Spasiba / Rachmyet / Thank You

We've secured our flights for the last legs of our trip home, so you can imagine what we're feelin' like around here. It's chaos, but in a good kind of way.

We just want to thank some really special people who helped make our dream come true:

Our adoption agency back home and the local staff in Kaz. You are all stars!

Our new friends Jean & Marilyne (& baby) & Mike & Liesa & family. You made our time in KO way better than expected. We didn't miss home nearly as much as we anticipated because of your friendship.

Wpg friends who helped before and during our trip (& I'm sure after as well). Whether it was gifts or helping set up Ryan's new playroom, or just kind words, you rock! A special thank you to our friends who have "been there, done that" with the whole Kaz adoption process. Your advice has been priceless.

"The Banks" Thank you, first of all, for employing us. Secondly, thank you for your understanding when we left Wpg at the drop of a hat. We know it wasn't ideal, but your acceptance of how quickly this happened is much appreciated.

Auntie, Uncle & the Cousins for looking after our house & mail & going on a shopping spree for Ryan's new clothes. There are a million other things you've done over the last 2 months & we couldn't have done this without you. Seriously.

Dad & Jacky for putting up Ryan's crib (& putting up with us, ha ha) and everything else you do for us all the time.

Howie for keeping up with our blog & for a most useful gift that will roll our way soon. See ya on The Crescent this summer!

Finally, since I've been the blogger of this family, I'm going to take the opportunity to thank my best friend, the most amazing husband ever. Lyle, I thank you for not falling over in fear when I said in December 2007 those 3 little words: "I've been thinking..."

We Got Tickets to Fly

We have SOME of our tickets to fly but we're still finalizing our return flight from Almaty to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to Toronto. The main thing is, we leave KO on Wednesday afternoon! We probably won't have too much time in Almaty, but at this rate, if it means getting back home (and to our own bed) sooner-who cares?!

Ryan is all over the place. Crawling, cruising, dancing, climbing on the furniture. We noticed he's heavier to pick up now too. He's such a great baby, always laughing & doing silly things. He has moments though too. For example when he's sees Mama, he lifts up his arms to be picked up & fusses until I do. I don't mind. For Dada, he starts getting hyper so they can have some wild playtime.

We'll try to post one more time but I think the way dial-up Internet service is here, these photos will be the last ones we'll upload. Who has 20 minutes to post pictures???

"Dokomo"

This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands...

Please sing to the tune of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys
Tip: Ryan's Kazakh name is Dosimjan and sometimes we call him "Doe". Thus the title "Dokomo"

Chorus: Almaty, Astana, come on Mama, Dada
Uralsk, Petro, baby why don't we go
Shymkent, Pavlador, what are you waitin' for?

Verse 1: Let's fly to Kazakhstan
We'll head to a place called K.O.
That's where we wanna go
To bring Ryan home

Verse 2: Your teeth crunchin' dust and sand
Cheap ice cream melting in your hand
We'll be fallin' asleep
To the rythym of a car horn band
Down in K.O.

Chorus: Almaty, Astana, come on Mama, Dada
Uralsk, Petro, baby why don't we go
Shymkent, Pavlador, what are you waitin' for?

Oooooh, I wanna fly down to K.O.
We'll get there slow
And then we'll pick up "Doe"
That's where we wanna go
Way down to K.O.

Homeward Bound (almost)

Thank goodness, Lyle & I are finally getting the hang of this diaper thing. I don't know what we were so worried about. Piece of cake!

We have some exciting passport news. Yes, that would be Ryan's passport and yes it arrived today. So...this means we'll be home in just over a week's time, with all of the "stamping" & processing that still needs to happen. We'll leave KO & spend a couple of days in Almaty first, before starting the journey back. We figured we might as well see something new & exciting while we're still on the other side of the world.

Yesterday, the 3 of us spent the most of the afternoon & into the evening at Mike & Liesa's home (our American friends). Ryan ate spaghetti & meatballs for the first time & loved it. He asked for seconds, and his dad did too, as a matter of fact.

Still to come on our blog: Something that demonstrates we had a little too much time on our hands, before Ryan. Stay tuned...

Smilin' Ryan

Here's the "Money Shot"!

Yesterday, we took Ryan to the market cafe to see if we could order "Borscht To Go". The cashier who likes to look after us, said "Da" so we assumed they must do a lot of take out business. Well, she ended up filling up an empty mayonnaise bucket full of borscht for us to take home. Another funny thing is that she gave Ryan a little present. Now some merchants have given him a banana or an orange. This sweet lady gave him... a full-size Mars Bar! She put it right into his stroller & he threw it on the ground. So, this smiling picture is NOT the result of a sugar rush, just in case you were wondering.

A Week with Mama & Dada

To celebrate our first week as a family, we thought we'd show you our very first family photo and then the photo from "Gotcha Day". In the first photo you can see that for us, it was love at first sight. Ryan needed to get back to us on that one!

We met up with the 4 other adoptive families for dinner, as well as 2 of the translators. Ryan was a very good boy. We brought his meal from home, which was a good thing, since the restaurant ran out of the some of their menu items.

We discovered tonight that Ry loves having his back tickled with a pen (capped, of course).

Future Member of Team Canada

Maybe part of Canada's marathon team?