I had this long blog written and at the end I lost it.  AAAH!  So I am going to make this short. We took the kids to Disneyland Paris this weekend for Riley's 9th birthday.  We all had a great time.  We spent 2 and a half days at the park and one day we took a bus tour through Paris.  We were planning on going into the city on our own but the kids woke up with colds and were not feeling that great so I didn't want to drag them around the city.  The bus tour ended up being the best way to go. We spent the morning driving around the city taking photos from the bus.  It was a beautiful sunny day but it caused a lot of reflections in my pictures.  We got on a river boat near the Eiffel Tower and cruised down the Seine to Notre Dame where we had lunch.  After exploring Notre Dame, we cruised back up the river to the Eiffel Tower.  I was so excited!  This was the one place I have been wanting to go since 9th grade French class.  We got up to the first floor and looked around for about 5-10 minutes and were talking about going up to the second floor when alarms and evacuation announcements sounded. We waited around to see if they were false alarms but they weren't.  We had to be evacuated from the Eiffel Tower!!  I was so disappointed!  Oh well, we will just have to go back :)

I keep saying that today I will update our blog and I never do.  But today I realised that it has almost been 3 months!  I will try to do better. We had a great Christmas!  We went back home to Snoqualmie and saw family and friends.  We also went to Arizona to see our parents and so Matt could play golf.  When we got back home to Snoqualmie we woke up one morning to the sound of our roof blowing off!  Well not quite the whole roof, but about an 8 foot section. We were worried that we could not get in repaired before we left to go back to Moscow but everything turned out OK. Things have been quiet since we have been back in Moscow.  Riley is playing basketball on the weekends and indoor soccer after school on Wednesdays.  Matt is still playing goalie for the expat soccer league on the weekends.  Megan and I have just been hanging out around the house.  I still haven't really looked too hard into finding a nanny.  The weather has been really weird.  The last month the temperature during the day has been above freezing so everything is sloppy and muddy but it's still too cold to spend too much time outside.  Usually I don't mind winter but this year I am definitely looking forward to Spring. Riley turns 9 on Thursday!  Since he was born on Valentines Day, the kids always have partys at school and his birthday is just part of it.  This year they are not celebrating Valentine's Day in the classroom like they do in the States so I am going to bring in cupcakes for him to share with his classmates.  I think he's excited that he gets his own party and does not have to share it with the holiday.  Next week is Mod-Winter break and we are going to Paris for a few days.  Riley wanted to go to Euro Disney for his birthday. We will only have a day in Paris but at least I can say we've been there.  Happy Valentine's Day and I will at least put our photos of our trip on the website when we get back.

I know that every time I post to the blog I promise that I will try to more often, but we are still having the worst you time with our Internet.  I will keep this short and just give the highlights.  It has been pretty quiet around here so there are not many.

First off- Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American family and friends.  It was strange to be away from home on such a big holiday.  Riley still had school and Matt still had to work.  We were able to have a very nice dinner here with a few friends and a Thanksgiving dinner ordered from the cafeteria at Riley's school.  It was very nice and included an 8 kg (17 lbs)turkey. Thats something you do not usually see in Moscow.  

Riley and Megan are doing well.  Megan is getting so big and understanding and doing things we ask here to do.  Its fun to see her doing new things all the time.  After months of teething she has finally gotten all of her teeth through and is much more comfortable and not chewing on everything.  Riley is doing really well at school.  His class has been studying space so the class went on field trips to a planetarium and Star City which is were the cosmonauts live and train. Riley took some pictures of his trip (the first time he has ever taken pictures) and I will post them on the site.  It was really something that he was able to go.  At the last minute most of the teachers were not allowed to go.  We are not sure why but I think it is because they are embassy employees. For PE they are having swimming lessons in the new pool that just opened this fall.  Riley is also starting basketball this week which will keep us busy. 

Matt has been busy with work and traveling quite a bit.  Matt was in Cannes, France for a few days for MAPIC then flew to Milan, Italy.  He also took a lot of pictures that I will try to post.  He has also been to Krasnodar, which is in Russia somewhere.  This week he will go to Novorussysk, another place that is somewhere in Russia. 

The weather has gotten pretty cold.  There were a few days of heavy snow which was fun.  But now it has warmed up and is raining so everything has turned to slush.  The river froze over for a day now it looks like there are little icebergs. 

I hope that everyone is doing well.  We are excited to be going home for Christmas in 3 weeks (23 days to be exact!).  It will be nice to have a little break before coming back to our crazy life here.

