Miscellaneous Trip 2 Memories

One thing I'd like to say is belated Happy Father's Day to my father, Jim's father, and of course to Jim. We were all a little disconnected on Father's Day this year. Jim, the newly father of three, was on the marathon trip home from Russia and, ironically, not able to be with any of his three children. Jim's father was being Grandpa (and being the man of the house while we were away) to his grandchildren, which I suppose is kind of like re-living fatherhood all over again. My father was also enroute home from a trip, and not able to see or hear from any of his 4 children. It was a strange one, to be sure. But the fathers are all so important, rest assured they were not forgotten. I am so thankful to Jim for being such a good father that he is willing to travel three times to Russia (bearing in mind that he is not a traveler, has no desire to be a traveler, and does not enjoy the "adventure" of traveling). I credit him with putting our judge's mind so much at ease during our court hearing that she had no question that he would be a great father to Owen. Jim's father we are so thankful for being here for the kids at home, and holding down the fort (not to mention cleaning our stinky trash cans!). And my father, I'm thankful for all the ways he has helped me and been a wonderful dad. Without him instilling in me a love of travel and a curiosity about the world, I probably would never have come to Siberia to meet Owen. And I'm still waiting for him to finish his novel about Russia that he outlined so many years ago, when he was exploring his fascination for the country and it's history.

So more about Trip 2....Owen's baby home goes to what they call "summer camp" every year during the summer, so that is where we visited him this time. Summer Camp is about 40 minutes outside of the city, and involves a drive into the hills (which, according to our translator, are "just like the Swiss Alps". I was not going to argue that point...). The funny thing is, the Summer Camp home seemed almost identical to the winter home to me. But to be fair, it did have a nicer outside area for playing. And they seem very enthusiastic about the kids being able to breathe fresh air outside of the city, and being outside. I think it is just nice that they even care about things like that. They seem to really want to give these kids the feeling of going to the "dacha" for the summer, and that is a big part of the Russian culture.

You may notice that the weather is slightly better than the weather in Feb/March. It was so nice to be there during this time of the year. It was mid-70s and pleasant (aside from the mosquitos, and the hotel maids who seem to have a strange sense of humor by leaving the windows open in the room every day...windows with no screens). It did rain some, but there were other times when the sun was shining and it was almost balmy. This makes SUCH a difference in the general ambience of the place. Not to mention our moods. It was so much better than the Siberian Winter. Plus, they have really long days. Now, this probably did not help our bodies to the 13-hr time zone difference, as it could be 10:30pm and still look as bright as if it was 5pm at home. I'm not sure what time the sun rose, but it was early enough that it felt as if there was no night at all (and we were up pretty early for plane rides and court trips). It was an eerie feeling of the day never ending, in more ways than one. White Nights is what they call it in St. Petersburg where there is a celebration. I think maybe the nights are even shorter in St. P than Novokuznetsk.