1/30 - Spending Most of our Time at Bus Stops

This morning we took Kristine to the bus and it came right on time. They don't play around. You'd better be ready to get on the bus or it will leave without you.. Rob had to even pry the door open as the driver tried to close it before Kristine could board. I guess part of that was our fault because we were hugging and kissing Kristine goodbye before we'd let her on the bus. She was totally embarrassed by the way. LOL! Another funny thing...we had told her that she needed to get up at 6:45 a.m. to get ready but she insisted that she not get up until 7:00 instead. Our solution to that was to set the alarms for 6:45 anyway and just tell her it was actually 7:00. Problem solved! :-) We enjoy the morning walks to the bus because it's usually snowing and so beautiful. We get to see all of the locals heading to work or school, shoveling the snow off the sidewalks, etc. and for a moment we get to pretend we live here. The strange stares from the locals, remind us that we'll never blend in. Oh well. We're just the American freaks as far as they're concerned.

We were a little nervous about putting Kristine on the bus by herself but she insisted and her children's home director and Ilga said it was okay. Rob and I were actually glad to have a little time to ourselves. I'm a little embarrassed to say that instead of sight seeing, we went back to the flat and went back to sleep. We had been up late the night before so we were exhausted. By the time we woke up, it was almost time to pick up Kristine at the bus stop again. YIKES! She said she could come back on her own but we insisted.

In the meantime, we got word from Leila that Olegs said today was a "special day" at school so he would be getting out early and could catch the bus to our flat earlier. Rob and I chuckled because he had never mentioned this before and we think he may have found a way to skip a class so he could come be with us. It's not for us to say though. If they say he can come over then we want him to come over and hang out with us as much as he can. So we had to be at Kristine's stop at 2:20 and Olegs' stop at 2:00. That meant Rob and I had to split up. He waited for Olegs and I waited for Kristine. I waited and waited for Kristine as buses with her number came and went. It turns out that her bus had already come and she had gone looking for Olegs. Finally, since she couldn't find him, she came back to her normal stop and met up with me so we could walk back to the flat.

A short time later, Rob and Olegs arrived at the flat. Olegs was so excited to be there. We all had an afternoon snack and he helped me work on our puzzle while Kristine did her school work. Afterward, we went to the grocery store so Kristine could get some paper and paint that she needed for her art class. This was a frustrating trip because we realized after we got back to our flat that we had all of our groceries but somehow the paint didn't make it into our bag. We got on Kristine's case about this so she started pouting, etc. AAARRRGGHHH! We finally decided we had no choice but to head back out to get more paint. We told her to be more careful because we had to pay for the paint twice!! While we were at the store, the kids helped us get extra minutes for our Latvian cell phone. Thank goodness they were able to figure out how to add the minutes to the phone for us. We would never have been able to figure it out.

Once the pouting finally subsided we took the kids to Lido again for dinner. This time we had fruit, sausages, etc. and I had this awesome chicken dish with cheese and spices and crispy things on top. We were all in heaven. By the time we finished, it was time to get Olegs to the bus back to his children's home. This has actually worked out pretty well. Since they kids have school ID cards, they get to ride the buses for free. That's a tremendous bonus!

1/29 - Greetings from Riga, Latvia!!

Well after wandering around aimlessly for the first couple of days, we finally found an internet cafe near our flat so I'll be able to post updates regularly. I have a bored Kristine looking over my shoulder so I'll have to make this brief before the pouting starts. :-)

