[leeinmemphis]

Hi there!

We have been home for about 3.5 years now and when we adopted we adopted two little boys at once and they were 3.5 and 4.25 years old at the time. I read all these posts about parks and pools and going places on trip 2 with the kids and it just freaks me out!

In Saratov the two days that we had the boys there we did a fair amount of walking along the waterfront, going to eat etc but when we got back to Moscow to do the embassy thing (we got in at midnight on Thursday and left for home on Sat at noon) we didnt leave the hotel room except for embassy, dr visit etc. Maybe we were just too freaked out by going from no kids to two kids overnight but I just cant imagine sightseeing around town with two new preschoolers that we couldnt even talk to and understand.

Did many of ya'll venture out much after you got your kids?

allil

[Amysue1112]

Yes, we went all over the place with Hannah...we even walked from our apt at Red Square to Arabat Street...I would not recommend that...it was WAY to long!

We even rode the subway and just messed around. We didn't do a lot of the things others did...mostly just walked around Red Square and walked the streets. Hannah loved being outside and the weather was nice in May.

I don't know if I would have done so much with 2 toddlers. though..one 11 month old was overwhelming enough!

[votemom]

nope. we did our sight-seeing on trip one.

we were in an apartment for our last trip and we stayed there except for the required appointments. there was a little park right next to it and we did take the girls out to play each afternoon.

my husband and son took the trek to the grocery store every evening after dinner and i stayed in with the girls.

[beckyww]

We were in Moscow from Saturday - Thursday after our adoption in St. Pete in May 06. We went out every day, but Julia was 6 years old. Much easier to guide than a toddler.

Becky
The Woodworth Family in Beautiful San Antonio TX

[ddahl]

We adopted in 2005 and it was a tough year for adoptions all together. We were strongly advised to stay hunkered down on trip two. In fact were were called twice to ensure that we were aware of th epresent dangers and incidents going on in Russia. We did a lot of sight seeing prior to court but once we came back from the bab home we stayed in for two days then we were transferred to Moscow. We took short walks around the Marriot. We had a guided tour of Red Square and some churches. Another family and their beautiful new son accompanied us. We only went out on our own one time. We attempted to walk to Arabat street and got lost. Not fun but the walk was enjoyable. Other than that, I was in with DS. DH did walk a group of three women and babies to the grocery store as their husbands had to travel overnight back to the region for paperwork. He did all the marketing and we stayed in for the most part.

I feel like we missed a bit but we did not feel it was the right time to be taking chances. The climate was very anti-???.

[amyfk]

No, we really didnt see Moscow, which disappointed me. The good news was that our coordinators were so efficient that we only spent two nights in Moscow. The bad news was that my hubby had to get back to work and we didnt have extra time to sightsee. The sightseeing for us was a one hour tour around Red Square and The Gum dept. store. Not fulfulling.
Amy K, NJ

[leeinmemphis]

We spent a lot of time out of the hotel room in the before court and 10 day waiting period but after we got kids we were all about mostly staying in.

Our first trip in April 2004 was right during the AbuGhrab prison deal and they were starting all the beheadings (which were broadcast over and over on the BBC....lovely!) and our pick up trip in June 2004 was right after Reagan died and the whole Anti-American sentiment was kind of high (again, lots of military and beheading stuff going on). We had a couple of instances of "Yankee go home" more to do with being American than adoption since we didnt have kids at the time. We were just walking for exercise down on the riverwalk. My DH (Lee) who is normally not scared of anything was really the one who urged us to stay in more. We were lucky we traveled with another family from our hometown who ended up adopting the baby that we passed on!

allil

[Katie63011]

Lee:

After staying in the Slovakia in Saratov for 20 days, we didn't leave the hotel either. We just wanted to be in a nice hotel and a decent bed for the first time in 20 days! Also, because you don't get your child until a day or two before leaving region in Saratov, we wanted to relish in our new children in private and do nothing but get to know each other. I'm with you, didn't leave the hotel other than a meal and the embassy!

Katie

[jeni-b]

After 16 days in region in an apartment that felt like the walls were closing in on us, arriving at a hotel room in Moscow for another week, I HAD to get out!
We were also there in 2005, but were just told to take precautions and we felt perfectly safe. We didn't spend much time at the hotel at all - a little time for naps if needed and one day when I was sick.
The rest of the time we walked/shopped Arbat, Red Square and any place our translator thought we might want to go.
It might have been different with 2, but I honestly think 2 kids in a hotel room would have been worse for me.

