hoping for a visit tomorrow, then off to St. Petersburg (the real one)

Sorry all my Floridian friends (especially those from near St. Pete), I couldn't resist :)

Today was lots of fun - we moved hotels (okay, that part wasn't so fun) and then our facilitator dropped us off at a small park where there was a festival going on. Her daughter was dancing in it! She is a teenager and involved in traditional Russian dance. It turns out today and tomorrow are Russian holidays - go figure! The celebrations are in honor of independence from the USSR. We watched our facilitator's daughter's dance group, and then our facilitator headed out and we hung out there for a while before heading back to the hotel. I was keenly observing the number of babies and small children with hats and coats - it was at least 80 degrees in the sun out there. Here are some pics!





After that we took a break at the hotel, had a snacky lunch, and walked down to the big amusement park area on a little island in town. The amusement park is always there (at least some of it) but there was a lot going on there today because of the holiday.




Afterward we came back to the hotel and ate at McDonalds.

As an aside: I know you think we always go to McDonalds - so rest assured that last night we went to a fantastic restaurant on the banks of the Volga, where a jazz combo was playing as we sat out on their patio, and I got a fancy coffee drink with a wonderful fish entree and Rob got a White Russian with special Russian style meat-filled pancakes. So we do have some more interesting food experiences here than just Western style stuff. Here are some pics of our evening for proof!






This will probably be our last post for a bit...we leave tomorrow evening for St. Petersburg. We are hoping we will get to visit Meredith tomorrow before we leave, but because of the holiday it's unlikely. Which stinks. When we get back to town (next Thursday early morning) we will hopefully get to visit right away! We will have missed her birthday by just a few days but we will certainly sing "Happy Birthday" and luckily she won't know the difference :) Then the following week, early in the week hopefully, we will be allowed to pick her up instead of just visit! That will surely be a day to celebrate - the day we people in the adoption world call "Gotcha Day"!