We had an exhausting trip to Riga on Friday/Saturday. The first leg of our trip was to London where we had an 8 hour layover. We were so happy we got an emergency exit row for this part of the trip so we had more leg room. However, when we got to our seats we found we were right next to the bathrooms. UGGGHHHH! Needless to say we got NO sleep whatsoever!! We just sat there and listened to the constant flow of passengers coming and going to the bathroom...the door contstantly slamming and opening. Then there was the turbulance that didn't help. Whatever!! When we got to London we hadn't made plans to really do anything. We were scared to venture too far because we didn't want to miss our evening flight. We wandered around Gatwick airport and ended up at the Hilton where we crashed in the lobby...still no sleep. We got something to eat, wandered around somemore and FINALLY it was time to board our 6:00 flight. The flight from London to Riga was uneventful. Thankfully, it wasn't a full flight so we didn't get claustrophobic. I guess all in all the whole trip took us about 22 hours to get to Riga and we didn't get a second of sleep. When we got to Riga, they were having a snow storm. It was a winter wonderland and so beautiful! When our flight landed, we had to walk in the snow to get from our plane to the airport. Rob and I were in awe as there were maybe 6 or 8 inches of snow on the ground. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

When we got to Riga, our ride was there as planned. A gentleman named Robert owns our flat and he was there with his translator, Evita. He is from France believe it or not so he needed a French translator. Luckily, he had a decent sized SUV for our many suitcases. They drove us around to show us where the grocery store is, restaurants, etc. It was about 11pm Latvian time by the time we got to our flat. It is an absolutely beautiful place...spacious and clean. Just perfect!! There are a few things that we have to deal with like the washer/dryer having French control settings. It's one of those machines that's a washer and a dryer so it would be difficult enough to figure out even if it were in English. Thankfully, my Robert was able to figure it out so we're able to wash clothes now. It just takes all day to do one load. Oh well. We're thankful for what we've got.

We were also happy to have satellite TV but soon found out that the satellite is mainly for access of French channels. It's a little odd being in Latvia and watching French TV. We aren't watching too much TV because as you can imagine the culture here is much more liberal than the US and it's not uncommon to see porn at all hours of the day. We pretty much keep the TV off now and hide the remotes from Kristine. There's so many other things to do anyway that we don't even miss it!

Sunday afternoon (1/28), Ilga and Janis (our Latvian friends) came to take us to Kristine & Olegs' children's home so we could pick Kristine up since she'll be staying with us. We took the public transportation which is the most efficient I've seen. There are all types of trams/buses, trolleys, etc. and they're all flying across the city in a precisely choreographed manner. The bus ride gave us a real chance to see how the locals get around. We felt quite awkward as they all seemed to look at us as if we had two heads. They don't make eye contact either. We could see out of the corner of our eye that they were looking at us but as soon as we'd look at them, they'd look away. It became quite funny actually.

When we got to the neighborhood where the children's home is, we saw older soviet era buildings, many with graffiti on them. We walked from the bus stop to the gate at the front of their property. Their children's home is set back from the street and we probably would have never found it without Ilga and Janis. There was about a foot of snow on the ground and it just looked so peaceful and beautiful. The entrance was around back and Rob and I held our breath as we didn't know if it would be an opressive place or not. As soon as we went in, Kristine and a couple of her friends were there to meet us with hugs and kisses. She led us upstairs to see Olegs and their other friends. Their home is actually pretty nice, considering. It's an older building but okay. They each have small rooms with bunk beds, but they are decorated very cute with posters and drawings. There are three to four children to a room. Things weren't dark and dreary at all. Olegs ran out to greet us and gave us more hugs and kisses. It was so good to see them and for them to see that we kept our promise to come to Latvia. After meeting Kristine's friends and their hamster and guinea pig, we were off again. Olegs got to leave with us and spend the afternoon with us.

After we picked up the kids, we dropped Kristine's things off at the flat. We could sense Olegs was a little sad because he wasn't allowed to stay with us too. That's very hard for all of us, but it's just how it is right now. We have to follow the government's rules. He understands that we will arrange for him to come visit us as much as we can. It was dinner time by this time, so we took Ilga and Janis out to a place called Lido. It is the most awesome place!! They have Latvia's version of down home cooking and it's cafeteria style.. They have all types of pork, chicken and fish dishes. This night we had pan fried potatoes and pork & chicken shish-ka-bob's. It may sound simple but it was to die for. Thankfully, between the kids and Ilga, we were able to communicate what we wanted. After dinner, Ilga and Janis went with us to the grocery store to help us pick out some food items. I'm so glad they did because the pictures on the labels aren't true representations of the contents.

