The people that got us through

I apologize for yesterday’s abrupt post. I happened to wake up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday and by the time I got to posting I was in a very foul mood. Part of it was because I didn’t get much sleep that night. Pickle spent the night digging his head into my back. Not fun.

So a little more about becoming “official” parents. After signing the adoption decree we went to the vital statistics office. The children didn’t have to go for this part, but we had two very sleepy and cranky kids so we decided to all go in. Well… it was Friday and that means wedding day. Weddings happen here usually Wednesday through Saturday with Friday being the most common. Weddings also happen at the vital statistics office and not in churches. Really! Bride and groom in their wedding finery and their small number of guests crammed into the little wedding area of the VS office. There was one wedding party there when we arrived, a bride and groom arrived shortly thereafter and another as we were leaving. Pickle didn’t want to just sit. He was more interested in wandering around the small office. Of course there were people trying to get married and I don’t think their wedding video would be that good if there was my screaming child in the background. I bet you were wondering where the name Babaganush came from. We started calling him that before we got to the VS office, but once we started to think about it, it was quite appropriate. If you have seen the movie The Wedding Crashers you know that Vince Vaughn’s character’s nickname is Babaganush. And he happens to be a wedding crasher. Well… this is what Pickle was doing. Essentially crashing a wedding.

Pickle was tired of being cooped up in the office so I took him outside to walk around. A little while later Irina comes out with Kathou and Chickadee (yeah, I’m changing it, that is what Kathou calls her.) Irina says we are to take the kids back to the apartment. Fine by me. Pickle was starving.

Now what I didn’t know is what was happening at the Vital Statistics office. CS and Paypay were there to sign the kid’s birth certificates. They go into the little office to sign and then the woman stands up and says some words in Russian. (they actually are pretty much the same thing the lady with the Adoption Decree says) Anyway, CS looks at Paypay and asks, “Are we married now?” Little did I know that our husbands were getting married. When they walked out of the VS office there were some rose petals on the ground and Paypay turns to CS and says, “oh look rose petals!” CS says, “only the best for our wedding day.” Does this mean I have 2 husbands now?


In the afternoon we took another trolley ride into town to go to the central market. This was a chocolate buying mission. Since the weather is still nice the outside produce vendors were still there. I only wish we had gone sooner. They had lettuce, fresh herbs, and corn on the cob!! We thought we might take a chance and try the corn on the cob. We went up to a vendor and asked for 3 ears. The woman reaches into a bag and pulls out an ear that is dark yellow and hot. Then there was an older man who was very jubilant. Evidently she was selling cooked corn on the cob. So we took one of those and 4 ears of uncooked. Note to readers: If you come across a woman in an open air market selling hot corn out of a bag don’t eat it. This stuff is the nastiest stuff evah!!! It tasted like paste. Hot corn paste. Ewwwwww.

Last night we had our farewell potluck for Jamie & Suzanne. The dinner was fantastic!! Their Pelmeni happened to taste better than ours. I am going to have to figure out how she did that. Pickle did amazingly well. He was a little confused when I started to get the plates out, but didn’t set the table. Then we herded him out of the kitchen and he started to cry. We made him follow the food next door. He ate all of his food on his own. He never does this at our house.

The kids played well together and Andy made a point to watch out for Pickle and Chickadee. When they went where they weren’t supposed to he would carry them back to the correct parent. It was quite cute.

The Chandlers leave today, but we won’t be without another AIA family for long. Another couple arrives tomorrow morning and another tomorrow night. Then Monday it is outta hea for us!!!!

We only have 1 day to do stuff in Moscow so we may not have time to post. We do have the free dial-up that we thought we would have here so I may try the picture posting again.

We may forego Pickle’s nap on Tuesday just to get the sights in. We figure there is plenty of time to sleep on the plane ride home. The 3 main sights we want to see are Arbat Street (mainly so I can get my hockey jersey), Red Square and a must is a meal at the Hard Rock. Gawd I could go for a big fat cheeseburger and salad. Drooooool.