Our 6th day in Almaty – Day # 60

Sleepy boys








Cable Car station







Almaty is known for its beautiful views.















Lincoln liked his ride down the mountain in the cable car. He just watched out the window the whole time.







New Moms with kids








































Tuesday, April 1, 2008

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY! Our 6th day in Almaty – Day # 60

Our coordinator gave us a surprised visit this morning and took our passports from us for a reason we don’t fully understand. The joke of April fools day may be on us. Do you think it is possible that for a second time our passports will be held hostage till we pay yet another unexplained fee?

** TODAY - Lincoln took 3 steps by himself while practicing with Daddy. He did it a couple times!! **

We had breakfast down stairs again today. Lincoln ate his cereal, a small jar of fruit and some cheerios. He was very distracted today because there were tables of girls sitting on both sides of us. He is so funny, he just sits and stares doesn’t say a peep and if one of them looks over at him he breaks out his huge smile.

After breakfast we went out for a short walk. The water fountain across the street at the Ballet House was running so we went over to check it out. We thought Lincoln would enjoy it but he didn’t care about it. We took a couple pictures over there then started to head back to the hotel when suddenly I heard a beep beep behind us. Car horns are blowing here all the time so I am not sure why I bothered to look but I was so glad I did. The water truck, cleaning the streets was approaching and I needed to high tail it out of there before I got soaked. I just barely made it.

They have been working feverishly to clean this city up over the last week. Also when we arrived plenty of places were doing construction and over the last day or two we noticed that all construction had been stopped, finished or fences had been put up so you could not see it. Apparently they are doing all of this for the Olympic Torch Relay that is coming into town tomorrow. We also found out today that the people who live in the city volunteered their time to get the city clean and ready for this world event. We have seen hundreds of people out cleaning up the city. They actually have a bus that goes around in the morning loaded with people in orange vests and they drop people off here and there to clean. I just found it so super that all these hundreds of people you see out working all over the city are all doing it for free.

We bought ourselves our first true family gift today – a luxury sedan. Lincoln loved it so much he fell asleep just on the short walk back from the store.

As it turned outs Lincoln didn’t love it all day but he did ride in it occasionally through out the day. We were so close to coming home but my back and neck just couldn’t take it anymore. I highly suggest that people don’t waste their money on a Playtex hip hammock. You can have ours if you want to try it out. J I was hoping Eric would take over carrying him since we only have today, tomorrow and 4 hours in Amsterdam left to our journey. No such luck, he didn’t want too. Fine we will spend some big money on this luxury sedan for Lincoln. The last thing we really needed was another stroller we all ready have two at home waiting our arrival.

Lincoln’s nap this morning of course went longer than it normally does since we had plans at 1:00. He ended up waking up as I took him from his crib put his sweater on him then put him into the stroller. I hoped he would sleep though all this but he of course did not. And of course he would not go back to sleep at that point either. He had slept for an hour and half so he really should not have been too tired. We were meeting the Yeomans, Feliciano and the Weiss families in the lobby of our hotel and going down for a ride on the Cable Car. Shortly after we got underway walking to the Cable Car Lincoln started to have a break down and just would not stop crying. We knew he wanted to eat but we were hoping he would be ok till we got to our destination. No such luck, we have to stop and feed him. I sat on the stairs to a department store and proceed to feed Lincoln his lunch. All while the other families waited for us to finish. I felt bad to be holding other people up but our baby was hungry and he was going to cry till we feed him. We did wake him up; I wasn’t going to make him wait for his lunch too. After we feed him we caught back up to the other families and proceed to our destination. When we arrived at the cable car we found out they were not running up the mountain today and that we could take a van to the top. This really stinks but we did walk the half hour to get there we might as well continue on. The van ride to the top was a bit scary. The drivers here are crazy. We nearly rammed another car head on. How he didn’t hit one of the construction workers in the road I have no idea. To make matters worse he is racing up the curvy hill at a much too fast speed and suddenly his driver door flies open. Yes we almost lost our driver. Once we did arrive safely at the top we were in awe it was so beautiful up there. You could see all the mountain ranges off in the distance, the whole city of Almaty was in view and then from the back side you could see the country. Minus the pollution in the air it was so pretty, definitely the prettiest view of Kazakhstan that we saw. It was sort of like a park at the top of the hill. They had a fast car rollercoaster which Eric tried out. He said it was fun. It looked like a lot of fun. There was a huge play ground area for the kids. Our kids were all too young for it. There were little stands selling food and souvenirs. There was a very small zoo area. Lincoln didn’t seem to care for any of the animals. We all ended up having a snack and beers at the restaurant. We sat outside in what felt like 70 degree sunny weather, while all four babies took their afternoon nap. It was really nice and relaxing. We all are headed home this week so we have lots to celebrate. As we sat there the kids woke up one by one. The cable car was running going down the mountain so we were able to experience it after all. They packed the cable car with probably 30 people or more, too many for my comfort level. Lincoln and I had a nice window view and he smiled and laughed and banged the window the whole trip down the mountain. It was so cute watching him have fun that I forget about my fear of heights and enjoyed it. Eric snapped pictures the entire ride down, I haven’t seen them yet but I am sure he got some good shots to share with everyone at home. Once we got down we all walked the half hour back to our hotel. It was a really nice afternoon with our new friends.

Our little Lincoln on the other hand was pretty darn grumpy all day. He never really got over the fact that we woke him up, didn’t feed him immediately and wanted him to stay in the stroller. After he took his afternoon nap he was happier but still not perfect. He likes his stroller but only for shorts spurts apparently. It was his first day in the stroller, probably his first stroller ride ever in his life. In a group of families someone has to have the “grumpy-kid” while that was Lincoln today for sure. Zoe was fantastic she has the most laid back personality. Gabriel was good he cried a little bit but he has such a small cry you barely notice it. The Weiss’s son (sorry I don’t know how to spell his name.) was pretty darn good. He got a little fussy a few times but he was pretty quiet about it. Lincoln was definitely the loudest. Our Lincoln is such a cutie, smiles easily and is usually super happy. But he does not want to wait for anything. When he decides he is hungry he wants to be feed immediately. Or if he wants to get down and you don’t let him he won’t hesitate to let you know he is not happy with our choice. He is a very out going with a huge personality. We are going to need to work on the “attitude” when we get him home. The Nannies did tell us that he was the loudest and strongest kid in his group and we sure do believe them now.

We returned to our hotel at 6:00pm which is Lincoln’s supper time. We gave him his cereal and a jar of fruit since we were out so long today unexpectedly he did miss his afternoon snack. He ate it all happily. After eating he was in his normal super happy mood. We played around with him for a couple hours then gave him a bottle at 8:40 by 9:00 he was sound asleep. He has slept really well the last couple of nights we are hoping this continues.