It's Fall Y'all!!

DAY 4

We went to breakfast this morning and it was very interesting to say the least. We decided to look at the buffet before we ordered it and thank goodness we did because once again…ick!!! They offered fatty bacon, pork sausage (otherwise known as hotdog weiners), plain spaghetti, scrambled eggs that were probably egg whites but they looks like chunks of egg. Strange and hard to explain. So we had a light breakfast.

Shortly after breakfast, Lana picked us up and took us to the baby store. They had strange baby food here like salmon, rabbit, fish, broccoli, and cauliflower. It was really interesting the difference in culture. I love to hear about it. For instance the baby is drinking sour milk and yogurt milk not regular milk. They are not allowed to have any red or orange foods (no carrots) until they are 1 then they can have anything even baby tomato juice. In fact Addison drank pear and cherry juice today. We went to visit Addison next. She was so cute today. She is doing great! She acts like she knows me! She repeats sounds that I make and even attempted to kiss me. She is too much. I put her first bow in her hair today and it lasted hmmm….3 minutes and out it came. Oh well I will keep trying!

We are pretty much done for tonight, mom is fast asleep and Michael should be on his way. Good night

DAY 3

Today is our sightseeing day

We went to the Hermitage first. This is the Winter Palace of Catherine the Great. They have a ton of European art work. It’s pretty but we went through it pretty quick. Mike and dad would have spent hours there. I got 2 different stories from 2 different translators… if you spend 1 minute in front of each item in the Hermitage you will be there 3 years or 11 years. Either way that’s a long time and I can see Mike and dad doing that.

Next we took a long long hike over 3 bridges to Peter and Paul Fortresses. This was really cool. It is separated from the Winter palace by a body of water and the Wall of Curtain (a huge cement wall that was used for canons). There is a bridge in the middle called the bridge of death, which the prisoners were brought across before there death. Inside the main building is where the Tsars are buried. All of them Peter the Great Alexander the Great, Catherine the great etc…. I don’t know if “star struck” is the right word to use here but I was amazed!!!.This was really cool. Talk about “if these walls could talk” there is so much history in this fortress. We went inside the prison cells which, after a while we started getting a little depressed. They had the actual cell and pictures of famous prisoners next to their cells. It was a little creepy.

Well to unwind we took a boat ride through St. Petersburg, which was so nice. We finished the night at Bogart’s Russian Cuisine. I can understand now why Russians are so thin. Ick! Good night.

DAY 2

Svetlana picked us up at 12:00 this afternoon to go to the notary and apply for Addison’s passport. Going to the notary always made me nervous because everyone is so serious. They sit at tables without an expression. But at the same time it is so exciting, this is the official document, I am signing the papers to be my daughter’s mom!!! All of the documents are written in Russian so then Lana had to translate word for word. It brought tears to my eyes when I heard the name Addison Marie Waguespack!!!

Now we are off to the orphanage. As we pulled in we notice by the fountain caretakers and babies. Mom said, “Is that her

?” I ran out of the car went up to her and I swear she looked at me as if she new me. She looked right at me. I was so excited. It was about 79 to 80 degrees outside and this baby had on 4 layers of clothes. Look at her picture it is so bizarre! We pushed her in the swing walked around with her but she really wanted to get up and walk on her own. So for a little bit we let her but then she tobbled over and bumped her head. Nice…

Next we went to the grocery. Svetlana said she had to buy a gift for the passport people. We went to the passport station and there must have been 200 people there. Svetlana told us to have a seat. Imagine the DMV but X5, they call your number and you go to the window to get your passport. Well we sit down with all these unhappy people and Svetlana disappears with the gift bag. About 20 minutes later she came to Lana and asked her for some money. Then disappeared again. Came back maybe 5 minutes later and said ok you are ready. Her and I went in the front of about a 3-hour wait walked right inside the office and ordered Addison’s passport. It was just that easy. Stange how things work over here but I am not asking any questions I just smile. My mother on the other hand,” What are the presents from? Are they to bribe someone?” “Why did she ask for money?” I keep saying “Shh we’ll talk later!!!”

Next we were dropped off at the hotel and went to St. Isaacs Cathedral. This is my favorite!!! I think it is breathtaking. After we went inside we took the staircase all the way up. I really think by the end of the trip my mom is going to kill me. We climbed about 250 steps. But once you get to the top it is unbelievable.

DAY 1 IN RUSSIA

Well, mom and I left at 5:30 this morning for our last trip to get our little princess. We took our 1^st flight to Washington DC and have a 4 hour wait. So we had lunch and decided to do some shopping. Hayden and Christian want a “prize” from every stop! The shopping begins….

1:00 pm

We finally arrived in St. Petersburg!!!! Lana was waiting for us to bring us to the hotel. The city looks so different then I last remember it. It’s warmer and it actually looks like a dirty city. It’s amazing how much cleaner snow makes everything look. Well mom and I went to the hotel, The Petro Palace. I actually like it better than the Radisson. It is smoke free, less expensive, better breakfast, and larger rooms. Well after we got settled mom and I went to exchange our currency. We went into this bank where no one spoke English and really didn’t know what we were doing. After asking a few different people and waiting around looking at each other we finally went into door #2. I gave her $500 and you would have thought I had 4 eyes. She handed it to the girl in door # 3 to exchange but she did it. Then mom gave her the same amount and the teller said “next door”. Mom said they wouldn’t exchange some of her $ because it wasn’t new bills. Very interesting.