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Happy Birthday Dee Dee,

Today started off as a good day. We slept in a little bit. I think after 2 weeks we have finally gotten used to the time difference. We went to breakfast, ate a little, and then came back to the room and went to see Alex.

I must say the boy was winey today. He wanted to do everything now and was grunting for every toy there. He was really trying to test his boundaries. It is tough to work on things when there are still house mothers in there watching. It is not that they are watching us; they are just in there with other children and we can either let him cry it out or give him what he wants and then we will deal with it when we get home. Over all it was a nice time. He still pats me on the head when we leave and says dada. Then the ladies say something and then Papa. I don’t know what he is saying or if he just cannot say the letter P. But I am pretty sure he knows who we are. We finally get him forever on Friday. Tomorrow we are going to take it easy and get a few things in order before he gets here.

Tonight was Dee Dee’s 32nd birthday. And what a birthday it was. How many husbands would fly their wife around the world for dinner in Siberia at a German Restaurant? Not only that, but would bring her over here to adopt her first son. I think I am up for an award. I told her about this at dinner. She said the adoption was great but she would rather be flown somewhere tropical for her birthday next year. I got a laugh.

We got dressed and went to this nice restaurant across from our hotel tonight. The food was incredible. We really enjoyed it. We had salmon and sushi, good wine and some stuffed cheese and shrimp appetizer. It was great. I think she enjoyed it very much. She is so looking forward to Friday as I am. We are going to get a good night sleep and sleep in tomorrow and then get ready for life to change for the better forever. We are so excited and blessed to finally be where we are. Thanks again everyone and we will touch base with you tomorrow.
Brad

DD’s Daily Input:

Yes, as Brad mentioned Alex was not in the greatest mood today. Maybe he is tired of us just visiting and ready for us to take him out of that place. :)

We had a fabulous dinner and the atmosphere was great. It was so cute and felt so comfortable in there. I really felt like I was in a little German place. Even the girls had on their German tavern costumes. I attached a picture for an example. The place was dark and we ate by candlelight. There were other people in there and they were taking shots of vodka followed by a swig of some red juice that they drink over here.

After dinner we walked next door where they have an ice sculpture park. It is so neat b/c there are tons of kids out there and they sit on these little plastic plate type things and slide down the slides of ice. One of the slides is huge and kids would slide a really long way. Brad and I need to find some of those plastic things so that we can try it. We might have to start on the kiddie slide and then move up to the bigger ones. We also saw a lot of teenagers out walking around and hanging out with their bottles of vodka. Yes, they walk around with the bottles and not even in a paper bag. I couldn’t believe that so many people were out on a Wed night, but we figured that since it is only just under freezing (which is warm compared to what it usually is) that people decided to get out and play a little bit. Once we get Alex on Friday, we plan to take him out there and let him experience the ice sculptures and take a few pictures.

Some of you have asked when we are getting home and we leave here on Feb 10th for Moscow. We have to wait for some documents in Moscow and then we are scheduled to leave Moscow for home on Valentine’s Day (Feb 14th). We get a full week with Alex before we have to get him on the 15 hour flight home. Hopefully we can teach him a little discipline before then. By discipline, I mean to understand what “no” means. :)

I had a great birthday considering I am not in my favorite place on Earth. Thanks for all of the birthday wishes that I received. I loved reading each and every one of them!

Love,
DD