June 25 (Kaz)

June 25

Today we moved to our new room, and it is awesome! There's a room a little bigger than a standard hotel room where we have the 2 beds and 2 cribs, and a little entry way room where we moved a sofa and a chair to to use as a play area safe for kids, and a big bathroom with a bidet, jacuzzi, shower stall and the other regular stuff like sinks and a toilet.









Here's our hotel from the outside. I think it's about 8 or 9 years old, but it has a dated look from the outside. The inside is very nice. And since we had to do a little laundry while we were here, here's a close up of our balcony, and if you look very closely you can see my bras hanging out to dry. Ahh, how classy we are.








When Pat and Alli said they spent their evenings in the bathroom eating dinner so they would not wake the kids I thought they were crazy....but know I understand. Here's a picture of our fine dinner on the toilet in the old hotel room. We have since given up on dinner....or breakfast or lunch.








The kids settled in pretty well and enjoyed having cribs next to each other. They were roommates in the orphanage for our first month here, and Andrew seems mesmerized by Alaina, and shows his affection by throwing all of his toys into her crib. Sometimes we put them in the crib together so they can play together, but then Andrew usually pulls her hair, or they swap pacifiers. Andrew will not use his pacifier, but he has no problem using Alaina's.




We needed to do a little laundry today to make sure we had enough for the plane ride home, so Natalie broke the barrier and cleaned and did laundry in the bidet. This must have looked like too much fun for Andrew and Alaina, because when laundry was done they wanted to play in the water....better the bidet than the toilet! At least they had an afternoon with the Fun Mommies...and no visible scars!





After a couple failed attempts at a bath, or even being washed in the sink, Andrew screamed for a couple minutes, when realized he liked the bath, or at least if I distracted him with the tub toys he liked it. But when it came time for the final hose down he screamed again. But after the bath, he was clean and happy, although he is looking like he is planning a submarine expedition for the next bath. I will avoid the details on the food he ate that stained his butt cheeks, which required the long bath.






On our walk to the Gros supermarket the other day we passed a sports stadium. Apparently they pay homage to large breasted Kazak women.









Here's the fountain in the lobby of the Hyatt. We had to stop here one day for a food emergency-- the kids needed yogurt.








And for those interested in potty training, Andrew does the big #2 after each meal. Now I just need to work on the fien art of 'how soon' aftr the meal. If I am too slow with feeding, and miss the 1-minute warning farts, I miss the opportunity for him to do his business in the bowl instead of his diaper.