I guess this post is turning out to be a little longer. Oh well. Kristine is being quite good, actually so I'll keep going. Today was our first orphan court session and we didn't think (at least I didn't) we'd be nervous until we got there. Our translator, Daiga, met us at the freedom monument for the walk to the orphan court. It took about 10-15 minutes. Let me add that the people here are all speed walkers. If you're not going with the flow you'll get pushed aside. It's much like those people who go 80 miles an hour on I-75. You have to keep up or you'll cause an accident. Anyway, we got to the court office which is a rundown building in Old Riga. You would never know that behind this huge wooden door in the old building is an orphan court uness you knew exactly where you were going. A few minutes after we arrived, Leila, the social worker from Kristine's children's home arrived. She is a young woman, maybe in her twenties, who has taken Kristine under her wing and really looked after her. We all sat and waited in the waiting area until we were called. When our name was finally called, we filed into this big room with long tables behind which a panel of four orphan court representatives sat and watched us without any expression whatsoever. I was immediately terrified and they say this is the EASY court. The room was very bland and old, without any artwork on the walls or anything. Daiga sat between Robert and I so she could translate. The head person asked us a few questions about our child rearing experience, how we got to know Kristine, etc. All the time she asked questions, the other three reprensatives just stared intently at us, trying to size us up I suppose. I got pretty nervous when they looked at my passport and the head representative got a puzzled look on her face. My passport was originally issued before I got married and was later amended to change it to my married name. She asked about that and then saw on the amendment page that all was in order. WHEW!

Kristine had to leave the room while they asked us questions and then we left so the court could talk to Kristine. After it was over, they officially granted us temporary custody of Kristine for this two week time period. I was so filled with emotion, I started to tear up. Just hearing the words spoken out loud hit me unexpectedly. We gratiously thanked the court and this time they smiled back at us in approval. What an experience!!

After court, we hung out at the flat most of the day. I brought a puzzle that we worked on for awhile and then later we went walking around again. We went to confirm Kristine's bus stop so we'd know where to take her to catch the bus for school tomorrow. Now that she's officially under our care, we can't screw it up by allowing her to miss the bus. We're all just so relieved that we survived our first court session. The next step is for a court inspector to visit us at our flat. That will take place on Wednesday so hopefully all will go well and there will be no embarassing incidents.

1/25 - We're Headin' to Latvia TOMORROW! YIKES!

Tonight we've been busy doing last minute loads of laundry, packing more clothes, etc. I had gotten a bunch of nice truffles to give as gifts to various people in Latvia. However, my dear sweet husband confessed that I better go buy more because he couldn't refrain from eating a good bit of it!!! It's not like it was sitting out on the counter. No, it was packed away so he had to retrieve it from the suitcase. This means he had extra time to contemplate and rethink his actions. Oh well, I guess I might as well confess that I had a couple of pieces myself. I got more today so this time I packed it way down in the bottom of the suitcase so hopefully it will be safe.

It has been a stressful couple of weeks so we're just now really starting to focus on our trip. My grandmother who lives with us was in the hospital with pneumonia for a few days and is now at a rehab facility, so I've been going back and forth daily to check on her and make sure she's okay. Thankfully, she seems to be getting better and her caregiver, Cheryl, will be able to look after her while we're gone. Robert also had some sad news that his grandpa passed away last week after a long illness. They were very close so it's a difficult loss. We're so thankful that we were able to see him last month when we were in Florida and that he got to meet Olegs and Kristine. The kids were both so sweet and hugged and kissed him too. That really meant a lot. He was a very special person. It's in times like this that our faith kicks in and we're reminded that God is in control and will get us through difficult times. We wouldn't be able to cope otherwise.