It has been a good week except for the fact that we have not had Internet since last Thursday.  You don't realise how much you need it until it's not available.  Things have gotten easier at home.  Megan has become a little explorer since we have moved and she gets into EVERYTHING!!!  For the first couple of weeks there were no cabinet locks and no gate at the bottom of the stairs so needless to say that I was exhausted at the end of the day just chasing her around and cleaning up after her. This week Matt put in cabinet locks and the landlord installed the gate!  I can relax a little now.  I can also sleep a little better now because when the landlord installed the gate, they also installed the curtain rod in our bedroom.  Now I don't have the huge CASIO sign across the river keeping me awake.  Riley has had a great week too.  Since he has been such a great kid since we came to Moscow, we bought him the PSP he really wanted.  The rule is that he can't play video games until his homework is done.  So Riley comes right home after school and gets right to his homework, no questions asked!!  It has been great!  Lets hope he keeps it up.  This weekend we are going up to the Moscow Country Club for Matt's Final Swing tournament.  We are all looking forward to it.

We have made it to Russia!  Sorry for the delay in updating the blog.  Our life has been a bit crazy, but I feel we are finally settling down into a routine. 

The trip over went well.  We were able to bring our cat Abby, which I was really worried about.  When we arrived in Moscow, we were living in Matt’s one bedroom apartment.  Megan had her crib in the bedroom with us and Riley slept on the sofa.  It was a nice apartment but it had its quirks.  The TV didn’t work and every time we turned on the air conditioning and something else at the same time it would blow a fuse.  The temperature was in the 90’s and the apartment was always so hot.  Finally after the heat wave was over, the landlord sent someone to fix the fuse.  Eta Rossiya- That’s Russia.

After about 2 ½ weeks in Matt’s apartment we moved into our new apartment.  It is just across the Moscow River from Matt’s apartment.  We are pretty happy with what we found. The apartment is in a beautiful building that was built in 1952. My landlord said that our apartment was for people high up in the communist party.  It is just across the street from Evropensky shopping center which has the metro, grocery store and lots of shopping!! Very convenient.   We have views of the Moscow River and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building (one of the seven sisters) out the front and views of the city and the Ukraine Hotel (another of the seven sisters) out the back.  Behind the building is a park with a playground and basketball/soccer court.  The apartment has hardwood/tile floors with no window or floor coverings so it can get pretty loud. As soon as we get curtains and carpets I think it will help.  We are having a little trouble with our landlords providing what they had promised.  We have been living here since the 4^th and I just got a microwave two days ago! It is the end of the month so hopefully they will get things done before the rent is due.

Riley is in 3^rd grade this year at the Anglo American School.  There is a van that picks him up from in front of our building and takes him the hour to and from school.  His teacher this year is Ms. Favilli.  She is really wonderful!  She is a combination of tough but loving.  She is really getting Riley whipped into shape.  Riley has made a few good friends already.  One is Russian and the other is Korean.  What better way to learn about other cultures than from your friends.  Riley is playing soccer on the weekends in the Moscow Youth Soccer League.  He has been playing goalie a lot (like his dad) and is really enjoying it.  He has been such a trooper through all of this.  He has not complained at al.  However he has been missing his friends back home.

Megan is doing great.  She has been cutting 6 or 8 teeth since we have been here and so she has been a bit cranky.  However, if I was not feeling well and was away from home I think I’d be cranky too. When we first got here she would not eat. But now she is eating constantly.  I think she is feeling better and more settled.  We went to a new baby music group yesterday.  She absolutely loved it!  She was so excited to see other babies.  I think she is missing her friends.  One thing that has taken a little to get used to is that this city is not baby friendly AT ALL!  There are no ramps or changing tables anywhere!  There are stairs everywhere, going in and out of buildings, under the street and the metro.  Something that surprised me about people here is how nice they are about offering to help.  There are more times than not when I am pulling Megan up the stairs or pushing her down the stairs that someone will stop and help me lift her the rest of the way.  The people here have such a tough outer shell but they really do have big hearts underneath. 

Matt’s job is doing well.  He really likes what he is doing.  He is working hard and long hours.  He has already been on a trip to Krasnodar!  He is also playing golf on the weekends at the Moscow Country Club.  Since we have been here he has won another tournament.  I think that is four this year! 

As for me, I have not found a nanny yet (I haven’t really tried very hard) so I haven’t done much.  I did join the International Women’s Club and the American Women’s Organization.  At some point I hope to join some of their interest groups so I can meet new people.  I was looking forward to getting involved with Riley’s school again but we live so far away that it is difficult to get there.   

So far, things are going very well.  For me it is a little strange to be back in Moscow.  Some things are exactly the same but many things are completely different.  Starbucks knew I was coming and opened their first store in Russia two weeks after we arrived.  It just happens to be in the Mega Mall that Matt worked on when we were here last time.  I have only been able to go twice to buy my almost $10 Carmel Macchiato but it was well worth it. 

This is running long so I will stop and post this.  I will try not to go so long before updating.  We miss you all!