[mschweber]

In Rostov we were not allowed to go out (it is a long story but had to do with the baby home wanting our daughter out before the 10 days were up due to a spreading illness). I got to do one quick trip to the supermarket but other than that we were stuck inside of a very small apartment. It was extremely tough.

In Moscow it was cold so we did one whirlwind tour of Red Square with our agency facilitator and went out for lunch one but other than that we were inside except to go to the embassy.

[RBSVARCHER]

No way!! The 6 hour flight from Chita City Siberia to Moscow and the time difference did us in!! Plus the snow in Moscow and the temperature stopped us too! (Hey we're from Alabama - if it is 50 degrees it's COLD)

DS was so sick with an upper resp. infection, ear infection, sinus infection and was on his second round of antibiotics - who wanted to add to the problems????

DH walked to the grocery store once and McDonalds once and I walked to the kiosks outside of the Hotel by the subway station and that is the extent of our travels outside the hotel on our second trip once we came back to Moscow....except for the US Embassy trip which was short and sweet!!

You are not alone!! I would have rather stayed in the warm room instead of skidding around in the snow anyway!!

We did our sight seeing the first trip in October in the SNOW and the second trip was in November in the SNOW and minus 4 in Siberia!!!! What an adventure that was!!

Susan
Bham AL

[angelkisses0102]

With DD, we did not get her until we were on our way to the airport to Moscow. We had been in region for about a week and visited her daily...thank goodness. Once we got to Moscow, we had to take her to the doctors because she was sick, plus all of the regular running around for photos, doctor visit, getting her clothes that actually fit her (she had not grown at all in the 14 weeks between trips so nothing fit her.)

She was only 11 months old so I put her in the carrier and we walked all over...this was July 2002 and we were in Moscow for about 4 days with nothing to do. She was fine.

With DS we were there for 4 days as well...he was just 8 months old and we bundled him up (it was March 2004) and walked all over again. He was used to being taken out daily...they did this in his orphanage all year round. On that trip we were with a couple who had a 2 year old and they joined us...their little one was fine.

Now, I highly doubt we would have attempted that with two kiddos. But we have so many pictures of the kids in different places in Moscow and I think they will enjoy those at some point.

[bmarsicano]

My first trip was in Oct 05 and my mother and I added some time to spend in Moscow and tour. My second trip was March 06. After spending three weeks in Khabarovsk with 2 blizzards, I got sick. We arrived in Moscow real late on Thursday night around 11:30 pm, and had the doctor visit early Friday morning. My mother did some shopping on Arbat, we stayed at the Belgrad and I was in the room with my 20 month old daughter. We had the embassy visit in the afternoon then went out for dinner and walked a little on Arbat, her in the stroller I brought, then came back in. I would have liked to have taken her to see more sights, but being sick and it being cold it wasn't that great a combo. We had an early flight on Sat morning to come home.

[hopeful_in_Wi]

Obviously I can't comment on the original topic but I did want to say that I have this romantic idea that I'll get lots of photos of my child near/in various landmarks. I intend to do lots more sight seeing on trip 1 and less on 2 but it seems like it is such a great opportunity to get pics of the child in what could be their final days ever in their home country (who knows if we'll ever go back, though it would be great to do).

Am I crazy? Part of course depends on the child and the circumstances at teh time ... if its a scary time, we'll be hunkered down for sure!

[Kasey]

2004 we had two days in Moscow on trip 2, we did go out one day and did Red Square and GUM and the second walked to Old Arbat, but Alek was only 5 1/2 months old and in a carrier, so it was easy. It was August and it was nice out as well, plus it was just a quick trip, you didn't stay in region, train in and out.

Last year, we had several days in region, nice hotel, but only had Maks the last day there. It was November. In Moscow we only had two days, it was cold and dreary but coordinator took us to Red Sqaure for pictures and that is all we did. Maks had upper respiratory issues so I did not want to push it, plus we were pretty much in and out of Moscow.

It was important for us to have pics of the kids at the famous landmarks in Moscow, which is why we did that.