We still can't believe we're traveling to Latvia tomorrow! We talked to the kids today and they're both so excited that we're coming. We plan to pick up Kristine at the children's home on Sunday and then our first court session will be Monday morning (1/29). We should get into Riga late Saturday night after an 8 hour layover in London. It's gonna be a long trip and we'll probably be grouchy towards the end (at least I will be for sure). Those of you who know me best know I turn into a major crab if I don't get my sleep. Oh well! :-)

We've gotten most of our things packed. I'm embarrassed to say that between the two of us, we're taking 4 suitcases and 2 carry-on bags. We're taking lots of food, games and gifts so that's taking up a lot of space. Everything was going well until we started weighing the bags. We're allowed up to 50 lbs. for the checked bags and a couple of them were over the limit. It didn't help that the kids asked us to bring some of the toys they left behind as well. A little creative redistribution of stuff took care of that and we should be good to go now. We're allowed to take heavier bags, but we'd just have to pay extra. We don't want to do that so if we have to pull some stuff out then that's what we have to do.

Robert and I are actually pretty relaxed about the trip now that we know we have transportation lined up to get us to our flat and to court. I guess the biggest thing I'm nervous about is the court session where we'll have to stand in front of a panel of stern faced people who will be asking us all kinds of questions about why we want to adopt Kristine. We've been told that they don't smile. I'm just praying that I don't have one of my laughing attacks that I tend to get when I'm really nervous or in tense situations. It always tends to come over me at the worst possible time in instances where there is absolutely NOTHING funny going on. Oh no! Can you imagine? I hope I didn't just jinx myself by putting that in writing.

I'm not sure what kind of access we'll have to a computer in Latvia. I'll do my best to try to update the blog if I can. I'm taking a journal to keep notes just in case I have to wait till we get back to make updates. So with that, we're off to bed for our last good night's sleep for awhile. Hopefully, our next post will be from Riga, Latvia!

1/18 - 9 Days to Go Until We'll Be in Latvia!

We talked to the kids again today and they're both very excited. Kristine is still counting down the days...now 9 days until we'll be in Latvia. She also informed us that she has a new best friend. She didn't elaborate but simply told us that Agnese was no longer her best friend and she'd fill us in when we're in Latvia. Now she has a "new" best friend named....guess what?.......Agnese. I'm sure everyone will probably be friends again by the time they get there. There's always lots of drama involved when you're dealing with pre-teen and teenage girls.

Kristine wants us to take her and "new Agnese" to Livu Akvaparks when we're in Latvia. This is a huge indoor water park that the kids love. I'm sorry, but the thought of going to a water park when the temperatures are below freezing outside just doesn't sound very appealing to us. Since it's an indoor water park, it should be warmer but we'll see. We just told her that we'll have to wait till we get there to make plans. I'm trying to play up going to the zoo in the hopes that they'll forget about the water park. Don't think that will work though. Come to think of it, if the weather is below freezing, I'm not so sure I want to be wandering around outside looking at animals either. We'll figure it all out when we get there.

Our focus will be on spending family time with Kristine and Olegs. They'll both have to realize that we can't necessarily take all of their friends everywhere we go and spend lots of money for their entertainment. That's not saying we won't do anything...just that we'll have to be smart about it.

1/11 - Phone Visit w/Kids

Today was the first day we got to talk to the kids since they've been back in Latvia. They were both right near the phone so they took turns handing the phone back and forth. Olegs reverted back to his simple "yes" "no" answers. There were people around so he may have been embarrased to say more. Kristine was just the opposite. When she got on the phone, she immediately said, "this is Britney Spears"...(remember, she wants to be "Britney" now?). Well, we quickly changed the subject (we'll deal with the name choices later). Kristine was excited to say it will be 16 more days until we get to Latvia. That was good to hear. If she's counting down the days, then that tells us she's excited. We also got to speak to her best friend, Agnese. We had sent her a small gift and she thanked us for it. We told her we're looking forward to meeting her when we're in Latvia.

1/9 - Saying Goodbye

This morning just flew by. As soon as we got up, we ate breakfast and headed straight to the airport. When I woke Kristine up this morning, she moaned in her sleepy voice that she wished she could stay instead of going back. If only it could be that easy. She understands that these are government rules and not what we want. The goodbyes this time were much easier since we all knew we'd be seeing each other in a couple of weeks in Riga.

