Exploring The World And Roughing It In A 5 Star Hotel and Laughing Our You Know What's Off!!!

First Trip to McDonald's

Well, we ventured out to McDonald's today. It is about 6 blocks away, so not too far to walk. Glad it's not snowing any more! We had to bundle Cassi up in the giant snowsuit, which she hated, but it's a must around here. After we got going in the stroller, she was very happy, kicking her legs. Mom got a Happy Meal so that Kai could have a toy. She saved the box for him, too. We then walked over to the Olympic Center from the 1980 Winter Olympics. There are a bunch of stores at the bottom. I really didn't see what the big deal was, but maybe there's not much shopping around here. It was pretty busy. Tomorrow we will journey to the market by ourselves...

On the way back from McDonald's we saw the port-o-lets that I had heard about. There is a lady sitting in the one on the end (see square hole in door) and from what I understand, you pay her to use the toilet. It's her job to maintain them. People in the US complain about THEIR jobs...

Bathroom attendant

Cassi is very laid back. She snuggled with me on the bed for about an hour last night, content to suck her thumb and look through her family photo album. She loves that book! As soon as Kai learned to crawl, he was outie! I tried to snuggle with him, but most of the time he wanted down so that he could crawl around and play. Cassi also wanted to snuggle this morning as she was waking up.

Last night, Cassi discovered the TV and wanted to touch the screen, which I let her do. She sat with me and we watched the Russian Something Or Other (possibly called Russian Cup) ice skating championship. The skaters were pretty horrible and it was pretty funny. The comentators were trying to be so nice like, "He isn't as big of a lump on skates as he was last year (they were British)". The skaters were from all over the world and very young. Every single one of the pairs skaters fell multiple times during their session. One of the pairs was especially memorable. I had to shield Cassi's eyes! The male kept missing his turns, etc. and then they both stopped all of a sudden, as blood gushed from the guy's hand! It was awful! They put on a bandage and continued on. However, the bandage was not very thick and it was soaked w/ blood. Of course his partner was wearing a white skating dress, so by the end of it, it looked more like a masaser than a skating event! YUCK! Sorry, no picture of this one!

Our room (notice laundry on window)

Here is our room at the Marriott Renaissance, which is 5 star over here. It was the only hotel available for this week with Marriott points. I would prefer our little Courtyard because I kind of knew my way around over there, but we can "tough it out" over here. We have these in the US and I would say they are more 4 star or so.

Anyway, we are STILL waiting on our 3 suitcases to show up since our arrival on Wednesday (it's Saturday afternoon here), so we are having to wash out clothes every night. The outfit I wore here still isn't dry, so I'm still wearing the same outfit mom loaned me. It's brown pants and a brown shirt, aka, the UPS outfit. I've worn it since Thursday!!! One good thing is that people over here just do that for some reason, so it goes unnoticed. Our bathroom and the area by the window with the radiator, look more like a laundry most of the time. My hair is brittle from not having any conditioner. Lotion just isn't the same on the ole hair! No flat iron is bad, too. And, I must have Proactiv and normally pack travel sizes in my carry on, but for some reason didn't do it this time. So, my skin is starting to break out. If you are wondering why there haven't been many pictures including me, trust me, I'm doing you a favor!!! LOL!

If these were normal circumstances, I would be having an awful time. We have everything we need to get by and surely to goodness our suitcases will get here today. The main thing is that we are with the baby and she is doing great and has no idea my hair is brittle or that I've had on the same thing for days and days. The flight the suitcases were on came in at 8:20 this morning according to the online flight status. It is now 2PM, so we are hoping and praying! We have the baby's formula and sippy cup and many, many things that we could really use in there (she isn't on formula now, so it's nothing she's missing). We would have gotten conditioner and baby lotion, had we known it would be this long of a wait, at the grocery store. Roughing it in a 5 Star hotel! LOL! I'm sure they would be happy to charge us $10 or more per item to wash our clothes and who knows what to get us some conditioner. I may try out for "Survivor" after this! LOL!

LATER****

I don't know what happened to my post, but it wasn't saving when it said it was...so anyway, I finally got Cassi to laugh for the first time since we made her laugh at the orphanage and it scared her so much she burst into tears. It was all laughs tonight! I'm giving her a "zurbert" on her cheek when you see the camera move away.

Still no suitcases and it's 7:45 pm. I just looked out and this is what I saw. Let's hope this guy has snow tires!

I wrote a ton more and spent an hour on this "Later***" part, but I don't have it in me to red0 the whole thing.

Cassi loves to do "rasberries!" Mom taught her this yesterday. She was doing them on cue tonight--it was hilarious! See below:

When the guy brings the suitcase, I may just video that! :)