Day 3 - RyRy's meeting with the city (double click for pics)

Friday, June 30th
We will have a somewhat brief post tonight....
We are running late from the mall (yes, my wife is the only woman I know that can find a mall to fit her needs half way around the world. (One of the many reasons I love her...)

Couple of highlights:

We received several calls from some of you today. Wow, that's the best thing to have someone that speaks english on the other end of a conversation. Kim is really feeling at home as she has the phone with her in the mornings and evenings....again, another thing I love. Thanks to Bob "the operator" for working his techno skills to 3 way several people through skype. We love skype.

I made a delicious pan of hashbrowns with cheese this morning. (well they were eatable) It didn't make us miss the Waffle house. As I was cooking, I realized we had no bread, so Rylee and I ran down stairs to the grocery store. If not for the 5 flights of stairs and everyone looking confused when I speak, I like the handy market.

We had a 12:00 visit with Landen....words can say it as well as a picture...
We played outside the entire visitation time, only to stop for the 2pm meeting with the city department of education. Let me be clear, Landen loves his sister. Every move she made he kept his dark brown eyes clued to her. She was the only one that could make him laugh (until mom started kissing on his ears). We had a wonderful time with him and got to see more of the personality coming out. I also have 2 videos of about 1 minute in length that I will attempt to post soon.

After his play time was over with us, he had a party to attend. His play group was in full mode when we took him back to his room. The picture says it all.

The meeting with the city head for the dept. of ed. went... well I should let Rylee tell everyone since she conducted the meeting. We started with the same questions as prior meetings (why Kazakhstan, income, why adopt, etc..), but the lady then turned to Rylee for the rest of the time (some 20 minutes). The lady was a grandmother herself - she proudly showed a picture of her 3 yr old grand-daughter after Rylee showed her some 20-25 pictures of our house, Landen's room, Her room, Her friends (yes, Jack, Lane, Kera, Ella, the cousins photos, Katie, Trent (she told all about you) and the group from school. Rylee took time on every photo to explain when, why, where, etc.... Just to draw you the picture...This lady had been out for a few days so she was backed up badly, we had been waiting to meet with her and today we again had a long wait, so she did not have the time to listen to a 6yr old give her life story, but she did. Lena, once said "this lady is very busy, we must show the pictures later", but the Lady wanted to continue.... When Rylee finished, we exited with smiles and handshakes, I guess that was very good, the hall was packed with people waiting on their turn (again a 90 degree day and no a/c in the building). Needless to say, we love our daughter very much and are very proud of her for doing a great job.

After that, we saw the beach (not bad at all), went to the mall and a bakery. We will have more to come soon...