What an Adventure!!!

 

 



We left our apartment and noon and was told to take our luggage to a concierge at another apartment building. After going the wrong way 3 times we finally managed to get to the right place to check our luggage in. Then we headed out to see what the day held for us. We changed some money and headed to McDonalds for a bite. Luckily they have a picture menu so we (Fred) did really good ordering. Dad you would love the McD's here they SUPER salt everything. After that we went geocaching.

 

For those of you (Tina) that don't know what geocaching is I will do my best to explain it. You use million dollar technology to find plastic... it's kinda like treasure hunting but the treasure is just the satisfaction of finding what is hidden. You use gps and follow coordinates that people leave for you to find. It really is fun and doing it in another country very cool!

 

We walked around for 4hrs and got 11caches, we wanted to do more but the internet connection wasn't the best.

 

By the time we were done we were hungry so we stopped at TGI Fridays, it was nice to read an English menu! We actually hung out there for a long time before we headed back out to see the sites. Here are some pics and side stories we would like to share: 

 

 

Ahhh the minion!!!

 

There were a lot of American stores but I was surprised to see a Claire's

 

Last time we came (about 2.5years ago) there was like one McDonald's now they are like Walgreens; one on every corner!

 

Not a big Sponge Bob fan but my Nephews and Nieces are; there was also a guy in the squirrel from Ice Age suit but I didn't get a pic... bummer!

This was the main street, on weekends they close it down so no cars and drive an it is open to pedestrians

 



 

We saw at least 3 couples that had either just gotten married, were about to get married or were in a play, walking down the street.

Ahh the GAP... I hated it there!!! I love the store but because we stick out like a sore thumb the sales people followed us around the store, I mean like the way Fred follows me when he wants to move me along while I'm shopping (His belly in my back)! I don't think they liked that I was touching the cloths the guy kept trying to grab things first to show me so I would not touch and when I showed interest in a scarf he literally ran and jumped around the store to find me more colors. Then when I picked the one I originally saw he was very disappointed. We went to the line to check out when he started to show us t-shirts that matched when we nicely said no he then showed us tank tops, then socks, then clearance, too pushy I wanted to put the scarf back and leave but Fred said "No, not after all this kid had done lets just buy it and go." We bought it and only after we bought it did I find out it was 32 American dollars, needless to say I was a bit bummed... GRRR!

 



 

Aww I love that guy, he is amazing!!!!

 

 

That KIA building was our landmark, its how we found where we were. If we looked up and saw that sign we could find our way back to where we started!

 

This one is for my niece Deb, even though mustaches are out for you, they still remind me of you!

 

This was our last apartment we stayed in Kiev, it was very nice.

There was a great cache here; this statue was to honor the firefighters that responded to the Chernobyl explosion. (nuclear meltdown)



 

This is the other side of the KIA sign, we were able to get around very easy actually!

 

Hard to tell in this pic cuz it's kinda blurry but this is a sporting goods store and by sporting goods I mean guns... Fred's eyes lit up like a kids in a candy store.

As a lot of you know Fred newest love in guns, what was so funny is that our driver (who was the best driver we have EVER had) couldn't speak much English but had gone on a trip that day with his family to a gun museum and out of the blue while we were waiting (of course cuz that is what we seem to do most with this adoption) he pulled out his phone and started showing Fred pics of a missile and then of him shooting an AK47... man I think they became best friends after that. They didn't know each others language but they both spoke the language of guns. I wish I could have got it on video to watch these to men mime out what guns they like and own was so funny! Fred can't wait to bring him back a hat from home! 

 

This was a street library, you use your smart phone and just scan the code and you get the book for so long I thought this was really cool.

 



 

This little train lights up and was beautiful.

 

Other cool sites we saw!

 

I think it is so amazing that people literally park where ever they want and it's fine with everyone. Those are stairs... geez!

 

They had a lot of different street performers, we stopped at a few. I didn't get a good pic but we sat right by some Ukrainian Rastafarians and they just started jammin'! Then a bunch of drunk guys started dancing really crazy; we got up and left, LOL!

 

We boarded our train to Krivoy Rog and settled in for a 9hr train ride!

 

We are now in our apartment in Krivoy Rog. There are a few English speaking missionaries here so we will have a lot of people to help us get around. The missionary that is renting us an apartment invited us to her church service tonight which will be in English and she is going to show us around this afternoon. Tomorrow is the BIG day we will finally after a year and 2mths get to meet these beautiful children that are going to become a part of our family! Keep us in prayer!