Home.....for good

Yes.....we've been home for a few days now.  The flight home was as stressful and ridiculous as the other two trips.  I don't know why I would be surprised.  Between the people at Singapore Air and the employees at Domodedovo Airport, we almost missed our flight because nobody could handle issuing Jake an infant ticket.  I had to try very hard not to lose it (multiple times) while the minutes ticked away and the possibility of us having to stay one more night in Moscow became more real.  I just couldn't/wouldn't stay there any more.  Thank God Ilya rushed us to Passport Control and somehow got us through the priority line with no waiting.  But, of course, the plane was delayed anyway.  After finally boarding, we had to wait for the plane to be de-iced in the BLIZZARD in Moscow.  That took a while.  Flying through the blizzard was really fun!  Not.
Jake had a few meltdown moments in the first 3 hours of the flight, but slept the rest of the time.
While starting our descent into Houston, we flew into a thunderstorm and lightning hit the left wing of the plane.  Seriously.  We were looking for the gremlin out on the wing, but he must have jumped off.  The funny part of it was when the lightning hit, the guy sitting next to the window near the wing screamed like a little girl.  Very macho.

Anyway, we've been slowly recovering and getting back on a normal sleep schedule.  Christmas was late, but fun.  New Year's Eve was nice........hung out around here.  Jake is quite the social butterfly and makes friends with everyone!  He was a big hit at the neighborhood NYE party.   The Hall's made an awesome New Year's Day dinner and Gabe got to catch up on playing with Garrett.  Today was Christmas at the Peplau's..........good food and more fun with cousins.  

Overall, Jake is doing great, adjusting very well, and eating everything he sees.  Gabe is getting used to having a little brother.  He's a great helper and very sweet!

Almost time to come home....

Ugh.  We are all tired of being here.  This hotel room is like a shoebox and they are adamant about not letting us upgrade to a bigger room.  We can't understand that one at all.  Food is mediocre, but not much choice otherwise since it's a land of snow and ice.  Thank goodness they have ice cream though.  Dale and Gabe make midnight runs down to the restaurant for ice cream and Coca-Cola (see Gabe below).  I'm getting some reading/writing done for my dissertation.....so I guess that's a plus.  Jake has a fever and has been sleeping most of the day (teething?).
This trip has been sooooooo draining.  Nobody in Russia knows how to smile.  Or be pleasant.  Although the doctor that examined Jake the other day was really jovial and made a few jokes.  It was really nice.  We get to go to the American Embassy tomorrow......YAY!!!!!  After that, we'll probably go out to eat one last time with Ilya. Yes, I'm sure it will be American cuisine!!!  (We tried the Friday's here and it was actually good.  We despise the one in College Station.  Ilya told us that Friday's is THE place to go for really good American food.....hahaha)  We've had more than our fill of Russian cuisine.

Merry Christmas!!!!

This is the first day that we've had with no flying, driving through blizzards or waiting for someone or something.  A day to do nothing!  The only thing I wanted to do today was to be home, but we have a few more days to wait for that.  I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas.

This was the best I could do with Jake sitting still in his Santa hat.

Jake is a riot!!!  He cracks us (and himself) up constantly.  Very happy kid.

We took a stroll this afternoon for snowball fights and fresh air.  

Here we go again.......

Well, we're back in Stavropol after a LONG day and a half of traveling.  This time, we thoroughly enjoyed the flight from Houston to Moscow on Singapore Air.  They're AWESOME!  Food was really good, seats were comfy, and they spoiled Gabe!  I would highly recommend Singapore Air if you ever fly on one of their routes.
Moscow was really cold.  Massive amounts of snow falling all day.  Traffic was horrendous.  I'm pretty sure I was in the beginning stages of frostbite as we waited to board the second plane from Moscow to Stavropol last night.  (You have to take a shuttle bus to the tarmac, then wait to board the plane.........like herding cattle).  Anyway, Stavropol is a bit warmer.  We're only here until tomorrow though, then back to the Arctic.......with Jake!

Luggage is M.I.A........but we're home!!!

All work and no play.......

(Reference The Shining)  I've finally hit a breaking point with sitting in the airport.  Gabe and I took another walk and started having fun with crazy hairstyles.  The mullet is alive and well in NYC!!!!!!

Are we actually leaving this place???

Maybe.......
Playing Hangman and Tic Tac Toe on the iPads here in the terminal.  It's a pretty neat internet cafe.  Can you tell that I'm bored??  Oh....and the fire alarms just went off.  Twice.  I laugh in the face of danger!  Nothing would surprise me at this point.