We Made It!!!

Wow, it was crazy the week before we left town for Russia!  We frantically finished our last round of paperwork,  and awaited on our visas to arrive the day before we leave. Then two days before our flight a huge storm blows through and knocks out our power for almost two days.  We spent the day before leaving for Russia doing laundry at Michael's mom's house and when we arrived back home figuring we'd be packing by flashlight and candles, but thankfully our power had been restored.  We (and by "we" I mean mainly Mel) quickly and efficiently packed up for Russia.

We originally reserved a towncar to bring us to the airport on Wednesday, only to have a stretch limo pull into our driveway, which turned out to be perfect for our 6 bags of luggage and an umbrella stroller.  Although the ride made us a bit motion sick as the steering was faulty, but we arrived in plenty of time to check in.  We thought for sure we'd be paying for two extra bags, but perhaps the empty stroller or the story of us adopting put the girl behind the counter into a generous mood, as she did not charge us extra for anything!

Nothing too exciting about our flights...although there was a slight delay on our connecting flight for the pilot to have a new seat put in, we arrived in St. Petersburg right on time. We were so happy to be met by Andrey, the driver we had during our previous visit. He drove us back to our same apartment, entertaining us with more stories and our itinerary for Friday. Shortly after unpacking our belongings, we walked across the street to the "UFO"ish mall and enjoyed our 10th Wedding Anniversary dinner at Chile's Pizzeria.

Afterward we walked across the street to the grocery store, picked up some staples and headed back to the apartment. Tired and fighting sleep, as it was too soon to go to bed...we called Hayden and had a very nice video chat with him on Skype. It was so good to see his smiling face! As 21:00 (or 9pm for all you Americans) arrived we slid into our bed and fell fast asleep to the sounds of St. Petersburg's traffic and the bright sunlight outside our windows.

Next up...play date with Deeana!

Paka!
Michael

Posted by Mel at 12:22 PM