IT'S OFFICIAL, WE'RE COMING HOME!

Well the final step of the process is done. And it went very easy except for the hurricane like rain that met us as we walked out of our apartment today. And just a small piece of advice, Crocs are a huge mistake in a torrential downpour. Our friend Kim says it was tears of joy from Heaven but we were both looking for the off switch or a huge tissue.

We went to the American Embassy and got Neil's Visa. It was very quick because there was only one other family that was there getting a Visa for their child. But we had to leave everything electronic at the front door and this included the two toys we brought for Neil. So needless to say we a cranky 17 month old on our hands who was pitching quite the fit most of the time. Brandy thinks he was just bored and teething.

In all it took about 45 minutes. If you look at the picture above, Neil is just making sure they've spelled his name right and that it doesn't say Andrey.

So we'll pack up tonight and get picked up at 8:30 tomorrow morning for our trip back home. (Thank God!) If we said we were ready to come home, that would be a huge understatement. Grandma's get ready to wake up early and get Neil out of bed Thursday morning because Brandy and I will be sleeping in.

Our flight from Moscow to Atlanta is flight 47 which takes off at 12:55pm Moscow time and arrive in Atlanta at 4:30pm (3:30pm Nashville time). Our flight back to Nashville is Delta Flight 1529 leaving Atlanta at 8:20pm (7:20pm Nashville time) and arriving at 8:31pm back home. We hope to see you all there.

Quick Update from the Last Day

After Neil's doctor appointment, we walked to the Red Square. It was about an hour walk because I thought I knew the fastest way and didn't want to listen to Brandy's advice (my bad). When we got there we must've had that look of confusion on how to get in there on our face because a woman who was from Chicago stopped us and said, "do you need help?"

She was a grad student studying Art History and knew her way around the area. She walked us down an underground walkway and right into the Red Square. If it wasn't for her, we were considering a huge game of chicken around 18 lanes of traffic, a la the Frogger video game.

So she was a little angel sent from above. :-)

We walked back and then shortly thereafter, Dave and Kim picked us up again and took us to another dinner party at a friend of their's house (also American). It was for a birthday and we got a second straight night of home cooking. And it was awesome except for the part where Neil had another blow-out and dripped all over the marble floor on the way to the bathroom. By the way, this happened as we were all eating dinner and Brandy noticed a puddle forming under him. Gross!

But it was truly another great evening. We can't thank Dave and Kim enough for everything they've done for us the last three days. Kim even went with us to the embassy today just to make sure everything went smoothly. We will most definitely miss them.

Ok. This is the last post from Russia. We'll see you all tomorrow night at the airport.

Paka,

Mommy, Daddy and Neil

Here are a few more pictures from the last two days.

Brandy and Neil in front of Lenin's Tomb

Nice hats

Neil is working on his flexibility as he prepares for the 2020 Olympics

Neil in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square

The Ginsbergs in Red Square