June 12th-Visiting Nadia and the Cossack Museum

Before we went to the Cossack Museum, we went to visit Nadia and we took her for a walk.  I got to push her in her stroller.

Before we went to see the Cossack Museum, we got McDonald's and I got to have a taste from home!

At the Cossack Museum, there was a very steep hill that I ran up. (P.S. It's a lot steeper than it looks!) Allen timed me the 2nd time I ran up.  It took me 44 seconds!

Me and My Dad finally made it to the top.  It was very hot, in fact, it was the hottest week in 80 years in Zaporozhye!!!

On our morning visit, we took Nadia for a walk.  When I took her out of the stroller, true to form, Nadia started grabbing my neck and laughing.

Ukrainian McDonald's is no different than in the U.S. and our 5 cheeseburgers, 2 large fries, and 4 drinks cost 84 Grivna which is equal to $10.63 in U.S. Dollars.

Though I can play the guitar pretty well, these many-stringed guitars look impossible to play. (One of the things I miss most about being here is not being able to play my guitar!)

While we were waiting for my Mom to come out of the Water Closet, this group of Ukrainian Girls came up to our missionary friend, Ken, and asked him (In Russian), if they could have their picture taken with us. They probably don't see Americans very often.  (Allen's Mom here--the real reason these girls wanted their picture taken with our family is because they thought our boys were so cute!  This Mom can recognize "that" giggle in any language!--Notice where Jim positioned the boys for the picture?)

Allen's thoughts about meeting Nadia!

As you can see Nadia has an odd habbit of trying to grab your jugular while you are trying to hold her.

If you haven't noticed by my expression it tickles alot.

She is also a major hugger. As soon as you start holding her she immediatly wraps her arms around your neck and puts her head on your shoulder.

Nadia is obsessed with hands and loves to  clap them together. When you stop clapping her hands she grabs your hands and claps them together. (Clapping her hands is also the way we get her to stop licking us haha).

(If you haven't already read Michael's thoughts on meeting Nadia, see the previous post. )

Michael's thoughts about meeting Nadia!

Nadia is such a snuggle bug! I am so excited about how she's warming up to us!

She was a handfull of laughter. I love her already and I think she loves me too.

What she loved doing was touching and playing with your neck and face. She loved touching my dads neck because she liked touching spiky hair. She always laughed when she touched you.

The Train Ride and Snorelax

Ok this is my (Allen's) first post. When I first heard about the train ride I was feeling pretty good about it because I heard that we had our own room that had 4 beds in it. So I had figured that since there were 4 beds it had to be big. That good feeling started to disapear when we boarded the train. First off it was a challenge to even get to the room because we had to drag our luggage through a very very very tiny corridor. Second when we finally got to the room we found a 6' by 6' room with 4 fold out beds that weren't more than a couple feet wide. I (unfortunately) had to have the top bunk so I was worried about falling out of bed because I have a tendency to roll. But, I soon figured out, falling out of bed was the least of my problems.It started when we were about to fall asleep when I heard a sound somewhat resembling a chainsaw. First I thought it was my dad cause he is the main culprit for snoring in our family. But when I looked at him he was still reading. Second I looked to see if it was my brother but he was still awake. 3rd I looked at my mom but she also was still more or less awake. About then the chainsaw sound kicked up 1 or two notches (or 3 or 4...) next to my head. Thats when it dawned on me that the chainsaw was on the other side of the door being created by some guy (who I have named snorelax) who obviously forgot to blow his nose before going to bed. Long story short it took me a very long time to fall alsleep but I just thought that it must be 10x worse for the people who had to share a room with him.

This is the train room that four people with four huge suitcases and four carryon bags plus a camera bag had to squeeze into.

The Ukranian Tooth Fairy

On our second night in Ukraine I pulled a tooth and the next morning the Ukrainian tooth fairy gave me Ukrainian(Grievna) and American money. I know the pic looks weird but the tooth was WAY back there so I had to make my mouth wide enough for u to see it. It's the fourth day that we are here in Ukraine and we have an 11:20pm train ride to Nadia's region and I am looking forward to seeing her. I will post some pics of Nadia probably Thursday.