Take Two

Yesterday was the day we had been waiting for since leaving Ukraine in July...the day we would finally fly back to Ukraine to finish up our adoption! We arrived to the airport 2 hours early like good little flyers, only to find out that our flight had been completely cancelled. No notice, no we are sorry, just a " your flight has been cancelled and we have re-booked you on a flight leaving TOMORROW". Ummm...that just wasn't going to work. After standing at the ticket counter for 30 minutes trying to find a flight out of Little Rock, only to have a massive line form behind us and being told that "they simply could not find a route for us today", we were told we must get in the back of the line and wait our turn again. Seriously?!? Ryan was ready to give up and go home to wait it out until the next day. I, however, was not going to give up. I had already said my emotional good byes to our precious babies, and did not want to have to go through that again. 3 hours later, countless phone calls to our travel agent, and a 1 1/2 hour phone call to our airline customer service, we were booked on another flight that would have us arriving in Kiev at the exact same time. See, stubbornness does pay off;)

Bye Bye Little Rock!

Our flights were pretty uneventful, which is good. We did not have seats together on our 9 hour flight from Dallas to Frankfurt, but a very kind man switched seats with me so that Ryan and I could sit together. The lady sitting next to me had a TV that did not work. She was not happy about this because she did not bring a laptop or ipad to help pass the time. There was only one other available seat for her to move to that had a working TV, so she moved. Which meant that I ended up having 2 seats all to myself:) If you have been on an intercontinental flight recently, and had to sit in a middle coach seat, you will understand what a huge bonus having 2 seats is!!

Wide awake on the plane when everyone else was sleeping:)

Once we arrived in Kiev, we immediately went on a hunt for a hair dryer for me, and found it in a "cheap store" underground mall. I found the store across from the hair dryer store quite amusing. Notice the shoes in the window. 

Don't think this Mama will be shopping for shoes here!


Pretty floral arrangements in the underground mall

After shopping, we went to our favorite Turkish restaurant here in Kiev. I was so tired, I literally could not keep my eyes open at dinner. You can ask Ryan, I was laughing hysterically at just about anything he said...and he was not being funny:) We got caught in a rainstorm after dinner, with no umbrella, and had to run a few blocks home.

Ryan drinking house made Kvass...it was very yummy and tasted like honey
(no worries our baptist friends...this is a non alcoholic wheat based drink;))


Lagmann soup with a side of Lazza (very spicy sauce)


Yummy house made bread


We love Chuberek!!


Tuberek

We got in bed at 8:30 and immediately fell asleep. I cannot remember the last time I went to bed that early. The sad thing is, I did not get out of bed until 2 pm today. Think I was slightly tired?!? I am so glad we had the day off from appointments! Today is my birthday (31!!), and it was nice to be able to sleep in!

Beautiful view from our apartment of downtown Kiev


View straight down from our apartment


Don't you love our apartment key?!?


Our Living Room


Bedroom...with a real bed!!


Very nice kitchen


Bathroom


Our bathroom has a bidet...aren't we fancy?!

Ryan was going a bit stir crazy, so I finally forced myself to get ready and we headed to St. Sophia's square because there is a very interesting exhibit that is currently on display. A local artist painted huge rooster and egg "nesting dolls"...we aren't sure why they are calling them nesting dolls because they don't "nest", but they were really cool either way. 

Giant nesting doll display with St. Sophia's in the background






The roosters were so intricately painted...very pretty!


Statue of Bogdan Khmelnitsky in between the 2 roosters
Hitching a ride :)




Ryan wanted to take an odd angled picture of the rooster!

Our sweet friend Allison is still in Ukraine, she and her husband arrived the same week we did back in July, and so we met up with her and their precious daughter for dinner. We went to a restaurant that we wanted to try last time we were here, but never had the opportunity. 



Notice that it says Tex Mex and Italiano. Gotta love that combo!! We ordered nachos for an appetizer, and I have to say, I have never seen "nachos" like this before. They were seasoned tortilla chips served with a side of... not cheese.... but mayonnaise with seasonings. Very, very strange. Not terrible, but definitely not what I would consider nachos! Ryan ordered pizza, and I ordered a chicken burrito. Both were pretty good!


Notice the first menu item...."chips of naches" aka nachos:)

Our "nachos" with a little friend...courtesy of our friends' daughter;)

Ryan's pizza with my chicken burrito on top (the icky looking black stuff is balsamic for Ryan to dip his pizza in)
 
After dinner, we decided we better hunt down an umbrella so that we would not be caught in another rainstorm without one. Our friends accompanied us, and we finished up with a nice visit in their apartment. 


After dinner stroll with my sweet little friend Miss O:)

Tomorrow we have an embassy appointment so that Ryan can return home immediately following court, and I can stay and finish everything up without him. Please pray that there are no surprises at the embassy, and that all goes well. We do not anticipate there being any problems tomorrow. Please also pray for all of A's friends that moved this week-end and started trade school. I hope everyone back in the US has had a wonderful Labor Day week-end!