Happenings in Kaz..........

Here is our happy little cutie!!!!!




Sunday we went with the other couple, Chrissie & Jeremy to the “mall” which is a short cab ride from our hotel – it was another beautiful day and we came across a beautiful park with a reservoir and they were holding a very big feast type fair with food stands and music and dancing, kids rides and adult rides – none of us were brave enough to attempt the giant bungee ride though. We walked around and enjoyed the culture – it is so funny how people know we are Americans and I was even accosted by a drunken old Kazak man who was a lot more friendly then we’d like. Most people are just not friendly – no one really nods hello or gives a smile – even when went to a pizzeria – they didn’t have an English menu & in my attempts to explain what we wanted I motioned to the women behind the counter for a smile from me to her and she wasn’t having it – we were successful for the most part on getting pizza and I would guess it is the closest thing we’ll see to our pizza here!!

Monday Early visit
Nicholas we all smiles when we walked in his room – it was cute, he was fighting his caretaker to get out of her arms into ours – she was dressing him and he wasn’t having it so we did dress him together. It feels wonderful to see him react to us in such a positive way and although they tell him we are his Momma & Poppa he is still to young to understand what that really means since all he has known his caregivers. It also makes me happy that his caregivers and the baby house staff that discreetly observes our interactions with him see how well and happy he is to be with us. I’m sure they have no doubt about our love for him and that he is very happy to be with us.

Tuesday visits
We spent another great day with Nicholas………we had the cutest little example of how much he is learning from us, usually when we leave him in his room after a visit we say Paka Paka (bye bye) and give him kisses and as I am walking out of the room I turn and blow him a kiss – I have been doing this pretty much after every visit, well out of the blue he blew us a kiss when we were walking around with him – Dennis was amazed and asked how did he know to blow kisses and I explained that when we leave I do that to him – we were we so very amazed and happy!! He is starting to verbalize a bit more – much of it we don’t understand although when his caregivers speak to him he does listen very intently. We believe he is starting to understand and speak more as yesterday we were walking and he was hymning along very happily ( we did get that on video and it is priceless). I sing little tunes to him repeating his name and he does respond to it. When we picked him up at his room all the other little cuties were on potty’s and Nicholas was looking under his little bed – Dennis quietly walked up behind him and I called out Nicholas – he turned – didn’t even see Dennis standing next to him and came running. We are always amazed at things like this. Sorry if these stories are not every exciting to others but to us it is what we live for. I am writing these thoughts down as they happen when they are fresh in my mind and then post them at a later time.

Additional things we have learned or experienced. All of the automobiles here are stick shift – no automatic vehicles here. Most of the vehicles we see when we are in town are expensive cars like Lexus, Mercedes, BMW’s, and even a hummer for a wedding. Seems the people who have vehicles only buy the most expensive. They have eliminated the left side cars in country but grandfathered those in that already had them so you do see them quite a bit. Everyone here also has the most hi-end cell phones. Another thing we see all the time is when someone gets married they decorate the cars with the most beautiful flowers on the hood, roof and trunk and drive around blowing the horn.

This morning is the first time we experienced loss of power but it was only for about 20 minutes. Everyone for the most part in our group has experienced some type of stomach problem and since we are not centrally located our food choices are very limited so everyone is pretty tired of the menu at our hotel. It is a bit difficult when you don’t speak the language and they don’t have an English menu although I must admit although I never really played charades I have been doing well with communicating with folks on things – I actually surprised myself with this and am the first one to try and communicate when the need arises.

New Photos!!




Nicholas helping carrying the camara bag...............


Nicholas & Poppa playing in the play area....



Poppa teaching Nicholas how to blow bubbles - he learned quickly and loved it!!