Back at Home

We made it home around 8:30pm on Friday night! It was a long trip, but Bryce was a good sport about things. We left Almaty at 3:20am to fly to Frankfurt. The flight we were on may as well have been called the "Baby Express". There were at least 5-6 adopted Kazakh children on the flight. There were also 3 other WPA families heading out with us, although they were just finishing up their first trips and will return again in about 3 weeks to pick up their children. After we arrived in Frankfurt, we had a 7 hour layover (ugh). This time we did not tour Frankfurt, but instead explored the airport (the long corridor connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 is the perfect place to get away from all the noise for a while)! Our flight from Frankfurt to Detroit was the most trying of the 3. Bryce screamed for about 4 hours before finally going to sleep. On both of the long flights, we had bulkhead seating and a bassinet, which we were very glad to have!! When we landed in Detroit, Bryce officially became an American citizen, but I think the moment was lost on him. We were very excited for him. We had a very tight layover in Detroit (we were running to the gate as they were paging us to board), but we made the flight to Denver. Luckily, Bryce slept for the entire flight - takeoff to landing.

It is nice to be back home, and Bryce is doing wonderfully despite his parents' relative inexperience!

Our second trip over to Almaty also went like clockwork and we can't say enough good about the agency that helped us - World Partners Adoption.

Lunchtime at home. 

The sign says it all. 

We're Going Home!!!

We’re done and quite ready to go home!!!! It’s 11:15pm here in Almaty as I write this, and we are waiting for our driver to pick us up at 12:15 to take us to the airport. Our flight leaves for Frankfurt at 3:20am. Early – but I guess you have to leave here early to make connections in Europe when Lufthansa flies out only once daily (most days, anyway).

This afternoon we went to the US Consulate office, our last piece of official business to do on this trip. At the Consulate, we picked up Bryce’s passport and visa. He has a Kazakh passport that contains a US entry visa. We also picked up some documents. Some were for us (such as his birth certificate, adoption certificate, and other court paperwork) and others were for the US CIS to open when we land in the US. They actually gave us a sealed packet of his adoption and immigration paperwork, which we were instructed not to open. When he lands in the US (which will be in Detroit) he will automatically become a US citizen! He will have dual citizenship with the Republic of Kazakhstan until he turns 18.

Other than the Consulate visit, we took a long walk around town this morning so Bryce could nap. He loves his stroller and tends to sleep in it on long walks, for which we are thankful. His schedule has been disrupted and napping has been one of our challenges (meaning he does not want to do it!). Otherwise he is a good sleeper and has slept through the night both nights we have had him. For lunch, we drove out to a restaurant called Saule (meaning sunshine). It’s a cool outdoor café that our last driver introduced us to. We had shashlik, cucumber and tomato salad, and chai (the Russian word for tea). After lunch, we visited the Ramstore for a few more supplies and took a quick trip downtown to Zenkov Cathedral – a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Panfilov Park to get our picture. We also had one last meeting with Gulbanu in the WPA office to go over the last minute details. Bryce was a very good sport for all the driving around we did today – hopefully this means he might do ok on the plane too! We spent this evening packing, which was not too bad since we gave away all the gifts we brought here, which was a major portion of our luggage on the way out.

It has truly been an adventure (even without 16 hours on a plane with a 1 year old which may just be over the top), and we can’t wait to get home! That’s all for now.

Lunch at Saule with our driver, Sasha. 

Riding in the stroller. 

Zenkov Cathedral. 

A New Set of Wheels

Today was a relatively free day for us…..well, free in the sense that we did not have a lot of business things to do. The only paperwork thing we did was to go to the records office and sign for Bryce’s new birth certificate. Other than that, we had some adventures learning about how to take care of a 1 year old! What to eat, when to nap, changing diapers, etc, etc. Bryce is lots of fun and does not give us too hard of a time for our inexperience.

