Hello, Russia!

HELLO FROM RUSSIA!!!

Chococat is having a blast!

So. Here we are. FINALLY in Russia! It's been almost a year since we first came here and met our son, Alexander. We saw him again for the first time since last November yesterday. He's so big and so different. He seems a lot more serious this time - last time, he would just laugh and play and he wasn't worried at all that we are strangers. This time, he is really scared of us and it takes a lot more effort for him to smile or laugh. I guess that's probably a good thing, since he's attached to his caregivers. It just means it will be harder for him when we take him from the orphanage. Poor thing. It breaks my heart when he cries!

But I'm getting ahead of myself! We came to Russia on Sunday, the 21st. We haven't even been here a week, but it feels like so much longer! And we still have 3 more weeks to go! UGH! We spent the first 3 days of our trip in Moscow. I really enjoyed our time there, actually. It was scary, but only until I left the hotel haha. Moscow is just like any other European city, really. There were many people who spoke English and I felt safe walking around, even at night! And we did a lot of walking around haha.

On our last night there, Regan and I walked to Red Square at midnight!

We had to do our medical evaluation in Moscow, and I was really nervous about it, but it ended up being just fine! We passed with no problems! Other than that, it kind of felt like a vacation haha. We could wander around and do whatever we wanted!

Now we're in Vladivostok and the vacation is definitely over. We got in yesterday at noon after flying all night and we went straight to the orphanage after dropping off our luggage at the hotel. We saw Alexander and I already talked about that a little bit. We saw him again this morning and we will see him one more time tomorrow before our court appointment.

Vladivostok is not like Moscow - it's not a tourist city, so no one speaks English. It also feels really run down and dirty by comparison. There are billboards and advertisements everywhere! There is also some kind of crazy road construction project that has been going on for the past 2 years, so all of the roads are torn up (really, there are hardly any paved roads!) and traffic is AWFUL! It is actually better now than it was last November when we were here because there is no snow haha. Thank goodness.

Well, I don't have much news because the biggest events are still to come! So this is all for today!

I thought you were coming back!?

Yeah...so maybe I lied a little bit. I said I'd re-activate this blog, did a HUGE "what happened in the past year" update...and then disappeared again! Sorry about that!

I think instead of catching up again over the past month or so, I'm just going to write about what's going on right now and take it from there!

Right now...nothing is going on haha!

Well, we are still working on our Russian adoption. The most recent news on that front is that the judge who was supposed to set our court date decided to reject us instead. Our agency has been trying to get some more paperwork together to re-submit to the courts (hopefully in the next week or so) and we'll see where it goes from there. But right now, we're in limbo. Everything is uncertain. At this point, even after waiting for a year and a half, we could be told that we'll never be able to be Alexander's parents. That would be horrible and devastating and I try not to think about it. On the other hand, they could come back and say "oh this new paperwork is great! Come on over! You can have him now!" We just have no idea. It's hard because we really can't make any plans - we've actually been struggling with that since January, which is why we really haven't traveled much this year. It seems like we're always in this situation: "Well, we could be going to Russia in like 3 weeks...so we better not make any travel plans!" But then Russia never lets us come...so we just don't travel anywhere at all unless it's super close or, in the case of Tuscany earlier this year, super cheap even last minute. So yeah, that's where we stand with that business.

This coming weekend, we're driving down to Paris for JAPAN EXPO!! I'm super excited!! I haven't been to an anime convention since we moved here and my last one was Otakon 2009, so that was just about 2 years ago. That's...insane. This will be my 25th anime convention! I'd love to have a little party or celebrate that milestone...but it's just me and Regan. So I guess I'll wait and have a con-party for my 30th! Hopefully that will be a con in the states and I can be there with some friends and family. I'm really curious to see the difference between this con and the cons I've been to in the states. I won't be able to make any blanket statements about "European" cons in general until I go to a few more (I'd love to go to a German one and an English one before we move, but we'll see), but it will still be interesting! I've already noticed a few differences in how they run things just based on their website! I'm not cosplaying (so neither is Regan haha), but I am working on making some new clothes to wear. Just a couple of cute skirts - I'll be going for a "fairy kei" kind of vibe! Regan will be going with a "everyday clothes" kind of vibe haha.

