4 days to go!!!

We've settled into a pretty good routine here in Almaty, and the time is passing much faster than it did in Uralsk. Thankfully the kids continue to nap two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon with minimal whining when they are put down.

It is amazing how much they have changed since we first met them. They seem to develope new skills and more personality everyday. Most exciting for us it that Madden finally found something she wanted to get to enough to crawl to it. She's only pulling herself along with her arms for now, but at least she has finally decided to try to get around. We're really laughing about what it was she decided to crawl to. As much as we have been trying to lure her with toys, it was the chrome pole legs of the kitchen table that she keeps crawling to. We have to laught because shortly before coming here when there was little else on TV we watched part of a Chris Rock comedy show and he was talking about how he had an infant daughter and that his only job as a father was to keep her off the (stripper) pole. So, Kevin may have his work cut out since she really likes the shiny pole. She is also doing better with sitting up, which is great.

Yesterday I went to a shopping mall called Tsum (zoom) with Paula our travel partner. The third floor of the mall is mostly souvenier items, and we had a good time. We took Madden in a stroller while Kevin and Troy stayed home with the boys. I did have one interesting experience at the mall. I'm sure I've mentioned how the people here take keeping children covered up very seriously. Well, I had taken off her snowsuit when we got in the mall, and thankfully I had brought a hat. Now, I've probably mentioned that it is very warm inside most places here, and poor Madden's hair was wet from sweat under the hat, but it's important to go with the flow when in public. So, I thought I was doing OK, but then this woman leaves her store and starts saying something very emphatically to me and pointing at Madden. Then she bends down and starts fiddling with Madden's legs. I finally figured out that she had slouched in her stoller and the legs of her pants had pulled up a bit so that there was an inch or two of her calf exposed between the pants leg and her socks. I managed to pull her pants down and tuck them into her socks because I seriously think the woman would have followed us if I hadn't fixed it. She was still mumbling something as we left. Even though our agency thoroughly warned us about keeping them covered and people treating babies as public property here I was still shocked to have some stranger come up and start touching my kid. All I can say is thank goodness I had a hat on her or I may have been detained by security.

Today we went to dinner at a place called Guiness Pub, which is another Irish pub type place. We each had a pint of Guiness beer, though Kevin didn't finish his. Normally, I do not drink beer at all, but over here it is pretty much beer or hard alcohol, so I decided to try it. It was so dark and tasted horrible, but hey, who am I to waste beer in an Irish pub. I also had rabbit soup, which was excellent, and "authentic" Irish stew, which was also pretty good. I like to try new things when given a chance, but Kevin on the other hand had a club sandwhich and french fries. The kids were pretty good, although Jackson has discovered that he can yell, and once they discover something new, they have to do it over and over.

Tomorrow we have appointments with a doctor from the US Embassy. From what I've heard, they don't really do much of an examination, but it is one of the requirements for them to enter the US. Other than that, more of the same.

As you can see from the title of this entry, we are counting the days until with get home!