RED Square and Kremlin

Well, we finally made it to Red Square. It is another beautiful day today and actually quite warm. It is a pretty good hike, but we just follow the river most of the way. Andrew loves the river. The stroller has been a life saver for Kathlena. She loves to ride in it and go “bump” down the stairs with Daddy.

We stopped and bought the kids ice cream along the way. Who wouldn’t buy Andrew an ice cream with a face like this (pictured below). Andrew and Kathlena both did really well walking. The language barrier is different than I expected. We communicate well urgent needs and do lots of pointing, but what is hard is that I miss what Andrew is talking about in his world. He is seeing all of these new things for the first time and I am missing what is going on in his head and all the questions. I know this is frustrating for him…when he hears someone else speak Russian he wants to talk to them. I am sure it is because he is such a talker, and he longs for someone to understand him. He is very patient with us; he does not show any frustration with us and just goes on to the next thing and smiles.


We took pictures in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral. A very nice Russian woman insisted on taking a picture of all six of us. David had set up the camera with the remote and mini tripod, but she was so nice and really wanted to help us. It was so sweet. We decided not to wait in the very long line to go into the Kremlin though, so we just looked from outside the walls.



We arrived back at the apartment (after over 4 hours hiking) tired and hungry. Kathlena went down easily for her nap today, and the boys are watching Monster’s Inc. for their afternoon down time. Monster’s Inc. everyday may be a tough habit to break when we get home, but I think Andrew will really like getting to play outside instead. On our walk we stopped and picked some flowers (dandelions) and he noticed the ants. He was so enamored with them. Wow! Is he going to go nuts in Houston or what? We have ants the size of a dime (these were tiny ants that we saw here) plus all of the other bugs that I am sure he has never seen.

Tomorrow we finally head to the Embassy. I think we are going to go to the circus tomorrow night. It is the “newer” one, as the 100yr old one did not have a show Wed. night. Alex will be taking us to the Embassy then on to Arabat(?) Street for souvenir shopping. We will have dinner at McDonald’s before heading to the circus. Not a bad plan—we will see if we actually get it all in. David has figured out the problem on the video files so we have more coming soon.