Keeping it Short...maybe not

OK, I'm going to try to keep it short today because its late and I'm pretty tired.

One of the many good things that happened today is that it didn't rain! It was fairly chilly, especially when the breeze picked up, but it didn't rain, at least not that I saw.

After an uneventful morning we headed to see Nick at our regularly scheduled time. Although he definitely warms up quickly, he cried once again when they brought him out to us. It makes me sad that he isn't happier to see us, but that will come over time. He's pretty easy to soothe, especially when we pull out the Cheerios.

Today we were in the room I affectionately call the Locker Room. It is the room with all the lockers with the childrens things, and it is the room between the play area and the outside. It is probably the absolute worst place to try to play with Nick because there are lots of distractions. I think I've said this before. Today was not any different.

We played with the Monkey/Elephant Train again and then we pulled out the stacking and sorting cups. Nick really liked these and they provided the entertainment for the bulk of our two hours. Nick really enjoyed putting the shapes in one container, moving them to another and then putting the top on. He also picked up the concept of putting the blocks through the holes in the top but had a bit of a hard time with which shapes go in which holes. It was fun and we'll be bringing that one back tomorrow.

Toward the end of our visit Nick seemed to get restless and I think he really wanted to go back to his groupa. I don't think he's used to this much one on one time and I think it might be stressing him out a bit. I do think his cold is improving, hopefully by the weekend it will be gone!

Tonight we had dinner with Ron and Dinia at their apartment. A young Russian friend of theirs also joined us. It was soooo wonderful. Their apartment is beautiful and they have quite a collection of Russian Artwork. What wonderful reminders of their time in Russia when they land in their next destination! Also, Dinia shared the book she has put together with pictures and notes from all the adoptive families they have met with over the past several months. This book is so special. Ron and Dinia have touched so many people at such an important time in their lives. We feel blessed to have met them.

We had Beef Stew which was really yummy and had a great kick to it, as well as Nachos for a starter and homemade Apple Pie with Ice Cream for dessert. Bill and I both had seconds!

After dinner we played a card game called, Wizard. It was pretty straightforward, you essentially have to predict how many tricks you think you are going to take and if you are exactly correct you get positive points, if you're off (either positive or negative) you lose points. The game is played in rounds and in the first round you get one card, second round two cards, etc. We played 11 rounds (I think). Anyway, the game was a hoot. It was really fun but I never quite got the hang of it and as a consequence, going into the last round I needed to have a positive round and be correct to get back to a score of 0, yes 0. Bill on the other hand couldn't make a mistake and won by a landslide with 340 points, which according to Ron and Dinia was a really high score. Congrats Bill on a game well played!

Thanks so much to Ron and Dinia for your hospitality and for a wonderful evening!

Bye for Now! Paka!