At the airport, the Northwest Airlines employees were so awesome to us and allowed all of the host families to accompany their kids to the gate. In the past, we had to say our "goodbyes" at the security check-point. This gave us a little more time to love on them before sending them off. The mood was lightened when Olegs got nabbed by security for having his body spray (a/k/a "man perfume") in his carry-on luggage. Since there is a new liquid ban in effect for carry-on bags, we thought for sure they were going to confiscate it. Thankfully, they ended up putting it in a plastic ziploc bag and giving it back to him. Rob got to tell him "I told you so" because he had originally helped Olegs pack the spray in his checked bag. I guess he had to get one last spray in for the road. LOL!

As we got to the gate, Kristine's mood changed and she began to shut down emotionally. She must have had many thoughts going through her mind. Her life is going to be so different when she comes to America. I'm sure it's exciting and scary at the same time. All we could do was hug her and reassure her that we are coming to get her. We are so thankful for the really good talks we had that helped us to connect on a new level.

The tears started flowing as the kids headed to the gate. We had to get our last couple of hugs and kisses in before we let them go down that long corridor. We felt for the other host families who were going through this for the first time. We remember how we felt. After the summer hosting, we didn't know if we'd ever see our kids again.

We watched by the window with the other host families as we waited for the plane to taxi off. The flight attendant made an announcement on the plane to let the kids know we were waving at the window. We could see little faces and hands waving back at us. A couple of them even pulled their window shades up and down to signal us. Next thing we knew they were taxing down the runway and headed back to Latvia. The mood was a little somber as we walked out with some of the other host families. Rob and I were almost relieved at this point because we need to switch focus and plan our trip to Latvia.

YIKES!! We'll be heading to Latvia in 2 1/2 weeks!!! WOOHOO!!!

1/8 - Our Last Day Together

Yesterday after church we went to visit our friends, the Murphys. They also hosted a child last summer and have experienced some setbacks in their case. It's always good to get together with other families who understand how frustrating the process can be at times. This afternoon we had some more behavioral issues with the kids so they weren't speaking to us on the way there but things got better as the night went on. I think a lot of it is a result of our inexperience as parents and all of us having unrealistic expectations of each other. The Murphys have a biological daughter close to Kristine's age so they got to hang out together. Olegs was happy too since she had a new Gameboy that she let him play with for awhile.

Today was our last full day together and we spent the afternoon with friends of ours who own a small plane. We also invited Ilga in the hopes that she and the kids could go up for a ride in the plane. Unfortunately, it was very windy so they weren't able to fly. The pilot, Sam Lyons, is an extremely talented artist whose paintings grace the walls of the Smithsonian and the Pentagon. He and his wife, Mindy, were kind enough to show us around Sam's beautiful studio. His paintings are so amazing they almost look like photographs. The kids and Ilga were especially excited to meet their three young and playful cats, a sharp contrast to our geriatric ones. They had one of those poles with a string on the end that hangs down and the cats would jump and flip like crazy in attempts to grab the string. The kids could have played with them for hours if we let them. Ilga got a kick out it when one of the cats took a liking to her faux fur covered animal print purse as if it were a new love interest.

Olegs and Kristine had a blast driving and riding up and down the grassy runway in our friends' golf cart. Rob and I didn't go with them but noticed that somehow everyone came back dirty when it was Kristine's turn to drive. We didn't ask.

