9/26/04

Hello!
What a wonderful day we had today! The morning started off a little rocky with an early rising of Karleigh. Jeff heard the rumble and ended up giving her a 3:30am snack. At 6:30, when it was time for her second course, he gruffly woke me and the two of us began the morning routine. My girl was hungry again. We have seen a noticeable increase in her appetite and we are trying to give her a little more rice and a little less formula. She is devouring four to five 8oz bottles a day, according to what we have read its about one bottle too much and we should begin balancing this out with solids. They told us to expect this at the babyhouse, as the children needed to have time to understand the food would be unlimited and offered when THEY wanted it, not at a certain hour of the day. Our little guy McCale is a great eater too. He usually has about two adult sized portions of rice or barley cereal laced w/ veggies or fruit and three to four bottles a day. We can see more pink in their cheeks and they have a lot more spunk. We attribute some of this to the diet, the rest – just add water and love!

We headed to Gorky Park this afternoon to meet Marlee and Lee. We had only seen the entrance to the park after the zoo the other day. It looked interesting, but it was not at all what I was expecting. Upon entering there are many small stands selling the typical souvenir style toys, blow up balls, bubbles, candy and popcorn in small prepackaged bags. There is a woman with two very large snakes one yellow and one black that will let you hold them for a few tenge and be photographed. Although these snakes are 4-5’ long, they do not hold a candle to our garden friend Frank the Snake at home. He is much more ferocious. As we entered the park the smell of shish kebob fills the air and several smoky bbq grilles were set up near tents w/ tables underneath. Lee and I approached one of the vendors and asked about the cost and type of shish kebob he was cooking. He was holding up two fingers, I punched in 200 into our calculator and showed it to him, he nodded yes, 200 tenge each. He then tried to show us the types of meat that were under a metal lid. Between us Lee and I could not decipher if he was showing us beef, chicken, pork or what. We passed on this stand and moved into the park.

It was so charming! It seemed as if it were a park that my grandparents would have visited. There were many small stands, all with modest prizes, wooden wheels, or hand made games of skill. There was one woman sitting on carton, with a blanket and prizes on top and a house scale in front of her. We assumed this was “guess your weight” – yeah right! After all the carbs on this trip? I don’t think so!!! There were two ponies dressed up for rides, back and forth along the sidewalk. This seemed to be a big attraction, we did not find out what the cost would be as the kids were too small. There were several other eateries (tents w/ grilles) as we went deeper into the park. We found one that had a few large groups sitting down and table service. Ofcourse, the menu was in Russian, and the waiter did not speak English, but Lee did a fantastic job “sherading” beef and chicken with the cooks. Marlee on the other hand found a picture of a draft beer and pointed to it holding up four fingers. We were set!!

The beers came a few minutes later, cold and in large mugs (they LOOVE large mugs here). We toasted to our happiness and sat back to see the pictures of Miles (their little guy) from today’s visit. I’m sad that we will be gone before they bring him home. He looks like such a handsome fellow and had no problem sharing smiles for the camera. As a matter of fact, he was not the only one smiling, Marlee and Lee looked pretty darned ecstatic as well. Marlee and I spent a few moments talking about the experience of seeing the little ones for the first time. She told me that there were many people in the room and she felt as if she should hide her emotion, a very different greeting than we had in the privacy of the music room. She told me a single tear ran down her face – a single tear of sheer joy. This experience cannot be compared to anything and cannot be fully understood unless you have been through it. There are millions of thoughts running through your jet-lagged mind. Will they cry? Look like the picture? Be happy? Be sad? – all of this to get magically wiped away when your eyes meet theirs. An overwhelming feeling of happiness surges through your body, “this is really happening”. Then before you know it, there is a baby in your arms and the world changes forever. I can honestly say, the famous saying “birth from the heart” suits the scenario perfectly. A birth that Jeff and I shared, our family was part of and our friends helped make happen. I can’t wait for each of you to have these feelings when you first hold these two in your arms as well.

