Saturday, April 9, 2011

Random Musings from the VMI

* VMI = Vlad Motor Inn

* You know you are a parent of a toddler again when you put on your black sweater you only wore one time and find dried cereal and bananas on the shoulder.

* Thanks to the comment on the last post, we are pretty sure B’s rash on his chin is from thumb sucking. He doesn’t suck his thumb to go to sleep but in the middle of the night he will suck it. It is almost like the caregivers tried to stop him from sucking his thumb because if you just touch his arm or hand he stops right away.

* Last night was Saturday night, Irina and Lana came to hang out with us since they know we are getting stir crazy. They brought some great treats and some stinky squid for Justin to try. We hung out in the White Rabbit for about two hours. Lana tried to teach us a Russian card came called Fool and Justin taught them to play 8 ball pool.

* This is a shot taken outside of the VMI. You don’t see men with machine guns every day, but when the owner of the hotel is visiting he brings his guards.
* The dryer at the VMI takes over 3 hours to even remotely dry your clothes. Justin says it is because it is not vented to the outside at all. All of the hot air just stays in the dryer causing a whole lot of humidity. Justin, my McGeyver-wanna-be, brought eye hooks or I hooks and carabineer hooks (I think that is what they are called). The I-hooks make very tiny holes in the strip on the wall and ceiling – nothing very noticeable. We then are able to string a clothes line. This has been a huge help! The rooms are so dry the clothes dry in no time and it helps humidify the room too.


*These are some of the sites we see on our daily (sometimes twice a day) walk.









*Here is the market that we visit every single day – not really because we need anything – but because it gives us something to do! This is the one that has about 4 shelves of food and 6 shelves of liquor.



*During the week on our walk we will go by the private school in the neighborhood. They dismiss at 6:00 p.m. and usually we see Porsches and Audis and other fancy SUVs. Last Thursday this was the surprise of the day at dismissal time.



*On Saturday, things picked up a little at the park. This group brought down a ping pong table and saw horses for the afternoon. If you click on the picture and zoom in you can see the fierce competition.

*And our next post will be B’s big debut! Can’t wait to show his cute little face!

5 comments:

Jody said...

I wanna be there. Like, really, I do. Part of my heart stays there every time we leave. It nearly feels like home.

Gotta hand it to Justin. That clothes line was one wise idea!! We took the side off the crib they so kindly brought us and hung all our clothes on the slats. It worked, but not as slick as that line looks!!!

Enjoy the rest of your time in Russia. It's amazing how quickly you'll feel the urge to head back!!!

Corinne said...

That all looks so familiar to me ! I want to go back too ! Just not with all the adoption stress.We never used the dryer we just hung it up all over the suite !Not my style but, it worked.

Masha said...

Can't wait for the next post then!!!! :) And for the record, Durak (card game) is one of my favorites too and I have the iPhone app version :)

Kate S. said...

So fun to get a glimpse of your adventure in Vlad! Thanks for sharing!!!

That Justin of yours....he sure is handy and creative with his solutions :)

Your 10 waiting days are almost over....so excited for your next post :)

HUGS!

Eric & Becky said...

Justin & Heather,
Seeing the pictures make us feel like we were just there! Baby B is so beautiful. He looks so happy. Hopefully one day we will get to meet him in person. We are praying for Justin's dad and for yours and B's safe return. Blessings to you all!!