Sam and Mindy have other friends who adopted a beautiful 13-year old girl named Anna from Kazakhstan. She and her father came over to meet Kristine and Olegs. The kids got to talk to each other and Ilga in Russian. Rob and I were dying to know what they were saying. Thank goodness Ilga was there to tell us. It turns out that Anna has been through some of the exact same troubling experiences that Kristine has and was able to share her experience. I'm not putting all of the details here only because I want Kristine to be able to read this one day without seeing all of her business being shared with the world. I'll just say that we believe this was divine intervention that Kristine got to meet Anna because she was able to tell Kristine that things turned out fine in her case and she is so happy with her adoptive family. This really meant a lot to Kristine. Anna took the kids for a ride in her golf cart and once again they had a blast going up and down the airstrip. Anna commented to Rob and me that she thought Olegs was cute. So from that point on we kidded Olegs about his new girlfriend. We told him it was obviously the "man perfume" working. LOL!

We came back to our house later and Ilga was able to sit down with us and talk to the kids. We wanted to make sure that they both understand that Kristine will be staying with us when we're in Latvia but that Olegs won't be allowed to since we're not adopting him now. We were able to tell them that this wasn't what we wanted but what the government required. We also got to reiterate that even though we may get angry with each other, it's important for us to talk about things so we can work through them. We covered many topics and it just flowed perfectly as we talked through some of their concerns and ours. Kristine ultimately said that she knows for sure she wants to be in our family now. That's good to know considering we're leaving for Latvia in a couple of weeks!!!

After our talk we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Ilga said she likes many different foods so we thought it might be a nice change of pace. The kids couldn't make up their minds at first but ultimately decided on the chicken wings. They didn't realize they would be spicy chicken wings. Luckily, they ate them anyway. Kristine got a kick out of saying "muchos gracias" every single time the waiter came to our table. After awhile I think it got on the guy's nerves but he didn't say anything.

After dinner we dropped Ilga off and went back home. I had made the mistake of sharing a big list of girl names with Kristine so she could tell me the names she liked. The first thing she wanted to do when we got home was go through the list. I knew better than this but I was interested to see what names she might like. Well, now she wants to be called "Britney" after Britney Spears. Rob and I both like the name Kristine but since being adopted is such a life changing event in her life we thought we might let her change it as long as we both approve. We'll have to come up with our list of approved names for her to choose from. One of the other names she liked was "Paris" after Paris Hilton. NO WAY!! I think we may try to convince her to keep her current name and come up with a middle name. We'll see how it goes.

We stayed up late helping the kids pack their bags and they were actually pretty good about it. They both understood that they had to leave things behind and they even left more than we thought they would. Rob and I had been dreading packing day because we thought we'd have another fight on our hands. Thankfully that wasn't so.

Now it's dawning on us that this time tomorrow the kids will be gone. I'm actually feeling okay about it. I can't say how I'll be at the airport though. I'm not good at goodbyes. We'll see.

1/6 - Skating Goodbye Party

I had to go back to work Thursday so the kids got to have a play day that day with one of the other host families and their children. Yesterday, Robert took Olegs for a haircut at the barber shop where the men go. I couldn't help myself and had to take a picture to document his first American haircut. He was totally embarrassed but too bad. He wouldn't let us take him for a haircut when he was here last summer.

After lunch, both Olegs and Kristine came back to my work to see where Cartoon Network is broadcast from. We got the grand tour of the various broadcast boothes for Cartoon Network among other stations. At the end, they got a bunch of cool cartoon souveniers to take home. Olegs kept asking about Sponge Bob and I had to remind him that he's from Nickelodeon which is a bad word around the Cartoon Network crew (their biggest competitor). HA!

After work, I took Kristine to get her hair cut. Last summer she got it cut & styled at a nice high end salon. This time it was Fantastic Sams, baby. This is probably where she'll be going when she's here permanently. I honestly didn't know what to expect but the stylist did a fantastic job. Kristine wanted a good bit cut off and she got some layers added. She got the most adorable cut and style for $20. We told her she looked like a movie star so she was happy.