OK, back to Gorky Park….. We toasted to our new found friendship and the virtual friendship Marlee and I had formed with another group of amazing women over the last six months or so. We enjoyed the beer and the atmosphere. Our shish kebobs arrived a little while later with slices of onion and four small pieces of dense bread that was almost crustless. Although we were not sure which kebob was chicken or beef, we decided that we would just eat what was in front of us and enjoy the afternoon. Glancing around we noticed many friendly faces smiling our way and we in turn exchanged smiles.

After a while, Jeff suggested I take the kids to “freshen up” and as I was on my way to get the diaper bag a woman from another table popped up. Half trying to use her English and half in the bag, she was trying to tell us how happy she was for us, for the children and that she was 38 w/ no kids and it was her dates birthday. I know there was a lot more to the conversation, but that’s what I got out of it. She insisted on having her photo taken with us and her date did the honors…once he finally managed to get the Cutlers camera facing the right way. We obliged and got a chuckle out of it, but she was not returning to her seat. She seemed to be slightly frustrated that her words were not coming out as she wanted, more due to the drink than the broken English. We toasted with her and she went to her table to get her drink – a shot of vodka. It’s now becoming crystal clear. Before I knew it she was trying to give Marlee her phone number. I grabbed the diaper bag and started heading for the “toilet”.

Guess what? No toilets in Gorky eateries….Looking for someplace secluded I changed one child and the next on my lap curbside in a parking lot. Good thing they were mild mannered diapers, cuz this could have been a sticky situation.

We finished our meal and ordered another beer. Marlee was jonesing for French fries, we didn’t think they had any tho. She spied a group of kids eating something that looked like fries and Lee popped up to investigate. A second or two later he had a waitress in tow and was bringing her to the kids table to point at the fries. A few flashes of the hand and two orders were on their way to us. Marlee was happy about this until they arrived. They were fries alright, the crinkle cut type with a dab of ketchup on the side…but they were ice cold. Guess this is how they are served here. She had a few, Lee and I had another beer and we then settled up and headed into the park.

Since expectations were not set in any particular form, we were pleasantly surprised at the surroundings. The park was much better kept than many other places in the city. Flowers and gardens were scattered around and amusements were in full swing. There were many families at the park, one in particular seemed to be four generations, all enjoying the atmosphere equally. The rides were not theme park or even carnival quality, but they were quaint and exciting for the kaz children. I noticed several rides that were driven by “human power” the cages that are swung by muscle and momentum in a circular motion and also in a swing fashion. There was a fun house and a nice assortment of rides for small children. There was also a water park – small – but would definitely do the trick on a hot day and a lake with rented paddle boats and canoes.

We had no idea to expect such an adventure and had only told our drivers we would need two hours. We took in as much as we could, which was the equivalent of a sampler platter and headed back to the entrance.

Upon reaching the entrance ‘to what do my wandering eyes did appear, but a miniature Subaru and..” NO, wrong story. I felt as if I was seeing a celebrity! Sasha PONYTAIL! It was with great excitement to meet him. I told him what a celebrity he was in the states and how we had read many journals of families he drove. I told him Kathleen and Tom said “hey” and that tomorrow when I saw him again I wanted his autograph. He gave me a warm smile and thought to himself “she must have had a couple in there”. After we got back in the car, I assured Emil that he was still the best and offered to take him home and leave Jeff behind in his place. He gave me a big grin and said ok.

Although it was only 3pm when we got back, it felt like a full day and a half had passed. The kids had baths this morning, three meals before we left and neither of us slept well. We all snuggled in for a nap, until the siren of Miss Karleigh told us it was “BOTTLE TIME” again.

Sorry for the long post, but it was a special day for us. I’m even more sorry we didn’t get pictures at the park, we have all agreed to go back for another afternoon of Kabobs and old time fun. Maybe when mom gets here.

Ok ya’ll, I’ve got kiddos to play with before the evening nap.
Take care! More soon!!!! XO Colene and Jeff.