Hello everyone! We are now in Moscow and it is about 1pm here. As we prepared to checkout of the Vlad Inn yesterday, we received a call from Irina letting us know that our flight had been delayed. Looks like Vlad was sad to see us go and wanted us to stay a little longer. Of course, we had thrown away all of our food in preparation to leave. Fortunately, we had made a sandwich for Victoria (meant for the plane, in the event that she did not like the plane food). So, we had our lunch in the hotel. While we waited, Irina stopped by with some paperwork (needed for the US Embassy in Moscow) and with some of Victoria’s items from the orphanage. This included some of her artwork, as well as some pictures of her over the last few years. These are invaluable items and we are very happy to have been able to take these with us. This also gave us a chance to say goodbye to Irina (who was really awesome in making sure that everything was taken care of for us).
We headed to the airport at 3:30pm. When we got there, Lana (our translator) helped us get check in and get all the way to the security checkpoint. This was our chance to say goodbye to Lana (who also was amazing). While we waited for our flight (with Chris, Daniela and Sasha, who were also on our flight), Victoria caught sight of the planes on the tarmac and she ran over to the window to get a closer look. She was sooo excited to see the planes and even more so about getting to go on one (she was constantly telling Sharon that we were going on a plane…as if mommy did not already know. Haha..). This, we felt, was a good sign for the 9 hour and 10 minute flight to come.
So, after a 5 hour flight delay, we departed from Vlad at 6:10pm on Aeroflot airlines. Victoria was a little amped up about the take off, but she handled it like a champ. However, this is where things started to get interesting on the flight for us. Anyone who thought that she might sleep or even sit still for a single moment, could NOT have been more wrong! Of the 9 hour and 10 minute flight time, she was in constant motion for 8 hours and 40 minutes. How many times can one open/close a tray table? ...How many times can one buckle/unbuckle a seatbelt? …How many times can one turn on/off a light? Unfortunately, we lost track. Hahaha… The airlines gave all of the kids a “Junior Aeroflot” backpack with some goodies (a puzzle, a hat, a maze game, a coloring book and socks) which Victoria loved. She has barely taken the hat off since (it’s bright orange and a little too big, so we’ll have no trouble finding her in a crowd) and she did the puzzle about 104 times on the flight (almost losing pieces 102 of those times…hahaha).
There was a little girl sitting with her parents directly behind Victoria. We learned the girl’s name was Katya (who appeared to be about 7 or 8) and she turned out to be very friendly. At first, Victoria did not pay her much mind. But toward the end of the flight, they were playing a nice game of hide and seek. So, to this point, Victoria was having a great time. With a half hour left, we prepared for our descent and arrival into Moscow. Victoria sat down and put on her belt. Sharon gave her some fruit chews to help with her ear popping (which worked great during take off).
We had a sneaking suspicion that she might not like descent as much as she did take off. This turned out to be 100% correct. Anyone who has flown knows the noises and feeling of a plane descending….for Victoria it was like a switch was flipped. She became hysterical. Not a laughing hysterical, but inconsolably delirious, yelling and shaking hysterical. Everyone within about 10 rows (heck, maybe 20) shared in this experience with us. We both rubbed her back/head/hands and continually told her it was OK. Even little Katya was attempting to console her, but all to no avail. Victoria wanted the flight over and immediately! You know “that kid” on a flight? Well, that was our kid at the end of this one. Hahaha… Once we landed, she was still beside herself. So, needless to say, this was a traumatic experience for her (and us, too). Since the flight was delayed, we arrived at about 8:30pm Moscow time, which would have been 3:30am in Vlad. Considering that Victoria refused to sleep on the plane (“it’s morning” she kept saying…since it was sunny the whole way), most of her reaction was to be expected.
After we picked up our bags, we were met by Olesya (one of our adoption agency reps here in Moscow). We thought that we were on our way to the Marriott Tverskaya. However, there was limited availability, so we headed out on the hour drive to the Holiday Inn Sokolniki. The hotel is very nice, but not the family/child friendly confines of the Vlad Inn. It was about 10:30-11pm when we reached the hotel, so we had all officially been up for 24 hours….but there was no rest for the weary. There were documents to be completed for a submission to the US Embassy today. So, we put our stuff in the room and headed down to fill out our paperwork. Just as we were finishing up (around midnight), we noticed that there was a minor error in one of Victoria’s translated documents…which we had then transcribed onto the US Embassy forms. This being one of our last steps in the adoption process, we are well aware that bumps in the road like this happen. But, we were hoping to be spared this time. Hahaha…
Olesya assured us that she would personally take care of the corrections and meet us at 8am back at the hotel. So, we headed to our room for some much needed sleep. Victoria was completely spent at this point. She cried about going to bed. However, once we turned out the lights, she was asleep in about 1 minute. None of us slept particularly well and we were up at about 6:30am because Victoria was very emotional when she woke up. Sharon saved the day by offering to have Victoria take a bath (which she had missed the night before) and get dressed for the day. We completed our US Embassy paperwork, then headed off to breakfast (a buffet here at the hotel) with Chris, Daniela and Sasha. Afterwards, we all went to the supermarket for some food supplies to tie us over for the next few days. We learned that we will be going on a tour of Moscow on Saturday and that we expect to be at the US Embassy at around 2pm on Monday to receive Victoria’s immigration visa.