Today, we took a trip to the Green Market to buy a stroller. We ended up purchasing an umbrella style stroller for 3000 tenge. It has been great to have wheels! The stroller will also come in handy for the plane trips and our layovers in Frankfurt (just about 7 hours) and Detroit (around 2 hours). On the way back from the Green Market, we went back to Tsum (big department store) for some more Kazakh and Russian souvenirs. We were able to try out our new stroller tonight with a trip to Gorky Park. This time instead of riding the rides, we ate in a café in the park. Chuck ate lamb shashlik, and I had laghman. It was very good and also very inexpensive. We paid 1080 tenge for our main dishes, drinks, and a salad – all of the food was great. The park is so green now that all of the trees have leaves. It is very pretty and a far cry from our first visit there during a snowstorm in March.

Taking Bryce out in Almaty is kind of interesting. The Kazakhs consider children to essentially be public property, and they also believe that children, especially babies, should be dressed warmly. Most kids I have seen are wearing jackets, long pants, tights, and hats, and the weather is in the 70s. Although we have not been accosted for not dressing Bryce warmly enough, I have heard stories of other families being stopped on the streets for improper baby dress!

That’s all for today. Tomorrow we have our appointment at the Embassy, and we fly out early (try 3am) on Thursday morning.

Laghman from tonight's dinner. 

Lunchtime!! 

"Gotcha" Day

We made it to Almaty - again! The second time around was much easier than the first, especially when you know what to expect with the airport, customs, etc. We landed in Almaty 10:15pm on Sunday night, after approximately 24 hours of travel. The flights were all good. As you can see from the picture, Chuck even got an exit row. Unfortunately, it was on the shortest flight - from Denver to Detroit. Maybe we will do better on the way back, with a baby in tow.

Since, May 1st was a holiday in Kazakhstan, we did not pick up Bryce until today (Tuesday). The holiday was not Easter (although the Russian Orthodox here were celebrating Easter on Sunday) - our driver said it was some kind of unity day. I'll have look it up. So we spent Monday exploring the city again. So much has changed in 3 weeks! The trees now have leaves, and Almaty is truly a city in the forest. It is a bit confusing....we used landmarks to navigate our way through the city, and now they are all hidden by trees. Walking down the sidewalk is like walking through a green tunnel. Sometimes you can't even see the buildings, the trees are so think. And the weather is nice and warm. It has been in the 70s the past two days.

Last night we had dinner with 4 other World Partners families at a restaurant called Inara. They seemed to specialize in shashlik. We ate outside, which was great. The inside of the place looked great too, like a greenhouse with lots of plants. It is nice that there are other WPA families in town this time around. Our last trip, we were basically on our own for 3 weeks. They are all in various stages of their adoptions - some just about finished, and others were in the midst of their visitations.

Of course the highlight of our trip was today, when we picked up Bryce from the Babyhouse for good. It was a pretty quick exchange, actually. We left a written statement for their records, said goodbye to his caretakers, and we were off. Bryce was lucky to have one caretaker in particular that was very close to him, and it was hard for her to see him go. He cried quite a bit at the Babyhouse (I'm sure he knew something was up), but once he got in the car, he was fine. I think he was fascinated by the scenery. We also went to the SOS Clinic for his medical exam that was required for his US visa. It was quick and painless, and at least now we know for sure how long he is and how much he weighs. He was very well behaved for it all. We also stopped by the Lufthansa office to purchase his tickets home.

Other than that, we spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to take care of a baby! We changed our first diapers and tried to figure out eating and sleeping. This has been challenging so far, but I'm sure it will get better. We were provided with Bryce's schedule at the orphanage, which so far has been followed very little. We were able to make him laugh quite a bit today, which was lots of fun. It was also nice to see how he progressed since we left 3 weeks ago. He now has 4 top teeth, and walks holding on to your hands.

Tomorrow we have our appointment at the US Embassy, and hard to believe but late Thursday night (ok early Friday morning depending on how you look at it), we take off for home!

Here he is....on his first day with us. 

Legroom for Chuck - on one of three flights, anyway!