DadsAGeek.com 2.0 » Travel

Bloomington Reunion (Sasha sings)

Randy — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:49:02 +0000

Bloomington Reunion (Sasha sings) from Randy Bradshaw on Vimeo.
This is another short video taken during day 1 of our Bloomington trip. It starts out with Sasha singing one of his favorite songs from the Disney Channel to Luba. Of course, it’s all in English but she seems to enjoy it anyway. The remainder of the video is a compilation of shots taken by Hannah and even Sasha himself.

Bloomington Reunion

Randy — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:26:49 +0000

Bloomington Reunion from Randy Bradshaw on Vimeo.
In August we took a long weekend and traveled to Bloomington, IL. Sasha’s orphanage director (Luba) had made the trip from Russia so she could see him again. We were there for about 4 days and this short video is day 1. The trip went very well, thanks in no small part to the Cavanaghs who welcomed Luba into their home and put up with us for the duration of our stay in Bloomington.

Home again!

Randy — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:14:00 +0000

Well, we made it. It took us about 23 hours but we arrived safely in Dallas last night. Sasha didn’t sleep the entire trip except for the final hour of the final flight from Atlanta to Dallas. That made for a VERY long day… Nothing like chasing a hyperactive 5 year old around a 767 for 12 hours. All in all he did great though. We made it through passport control and immigration so he’s now an official US Citizen!! The only real issue other than exhaustion and major sleep deprivation (for both of us) was that our luggage didn’t make it on the same flight we did. But it was here when we woke up this morning so no harm done. One of my concerns was how Stacy would do with him on her own since she doesn’t speak much Russian and she hasn’t been with him for a few weeks. But none of that seems to be a problem as they’re doing great. The girls made it off to school and we’ve been spending time getting him used to his new surroundings this morning. I know that we have a lot of long days and nights ahead of us but he’s doing remarkably well so far.

He’s a carnivore!

Randy — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:24:38 +0000

After weeks of proclaiming “I don’t like meat and I won’t eat it.” Sasha finally showed his true colors yesterday. We were at the flea market (see previous post) and he had his first taste of meat on a stick! We all had shish-ka-bobs and he didn’t ate more than I had seen him eat since I’ve been here. The place we were eating at is actually just a room above the flea market (no heating or other frivelous luxuries). You order and pay for you food (choice of pork, chicken, or fish) on a stick and they cook it for you right there over the flame (see pictures on the right). Then you take it all upstairs and eat it out of the wind. Notice I didn’t say out of the cold because that would be misleading. There actually is no place “out of the cold” here besides Marina’s apartment. There are only about 12 small tables so, as you can tell from the pictures, you have to resort to some creative seating arrangments if you have more than 4 in your party. But at any rate, I was with some great new friends which really took the chill out of it and in spite of the “ukranian” vodka that they insisted we needed to sample to warm up. By the way, as near as I could tell, the stuff really is nothing but rubbing alcohol with a little bit of honey in it. Seriously. But then again I’m not much of a drinker.

But the short of it is that we now know that Sasha is a meat-eater after all. I can’t wait to get some real Texas beef in front of him. Tomorrow is our last full day here and we get on a plane from Moscow to Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon at 1PM. The flight to Atlanta is 11h 55m and I’m not looking forward to that but, hey, every hour is another hour closer to home.

The sun came out in Moscow today!

Randy — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:23:20 +0000

A very rare thing happened here today. The sun actually came out. This picture was taken at the flea market in Moscow. We were eating lunch in a place that, well, it’s hard to put it into words. Let’s just say that it was not as cold as the outdoors. We made the most of the cold day and did some shopping. Of course, doing anythign in moscow means spending 85% of the time sitting in traffic inhaling exhaust fumes and holding your breath as you come within milimeters of all the other cars on the road. Somehow, though they manage to make it work and we all survived. Again. 3 more days and WE’RE COMING HOME!!!!!….

Embassy Day (we have visa!!!!)

Randy — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:41:59 +0000

Today was our interview at the US Embassy (Sasha and I). It was a pretty painless process. Basically they just asked me to raise my hand and swear that I am in agreement with all of the adoption documents that I have submitted (we did that yesterday). Once that’s done they gave me some information about what to expect as we enter the US together. Then they process and granted an entry visa for Sasha. Now I have to wait 2 more business days to register with the russian consulate and then we can COME HOME!!!! That puts us home on Tuesday right on schedule. However, I was reviewing our itinerary and noticed that the returning flight to Atlanta is 11 hour and 55 minutes. The flight from Atlanta to Moscow was only 10 hours and 08 minutes. Oh, well. What’s another 2 hours or so when I’ve been gone this long? I am starting to get anxious as I realize that the end is in sight. Now I just need prayers for Sasha to do well on the trip. That’s a LONG time for him to have to sit.

Cleanest kid in Moscow

Randy — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:38:41 +0000

Sasha absolutely loves taking a bath. In fact it takes quite a bit of negotiating to get him out of the tub. We now have an agreement that once he’s all clean he gets 5 minutes to play before I pull the stopper. That seems to work. He gets a big kick out of how his hands and fee prune up after he’s been in the water for a while. We are communicating very well now. We’ve also adopted a pretty structured schedule:

7:30 wake up/breakfast
10:00 english lessons (30 minutes)
12:00 lunch
3:00 english lessons (30 minutes)
6:00 dinner
9:00 bedtime

We spend the time in between playing, wrestling and watching a few english cartoons. He sleeps very well. We have a regular routine where I read the “Monkey Book” (5 Little Monkey’s Jumping on the Bed) twice and then it’s lights out. He hasn’t been a problem at all to get to sleep.

Countdown continues…

Randy — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:36:37 +0000

Today Dima took us (Sasha and I along with the Wagners) to tour the Kremlin. It was very interesting but cold (again). The Wagners leave for Cheboksary tonight.

The Wagners

Randy — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 17:34:26 +0000

Another adopting family arrived last night. The Wagners are from Wisconsin. It’s been nice visiting with them. We have a great deal in common. They are a little older than Stacy and I with grown children already but they’ve come to adopt 2 teenage girls from Chebosary. Bob and Gerri’s faith has helped re-engergize me again. He’s a dentist and an elder at his home church in WI and has some real insight into the scripture. I think we could sit and talk for hours if we had the chance.

Life with Sasha!

Randy — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:31:33 +0000

He’s quite a handful. But then again what 5 year old boy isn’t? The language barrier is becoming less of an issue. I think that my russian is getting better but he’s also understanding that I don’t catch everything he says so he’s getting good at communicating in other ways too. Marina (our host) is in and out quite a bit as she is very busy with other adopting families. That actually works pretty well. She REALLY loves Sasha and tends to spoil him. That makes it a little more difficult for me to handle him but when she’s not around he’s a real little soldier. I realize that we’re really not going to make too much progress with his english until we get back to the states. Counting down….