating Pat 9 games to 2. The cosmos is out of order once again. The summer series now stands at 39-38 with Bob in the lead. Pat showers while I eat breakfast. There is no cold water.

We enjoy another walk to the baby home in beautiful weather. We arrive and hear the children outside. On our way to their rooms we see a woman walking with a baby in her arms. She looks up and says Hello in English. We stop to say hello and introduce ourselves. Her name is Kate and she is from Nashville. Her little boy's name is Daniel. His is in Molly's room. Pat thinks it is the little guy we refer to as the sumo wrestler. This is Kate's second trip to Kostanai. She has a three year old son at home who she adopted from the baby home when he was 14 months old. We tell her where we're staying and invite her to dinner this evening. She's familiar with the hotel and would like to join us.

Molly is seated at a tiny table when I arrive. She has been fed and is ready to go. We walk next door to see what's going on in the boy's room. Nicholas is finishing his lunch. Aidan is in his daddy's arms dressed and ready to go. Off to the marble room. Our Molly is very pleasant again today. She gabs away and puts all of her toys in her mouth. She makes a few unsuccessful attempts at her brother's hair. She laughs heartily when I tickle her belly. Our little boy is also happy today. He crawls around and climbs on his daddy. He laughs when I unbutton the front of his sleeper and tickle his belly. We get out the motrin bottle. Aidan is mildly interested. It appears to have lost its magic. All goes well until Aidan crawls across the room, loses his balance and bops his head on the floor. He wails away and we see tears for the first time. Pat holds him on his shoulder and walks him around. The wailing stops. I should mention that while Aidan was wailing Molly was doing the same wiggle that she does when we sing to her. Music to her ears perhaps? It's 2:30pm and time to go. Pat hands Aidan to me while he packs up. Aidan puts his head on my chest and closes his eyes. He's out. We take him back to his room and put him in his crib and he continues to slumber away. I put Molly in the group playpen as instructed by the caregivers. I lay her on her belly and she promptly rolls over onto the head of the child next to her. The baby wails. I find another spot for Molly and a toy for the other child and sneak out the door. We say goodbye to Olesya. Andre picks her up and takes her to the salon for a pedicure. We walk back to the hotel.

Internet cafe this afternoon. We both post an entry and check email. We stop at the bookstore on the way back to the hotel. We need new journals. The ones we brought are filled. We also stop at an outdoor produce stand and buy bananas.

Kate is in Bob and Beth's room when we get back. Dana arrives and we walk to the restaurant - mushroom soup place tonight. The weather is nice and we find a table outside in the patio courtyard. Dinner is very good and the conversation enjoyable. Pat and I have 2 Baltika 7s each. Only one mishap to report. We're seated on plastic patio chairs. As dinner winds down Bob leans his elbow on the arm of his chair. CRACK! The arm breaks. The waitress rushes to our table to speak with Dana. We already know what she is saying. We'll have to pay for the chair. What we don't know is how much. Restaurant menus here include a page which lists the cost of items (glasses, plates, etc.) should you happen to break something. This will cost Bob 2,000 TT (about $15). Bob vows never to return.

We walk Dana home. Kate joins us. We're back at the hotel by 8:30pm. Pat writes in his journal and I doze on the bed. I wake up just long enough to eat an ice cream bar. Lights out for good at 12:30am.