"Serenity Now!"

1. Ana hiding in the closet in the outdoor playroom.
2. Ana with cookie on swing.

[Robin]
Many of you Seinfeild fans may remember George's father yelling this... This title reflects my statement upon coming home from the travel agent and hearing her say that 1) There were no flights out of Kiev on Saturday; 2) Business class tickets could cost $6,000; and therefore, 3) We would have to go back to trying to buy a ticket online (which would mean that we would also have to figure out a way to pick up paper tickets in Kiev). I stated this and Colleen laughed. Phil then set to work online and later, after the system "timed out" mid-purchase, and then talking on the phone with two different Aerosvit agents, we got our tickets. Aargh. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has been especially easy about this process.

Still, today was actually a good day. Ana was really fun this morning, playing on the piano, using the flashlight to blind mama, etc. We had lunch at the apartment and I spent the afternoon joyfully looking through all the magazines that Colleen had gotten from Lynn. Lynn and her husband are adopting an 8 year old, and she was returning from spending her 10 day wait in the US. She shared a train cabin last night with Colleen. There is nothing like reading US, People, and inStyle and catching up on the celebrity gossip to put one in a good mood.

[Phil]
Meanwhile, I sat on my corner of the couch and worked on a translation. Now that we have a permanent internet connection, I can finally do some work. I can't say that real excited about this, but it's an unfortunate necessity.

[Robin]
We also got train tickets from the stand in our old hotel. The vendor asked Phil a bunch of questions and then Phil turned to me and said "she says the only cabin available is next to the bathroom, do we want that?" You can imagine the sinking feeling. Turned out, after Phil asking a number of other questions, that we were able to get a deluxe cabin for an overnight trip on the 22nd. Yay.

Tonight we went with Colleen to the Ukrainan place. Yet another party was under way--a going away party from what Phil could gather. The karaoke singers were in full force and couples were dancing.

We are now watching "Best in Show" and laughing. A good end to a good day.

[Phil]
Yeah, and we had a lot of fun with Ana tonight. I was totally exhausted by the end of the play period. We chased her all over the place, picked her up, spun her around, pushed her on the swing, tickled her, caught her jumping off the jungle gym, etc. Meanwhile the caregivers, God bless them, decided to go inside for a good half-hour or so, leaving us with Ana and 5 rowdy little boys. I think I'll be hearing "Papa, swing me!"in my sleep tonight.