Home Sweet Home

We're home with visas in hand...and a bit tan, even! Though our time away was refreshing, traveling all night and all day to get home with 2 little ones seems to exhaust and overwhelm even the best of us! We all crashed early last night and none of us woke up till 11am this morning! I don't think that has EVER happened in our home!

I have to say it was quite a bummer to get off the plane from Spain and realize that everyone was dressed in hats and warm coats! Goodbye shorts weather! So, today along with unpacking and doing all our laundry I have to dig out the kids warm clothes and put away their sandals and shorts!

How was our time in Spain? Fantastic! The boys had such a blast at the beach each day- and we did, too! Gavin loved all the traveling on planes, trains and buses to get there and back! One evening we took them to an amusement park called Tivoli World and Gavin got to ride all the little rides and we watched several of the shows. We also got to go to the Picasso Museum and a local market- where we found some warm wool sweaters for the boys and picked up a few pieces of Spanish pottery for me.

Every time we fly here, I always say I'm going to post about what it's like flying in Russia on Russian airlines...but I never get around to it! So, here's a little taste of our "adventures" in the Russian skies! I think EVERY flight I've been on here there have been people smoking in the restrooms- surprisingly only ONCE have I ever noticed a flight attendant do anything about it, consequently that was the only time I ever heard the smoke alarm going off! When you land, all the free seats fall forward like dominoes- you have to push a button to get them to recline, but they fall forward on their own! This last flight there were 3 pilots sitting in front of us catching a ride back to Ekat- one of them was talking on his CELL PHONE as we descending to land! Not sure why I was so shocked, maybe b/c he was a pilot, but people's cell phones are always ringing as we're taking off or landing. One thing I LOVE about flying here is that people with small children and babies trump all rules about waiting in line- we're always the first through passport control, ticketing and on the plane :) ! So, there you go- now you know what to expect next time you come to visit us!

Now that we're home we're back to trying to find a preschool for Gavin and getting everything together for the start of English Cafe- we still have to find a new place to meet. I have to get everything organized for our first Ladies Club in a few weeks and then there's always Action Group each Thursday and studying Russian with our tutor a few hours a week...so, we won't have a lack of things to do!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for a safe journey for us and for us to receive our visas w/o problem- we had our LOI's sent to us in Spain, and they were waiting for us when we arrived at our hotel in Madrid! JB was in and out of the embassy in Madrid with our new visas in 45 minutes! Then we got on the plane that same evening (at midnight!!!) and flew home...only to arrive at our front door at 5 the next evening- no wonder we were all exhausted!

I'll be sure to post some photos from our trip as soon as they finish downloading- I've been downloading them for the last 20 minutes- and there are still 237 left on the camera...it'll be awhile! So, check back soon!