Looks likes Sasha is riding a bike but there's no chain.
This little puppy's name is Jenya.

Making Jack-o-Lanterns

Leo

Vasya's pumpkin

Some of the girls playing games

Ukraine Adoption Journey #2 Trip #2 day #5 Nov. 1

Today I played games with the kids in Vasya's group, took a walk to the store with Vasya, and visited Sasha. How's that for summing it up?

Here's the expanded version:

I played a lot of games with the kids at no.4. This one boy Kostya kept beating me at everything we played-even hungry hungry hippo. He is especially good at Monopoly Junior, he beat me everytime.

Vasya and I have started walking to a nearby grocery store at the end of our visits so he can pick out his own snack. Today he picked out: juice, two big packages of crab sticks, some sort of dried fish, chips, and peanut m & m's. Then he walks back to no.4 and I go to the bus stop.

It was very foggy at no.9, probably because it is so close to the sea. A fog horn was blaring from a lighthouse the whole time and it was chilly. Sasha was fine, except that they cut his hair. He was growing it out so he could have a normal haircut and it was just starting to get past the standing up point. So once again he has a butch. You need hair for warmth during SD winters.

A little 8 year old girl Vica who is adorable had a big bandage on her head today. If I understood right she fell and hit her head on something. I pulled back the gauze wrapping, her head was partially shaved and she had 12-15 stitches. It looked terrible, the poor thing.

Vanya will be back on Monday to hopefully finish up the apartment business, and hopefully help me with the going away parties at the orphanages. Vasya definately wants one, and he wants to go to the store with me to pick out the food. Sasha doesn't want one, he just wants to leave. But I have him convinced that he should at least have a little one. I brought little gift bags from home for his groupa. I brought matchbox cars for the boys and bracelets for the girls, I also brought candy necklaces for all of them. I brought 30 or so pairs of heavy black socks for the kids at no. 4. I know it isn't exciting but we will also have lots of food and pop too.

I am doing fine here without Jeff and Matthew, I admitt it has been harder to fall asleep the last couple of days. But there are lots of great people around me and I am usually busy. Soon the boys will be with me and we will be coming home.

Michelle solved the mystery of the bronze chair for me. There is a story or legend about a russian woman hiding her jewels in the cushion of one of her twelve dining room chairs when the communists took over. The communists took things of value from everyone and they took the chairs. When the woman was on her death bed she told her son-in-law about the jewels. I guess the chair in the park is commemerating that. I thought it was ironic, because I bought a box set of movies before we came here and one of the movies was the twelve chairs. Cindy I think you have the movie if you want to watch it. It is a Mel Brookes film so it is a bit silly, but still tells the story.