On wednesday we celebrated Ivan's 2nd birthday with the picking up of both kids passports, their medical exams and.... a little birthday party. This started with skyping oma and opa in the Netherlands who were the first to congratulate the birthday boy. This was followed by skyping grandma and grandpa in Dallas a few hours later. He also received some e-cards and e-mails from the rest of the family. The birthday boy was completely oblivious to the special day and was definitely not happy with the medicals on his birthday. For the future adoptive parents, there is really nothing to it. But the stethoscope was enough to freak out Ivan. Luckily he quickly forgot about it and was very please with his little party. We had invited Aiden and Sveta and their parents for cake and balloons. Oksana had bought us two wonderful cakes that everybody truly enjoyed. The Russians know how to make cakes. Both were not only beautiful but also delicious. All kids loved the tons of balloons and the daddies were instrumental in some wrestling competitions!
The plane ride went well considering we traveled with a 2 and a 3 year old who had not been anywhere but a babyhome for most of their lives. Hannah was definitely scared but managed to sleep about 2 hrs. Ivan slept for about 15 minutes and was his own bubbly self the rest of the time. He is very good at entertaining himself but... the toys he loves most are not exactly suitable for the plane. I am sure the surrounding passengers would not have been too pleased with hamering and a bunch of farm songs and animals sounds. So he needed a lot of attention and entertaining. The good thing was that due to the lack of sleep both kids slept the moment they felt their bed and slept all through the night.
The hotel is very nice. Much more luxurious than the VMI. But the room is quite small for a queen size bed, a rollaway and a crib. Luckily Moscow is a lot more entertaining and yesterday we went for a long walk after meeting Val who came to pick up our papers for the US embassy and a wonderful brunch at the hotel. The plan was red square but somehow we ended up at the zoo (that happens when you turn right instead of left!). By that time it was snowing heavily so we decided to return to the hotel where we all napped for 4 hrs!! All refreshed we went for dinner and some hotel exploring, some running in the exercise room which was very interesting according to Hannah and Ivan, and back to bed. 
Today we finally made it to Red Square. Unfortunately is was raining pretty badly but even on a grey day it is an absolutely breathtakingly beautiful place. We took a 1 hr tour with a guide, went inside st. Basil cathedral which is unlike any other church I have ever been in . I really have to read up on its history again so I can relate to everything we saw. Both kids were absolutely wonderful the whole time. As a reward we had coffee and juice and some pastries inside GUM (the most beautiful shopping mall I have ever been in. Also the most exclusive one I guess. I don't think I can afford anything for sale in there!)
Both kids are now napping and that is how I ended up in the lobby of the hotel catching up on e-mails etc. Both Hannah and Ivan are still doing wonderful. It is so much fun to see how they are warming up to each other and especially how Hannah is starting to take the role of the big sister. Ivan bumped his head yesterday and Hannah walked over to him and gave him a big hug. She is also suddenly starting to say a lot of english words (2 pillows, be careful, kalidan (transl. go lay down), go see mamma, yup, no, etc. Ivan still doesn't say much besides 'up', mamma and pappa. But he understands a lot.
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