Wow... It's hard to believe that this time last year we were packing for our first trip to Russia. We left for Russia on Feb 29th last year (Leap day... funny). We were nervous about going to see the little girl that we wanted to adopt, and really nervous about travelling better than half way around the world. Neither of us had ever been out of the country (I had never flown further than Texas). Now that I look back on it, it all seems so long ago now. I would not be nervous about it now, I'm a seasoned world traveler. I've travelled 15 time zones and seen the sunrise over Europe. We have been to the Kremlin and within spitting distance of China. I've stared down the barrel of a Russian T1 tank (Museum piece) and walked the streets of Moscow as if I was in New York City. We got to see the world's largest bell and cannon. And best of all, we got our little girl. How many people can top that? Our daughter speaks English like an American, eats American food, and watches Americn TV. If we did not tell you she was adopted from Russia, you would never guess it from seeing her. She loves her Grandma and Grandpa, all 5 cats (she even yells at them when they are bad). I can't wait to take her to Pennsic with us this year so she can have the experience. I can't wait to see what the next year has to offer.

Well we had more snow today.... about 3" so far. Enough to make a mess, but not too bad. Katya loves to play in the snow. We went out and played for a while until it was time for dinner.

Things are calming down at work now that Dell replaced the server we should be much more stable.

It was a pretty good weekend. We all had fun and nobody broke anything. I was glad I carry the toolbox in the Jeep - Fred had his spring pack come loose and a spring leaf was rubbing his rear tire. We used the Hi-lift to jack it up - I found a use for the Jack-Mate... It dug into the snow & ice and the jack held fast (the flat foot on the jack slipped the first time and dropped the Jeep) - We got it fixed right there on the trail.

Katya had a good weekend at my parents house, it looks like she may have a bit of a cold. She spent last night in her castle - she asked me to set it up for her so I did. I figure she is a good kid for the most part, she deserves something special once in a while.

I got Dell to replace the server at work. Hopefully I'll see it in a week or so.

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Well, tomorrow we will be spending the day at Paragon Offroad Park. It should be a fun day for all. We will have somewhere between 3-6 Jeeps in our group.

It's been a crazy week. I had a server go down twice this week and had to restore from backup both times. It's a good thing that I'm compulsive about my backups... They saved the day each time. Of course it meant a couple of real long days (and nights) but it all worked out. I haven't had much time to blog lately between work and being in Philly. We had fun in Philly and I definitely want to do it again. Maybe next time we'll bring Katya to the Franklin Institute. Katya is doing well, She is actually starting to get out 4 syllable words and her reasoning is getting much better. She really is a smart kid. Tomorrow I am taking the day off to spend with her before we go to Paragon park this weekend. This will be the first trip to the park in over a year I think. We went after I got the Jeep, but that has been a year and a half.

Weekend in Phila

We spent the weekend in Phila, it was pretty cool. Yesterday we went to the auto show, today we are planning a little shopping and maybe the Franklin Institute. Katya is staying with my partets this weekend. We had a nice dinner last night but I think Rain had some bad food... She was up all night with a sick stomach.

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Its been pretty busy at work lately and I haven't really been on the computer much to write. I'm still chugging away at the Russia trip 2 log. Getting closer... a page or 2 at a time. Katya is growing... She started with a 5 1/2 size shoe and is getting ready to move into a size 7. 2T clothes fit well now and by spring she will be moving up from there too.

 

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Katya has a new favorite movie - Peter Pan - the original version. She has to watch it once a day.....

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Snow... more snow and sluch on top of what we already have.

 

I have been working on typing up the journal from our second trip to Russia.

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Its been busy lately. We're plannign a Paragon Park trip for next month, doing Philly for Valentines, and generally runnign around lately. Katya is doing well. I finally got a replacement for my 35mm that died on Ebay.