We found it!

Today we went to see Alex, and I somehow got fired from his morning feeding but was hired for the afternoon one. Alex was smiley as usual, and everyone had fun giving him rides and making him laugh. He was trying to crawl more, and spent a lot of the second visit on the floor. Alex does this cute thing when he tired; he puts his thumb in his mouth and rubs his head at the same time. It’s a precursor to a whine, meaning pick me up please (of course he uses mannersJ). He is so smiley when he sees Zach, it’s adorable. Don worked with Zach on his school work today and felt the pain that I have. He wants to be doing fun things, and for Zach schoolwork just gets in the way.
We talked to Larissa today and she gave us a few new restaurants that we can try. Two of them even have English menus. One of the restaurants was Assorti, which we went to with Zach in 2000, we just couldn’t remember where it was. It was hysterical to learn that Assorti was right across the street from our apartment! We went there tonight, and Pops had French steak with cheese, Don and I had a chicken popover and Zach had crepes. It was really good, and we all left there saying we would be coming back. Have a T-bone steak on us!

The Men in My Life

Pops and His Boys

Let's Bowl!

We had a great day in Karaganda today! We had great visits with Alex, Zach even let Alex ride him around the playroom. Alex is mesmerized with Zach, he just loves to watch him and gets a big smile whenever Zach talks to him. Alex ate bananas with us today (a first besides porridge) and he loved it. Miraculously there was no spitting up.
Tonight we went to the café for dinner with Beth and Phil, and Zach ate 6 pieces of pizza! He must have had a hollow leg, because he is not like that at home. After dinner we went bowling and it looked much different than last time. There are lights everywhere, it looks like the bowlers club in Latham. We got shoes (and socks) from the place, and Pops came out the winner for our family. Zach had a ball, and danced to the hip hop music.

Mom and Two of Her Three Boys!

Zach Doing School Work

Laugh and the whole world laughs at (oops) with you!

Today we have a really nice visit at the orphanage today. Zach and Pops stayed in the playroom when we went to go feed and get Alex. After a few minutes, Zach’s curiosity got the better of him and they joined us. Alex was so excited to see him that he got this huge smile on his face. After we took Alex from his room, Olga brought us down to Zachary’s old room (number 9) and he got to see where he spent the first year of his life. We could tell that it meant a lot to Zach, and I was excited for Pops to see as well.
We got more food at the grocery store, and were overjoyed to see Corona! For the bargain price of $14, we have a 6 pack chilling in our refrigerator. It’s the little pleasures people.
After dinner we went for a walk to the park, and no less than 11 groups of people openly laughed at Pops and Don because they were wearing shorts. The best was when two girls who looked no more than eight giggled hysterically when they saw us. It was over 80 degrees today and we still saw a couple people in winter coats. It is amazing how different cultures react to things. Have a great day, and Zach wants all of you (well not all) to have a 6 pack of chicken nuggets on us!

The Four Baldwin's

The 1st Time Feeding Alex