Well, it’s about lunch time, so that is everything for now. Just a few short days until we finally travel home! Here are two pictures from the day. The first is Victoria with Irina (on the right) and Lana (on the right). The second is Victoria on her first plane flight (before she got her hat).
We headed to the airport at 3:30pm. When we got there, Lana (our translator) helped us get check in and get all the way to the security checkpoint. This was our chance to say goodbye to Lana (who also was amazing). While we waited for our flight (with Chris, Daniela and Sasha, who were also on our flight), Victoria caught sight of the planes on the tarmac and she ran over to the window to get a closer look. She was sooo excited to see the planes and even more so about getting to go on one (she was constantly telling Sharon that we were going on a plane…as if mommy did not already know. Haha..). This, we felt, was a good sign for the 9 hour and 10 minute flight to come.
So, after a 5 hour flight delay, we departed from Vlad at 6:10pm on Aeroflot airlines. Victoria was a little amped up about the take off, but she handled it like a champ. However, this is where things started to get interesting on the flight for us. Anyone who thought that she might sleep or even sit still for a single moment, could NOT have been more wrong! Of the 9 hour and 10 minute flight time, she was in constant motion for 8 hours and 40 minutes. How many times can one open/close a tray table? ...How many times can one buckle/unbuckle a seatbelt? …How many times can one turn on/off a light? Unfortunately, we lost track. Hahaha… The airlines gave all of the kids a “Junior Aeroflot” backpack with some goodies (a puzzle, a hat, a maze game, a coloring book and socks) which Victoria loved. She has barely taken the hat off since (it’s bright orange and a little too big, so we’ll have no trouble finding her in a crowd) and she did the puzzle about 104 times on the flight (almost losing pieces 102 of those times…hahaha).
There was a little girl sitting with her parents directly behind Victoria. We learned the girl’s name was Katya (who appeared to be about 7 or 8) and she turned out to be very friendly. At first, Victoria did not pay her much mind. But toward the end of the flight, they were playing a nice game of hide and seek. So, to this point, Victoria was having a great time. With a half hour left, we prepared for our descent and arrival into Moscow. Victoria sat down and put on her belt. Sharon gave her some fruit chews to help with her ear popping (which worked great during take off).
We had a sneaking suspicion that she might not like descent as much as she did take off. This turned out to be 100% correct. Anyone who has flown knows the noises and feeling of a plane descending….for Victoria it was like a switch was flipped. She became hysterical. Not a laughing hysterical, but inconsolably delirious, yelling and shaking hysterical. Everyone within about 10 rows (heck, maybe 20) shared in this experience with us. We both rubbed her back/head/hands and continually told her it was OK. Even little Katya was attempting to console her, but all to no avail. Victoria wanted the flight over and immediately! You know “that kid” on a flight? Well, that was our kid at the end of this one. Hahaha… Once we landed, she was still beside herself. So, needless to say, this was a traumatic experience for her (and us, too). Since the flight was delayed, we arrived at about 8:30pm Moscow time, which would have been 3:30am in Vlad. Considering that Victoria refused to sleep on the plane (“it’s morning” she kept saying…since it was sunny the whole way), most of her reaction was to be expected.
After we picked up our bags, we were met by Olesya (one of our adoption agency reps here in Moscow). We thought that we were on our way to the Marriott Tverskaya. However, there was limited availability, so we headed out on the hour drive to the Holiday Inn Sokolniki. The hotel is very nice, but not the family/child friendly confines of the Vlad Inn. It was about 10:30-11pm when we reached the hotel, so we had all officially been up for 24 hours….but there was no rest for the weary. There were documents to be completed for a submission to the US Embassy today. So, we put our stuff in the room and headed down to fill out our paperwork. Just as we were finishing up (around midnight), we noticed that there was a minor error in one of Victoria’s translated documents…which we had then transcribed onto the US Embassy forms. This being one of our last steps in the adoption process, we are well aware that bumps in the road like this happen. But, we were hoping to be spared this time. Hahaha…
Olesya assured us that she would personally take care of the corrections and meet us at 8am back at the hotel. So, we headed to our room for some much needed sleep. Victoria was completely spent at this point. She cried about going to bed. However, once we turned out the lights, she was asleep in about 1 minute. None of us slept particularly well and we were up at about 6:30am because Victoria was very emotional when she woke up. Sharon saved the day by offering to have Victoria take a bath (which she had missed the night before) and get dressed for the day. We completed our US Embassy paperwork, then headed off to breakfast (a buffet here at the hotel) with Chris, Daniela and Sasha. Afterwards, we all went to the supermarket for some food supplies to tie us over for the next few days. We learned that we will be going on a tour of Moscow on Saturday and that we expect to be at the US Embassy at around 2pm on Monday to receive Victoria’s immigration visa.
Well, it’s about lunch time, so that is everything for now. Just a few short days until we finally travel home! Here are two pictures from the day. The first is Victoria with Irina (on the right) and Lana (on the right). The second is Victoria on her first plane flight (before she got her hat).
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