In other news, I think I have a stress fracture in the top of my foot. It hurts pretty bad today, but usually it's just a dull ache when I bend my foot a certain way. It started a few weeks ago after a particularly hard run on the treadmill and has been sore ever since. I was worried it COULD be a stress fracture, so I haven't run in a few weeks. Yesterday I decided to just walk on the treadmill for a while, and today I'm feeling the effects. I think it's because I put the incline really high yesterday. I don't know what else could be the problem because I've been on my feet a lot lately and it hasn't caused any problems. Anyway, I hope I'm feeling better by this weekend. It would be a real bummer to have a hurt foot at Japan Expo.

And that's all the updates for now! I'll post a convention report after we get back from Japan Expo!

One Year Later...

I have officially neglected this blog. That's probably not a big deal...I don't think anyone read it anyway. But, just in case there is some interested person out there, I think I'll take it up again!

The first thing we need to do is catch up on a few things! Here is a quick re-cap of the major highlights of the last year!

June 10-12, 2010 - We took a trip to Gothenburg, Sweden! It was a super fun trip despite the dreary weather. Highlight of the trip: we found the most amazing candy store ever! The smell...it was...heavenly!

June 24-27, 2010 - Regan's work put together an amazing camping/white water rafting trip to Austria!! It was...mind blowing! Austria is amazing.

July 05, 2010 - we took our first trip to Bernkastel-Kues with the Ta's and Hooten's! We didn't stay long, but had some awesome pizza!

July 21, 2010 - For my 26th B-day, my wonderful husband surprised me with a quick trip over to Hombourg-Hout. We had quite the adventure trying to order dinner in French!

July 23-25, 2010 - As a joint celebration for my and Beth's b-day, we went camping GERMAN STYLE (meaning your tent is about 1/2 foot away from your neighbor haha).

July 31, 2010 - My friend Tina took Regan and I to Germany's largest waterfall! It was...not really all that large haha. We had a great time hiking around, though, and I had the best Doner Kebab ever!

August 6-11, 2010 - My favorite brother came to visit us and we took a trip to Poland!! It was amazing and so fun! We visited places from my brother's mission, ate so much amazing Polish food, and went swimming in the Baltic Sea!

August 13-17, 2010 - I went to Bath, UK with my friend Beth! I got to meet my hero, GARTH NIX and had a ton of Jane Austen related experiences! And we saw Stone Henge! It was such a great trip!

August 19-23, 2010 - My brother and his friends came back from Poland and we toured Bavaria! The boys had such lovely haircuts haha.

September 4, 2010 - We went back to Bernkastel-Kues with some friends for the wine fest! Of course, we didn't have any wine. I did, however, get a Hello Kitty balloon, some flashing bunny ears, and see an AMAZING fireworks display! Success!

October 14, 2010 - Regan had a lovely 33rd Birthday!

October 29-30, 2010 - For our 2 year anniversary, we took an over-night trip to Switzerland! We were able to visit the Bern temple, which was beautiful, and stay in the Jungrau area, which is also beautiful!

November 20, 2010 - We visited Bernkastel-Kues yet again for the Christmas market! I ate so much food!

November 27-December 03, 2010 - The biggest news of the past year was that Regan and I were able to visit Vladivostok, Russia and meet our SON! I am not allowed to post his picture until the adoption is final, but you can be assured that he is ADORABLE!

December 11, 2010 - We visited the Mannheim Christmas Market with my friend Tina, her boyfriend, and our friends the Ta's! Once again, tons of amazing food was consumed!

March 12, 2011 - A spring-time trip to Heidelberg! We hiked around and had some amazing asian food!

March 17-19, 2011 - We took a trip to Tuscany in Italy! The leaning tower of Pisa is really weird looking in person...

April 01, 2011 - We went with our friends the Ta's to Chochen castle! I'd love to go back when it's sunny and blooming. We chose a somewhat dreary day.

And there you have it! A brief re-cap!

Hopefully it won't be another year before I update this blog again! I'd like to get back into weekly updates, but we'll see.