Touch down at Ohare Int'l on Thursday....

Wednesday AM here in Kaz'....that makes it 9 pm in Chicago and the Heartland. On Tuesday that is.

Got the flights changed to leave here on Thursday at 2 AM...and should be at Ohare on Thursday afternoon with America's newest citizen in tow. It will be exciting time...getting there, and then once we are home.

There are lots of Christmas trees and Santas around time. Sorrta surprised me there are so many, and I know understand they do celebrate...but there is no day off...and I have not seen any religious displays either.

Daniel and I enjoyed some Chicken wings for dinner. BBQ style. Plus some French Fries...he enjoyed those too. And this morning for breakfast, he seemed to enjoyed his pancakes with Chocolate...and then a couple with Sour Cream...and a few more with Molasses. Papa tried 'em all, but does prefer the Molasses by far over the other two toppings.

We should done at the embassy by the time the sun rises over the heartland. Then off to the airport to wait a few hours...and spend the rest of our tenge. It takes 12,000 tenge to make $100 US. Food and beverages are very inexpensive, and the meals have been good. Quite the variety of dishes and assorted fresh veggies and such. Plan to celebrate our last meal in Kaz with a Banana Split for lunch...along with a couple of bowls of borsh.

Thanks all. Do keep a look out for Lufthansa 430 out of Frankfurt at 10 AM and due to fly over Motown and or Fort Wayne around 2 pm Eastern. Papa and Daniel will belooking down and waving bye bye.

Daniel Jake and Papa

Tuesday afternoon in Almaty

Hi All

Enjoyed a good breakfast with Daniel here in the hotel. They have some sort of Molasses side dish and a thick chocolate pudding. Both of us loved it...Daniel more the Chocolate...and Papa the molasses. Yummy.

And I just finished my first, and last, dish of horse. Even Daniel ate a few bites. Some of the slices tasted like beeef, other slices....not so good. Plus there were pieces of fat in there too. I left those behind. The borsh soup is very good...and seems to be enouyght to fill up Daniel. He is a good eater.

Will get some more shopping in here later. Even after just three days, I have experienced the sadness of my son at Papa not buying him everything in the toy store. I know this has been experienced by many readers of our blog. My frustration was furthered by the fact that I could not get him to understand that NO meant Mama and Papa would get him a few toys in America.

We are doing well. Keep those posts coming!!!

Love, Daniel and Steve