We're Here – Whew!

This trip has been a much better start than the last one. First, we got a good night sleep before we left (definitely better than last time). Laura got us to the airport smoothly and right to the door nearest to check-in. Check-in and security was fairly painless. The ticket agent waived the excess baggage fee that would have been due because of the two car seats that we checked.

The flight to Atlanta was overbooked, so we left a little early and the flight was a little shorter than expected. The layover was less than two hours.

We had good seats on both planes (a window and an aisle on a 2/3/2 row configuration.

Gayle said the 10 1/2 hour flight seemed easier than last time, but I still could not sleep. Did not take the advice given to use a prescription sleep aid. I tried Benadryl and a white wine instead, but no luck.

Still, over all the trip was much shorter because we didn't need to go through JFK-New York and we didn't have those extreme layovers from last time.

I did have a little trouble passing through Customs in Moscow. Ended up being the last person through because the computer system was not cooperating for the young Customs girl in charge of my freedom. But, I finally cleared OK and we were still waitng on the luggage anyway.

Vladimir was waiting past security. He drove us through very heavy, bumper-to-bumper, traffic on a long ride into the center of Moscow to his apartment.

We did not know it would be Vladimir's where we would stay. Surprise for us, and surprise for him. He just heard about it this morning. He, his wife and son will stay elsewhere for the night; he said at their country home. We were welcomed to enjoy the comfort of his apartment. It is a small apartment, but very well decorated with a large flat panel TV.

His wife, Irina, cooked us lunch (a really delicious chicken/ham fried meal) and there's soup for dinner if we wake up! The hot meal really hit the spot.

Vladimir called Olga, our facilitator, and she gave us a rough outline of the next few days. Our medical appointment is tomorrow at 11. We'll leave for Bryansk on the evening train and get to see Andrew & Bethany this weekend. She tells us Andrew is walking on his own now.
Our court date is Monday at 10 (Sunday at midnight Phoenix time). May take two hours.

We are updating this blog from their son's computer. All the comforts of home. Even got to meet their cat, who then left with them.

It is now 3:00 pm Moscow time and we are looking to getting to bed. We've been up 24 hours.