Today was the goodbye party for all of the host families. It was also a birthday party for Liza, another hosted child, whose birthday is on Jan. 9th. I can't even remember the last time I was in a skating rink but I actually got out there and skated too. Poor Robert was stuck at work so I was solo with the kids on this outing. At first, I was going to ask for the skates with four wheels but caved to peer pressure and got the inline ones. Kristine was sweet and held my hand to help me until I got enough momentum going to move under my own power. Olegs was long gone and had hooked up with his friend Dima so he was playing cool and ignoring me by that time. Kristine soon followed and dropped me like a hot potato once she saw some friends she wanted to go hang out with. Skating was lots of fun until it came time to stop. When I used to skate on trails in Florida, I was able to hop into the grass to stop. I never mastered the brake thing. Here I found the padded wall and just ran into that when I was ready to stop. That seemed to work well enough. LOL!

All the kids had a great time and this was a good time for Kristine to talk to some of the other kids there who had already been adopted. We had suggested that she talk to others if she still had some fears about being adopted. They could tell her how their experiences were. Ilga was at the party too so it was good to talk to her. We're still trying to find out information about Olegs case and she doesn't have any new information for us. Everyone is telling us we just have to wait for the court to rule on whether or not he can be cleared for adoption. No one can even tell us when that ruling will take place. It's frustrating having to wait but maybe we're just meant to focus on Kristine now. There's nothing we can do to speed things up so we basically have to live with it.

Since today was the official goodbye party, it reminds us that the kids will be leaving soon. Somehow, I think this time will be easier since we will be going to Latvia just a couple of weeks later. We'll see.

1/2 - Fun in the Sun!

The second leg of our Florida vacation took us to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area which is our old stomping ground. The drive was much smoother than the one a couple of days before. We stayed with Robert's mom and hopefully didn't drive her too crazy. Overall, the kids were good but there were a couple of instances where the behavior went downhill. Anyway, it was good that the kids got to meet many more family members.

Kristine was enamored with my 21 and 22 year-old nieces who took her & Olegs on a couple of outings. One of my nieces has a Jeep Wrangler so she and her boyfriend took the kids for a ride with the top off. They loved it!! I was worried about Olegs having mostly girls around but he actually enjoyed it since they're cute. He got to wear his "man perfume." LOL!

The kids got to swim in a couple of different pools at various places. The weather was pretty warm so they were excited they could swim. One of the days we got to spend some time with Robert's sister and her four children. It was good for all of the kids to get to know each other. In typical kid fashion, they didn't speak to each other at first but by the time the evening was over they were cutting up and having a ball together.

On New Year's Eve, we spent the day at the beach with my sisters. It was the most beautiful day...80 something degrees and the sky was so blue. The kids had an awesome time jumping in the waves. Kristine enjoyed floating on a raft but we had to send Olegs out to get her a couple of times because she went out too far. With the language barrier, I wasn't able to explain my personal rule of always making sure there's someone out in the water farther than me so the sharks will eat them first. LOL! Instead, I just told her that sharks live in the far out water. Don't ask me why I said that. It was a dumb thing to say because of course it caused her to freak out. So she tried to stay in the shallow water and was letting the raft scrape the shells. I had to motion to her to go out a little further to avoid the shells. I'm sure she was so confused by this point...one second I'm telling her to get closer to shore and the next I'm saying go back out. Luckily, it didn't stop her from having fun. The water was ice cold to me but it didn't phase them. The Lord sure blessed us with a beautiful beach day because the next day it began to rain and get cold.

Since we had spent the day at the beach, Rob and I were too pooped for New Year's activities. Yes, we're turning into old fogies. In the old days, I would have had to be out at midnight somewhere celebrating but now I'm just as happy to go to bed early, wake up and kiss my husband at midnight and go back to sleep. The kids asked why we weren't going to a big party in America for New Year's Eve. They told us that in Latvia, they have a big party and all the kids go outside. We fibbed a little and told them that it's not a big deal in America. We did stay up long enough for them to see some festivities on TV but we told them they only celebrate in New York and the rest of the country watches on TV. LOL! They didn't fall for it but they were okay with it since they were tired too.

Our trip back home was pretty uneventful. Traffic was much better and the kids kept busy working in the puzzle books they got for Christmas. That's another thing. They got a ton of presents from the family. We'll have to break it to them that they can't take everything with them. We'll save that for another day.