4/29/04 11:34PM


We are HOME!!! All the kids met us at the airport. Very nice! Bags arrived—No problem.. Dima thinks it’s cool that Julie has a car—he wants to ride with her. Marie bought a 1973 muscle car (oh great). I went with her to see the car (it’s really cool—but I warned her that the 70s were not a very good time for American Cars and expect it to be a money pit) We continued our tradition of stopping at In-n-Out after airport pickups—The kids are not crazy about burgers—they ate fries for the second meal in America.. I’m sure they’ll be happy to have home cooked food (we’re going to try to keep it close to Ukrainian for the first few weeks).

Dima and Matt are in bed.. Tanya is upstairs but we decide it’s time for the big people to hit the pool! Julie, Emily, Tanya Catherine, mom and I swim for an hour or so. We let Tanya call back to Ukraine and let them know she made it…


It’s good to have our family all together!


Thank you for following along--- and stay tuned. We’ll continue to update on progress and I’ll work on getting the web site in order over the weekend!






4/29/04

9:18pm EDT

It was an uneventful flight from Paris—nice actually. There were a few “antsy Dima” moments, but for the most part both kids did a great job.

As we were landing, I pointed to the ground to show Dima America--- he was soooo excited. “Tanya, Tanya—America, America”—Tanya replied in Ukrainian—“no Dima, France” Straight face—Dima was heartbroken—our entire section of the plane got the joke—poor Dima didn’t. He was convinced that we never left France. I was finally able to convince him that indeed that was America out the window.

Immigration in Cincy was a snap (I’m a little disappointed. I missed the “event”. I went to get the luggage and was going to meet them back at immigration—we were told it would be about 20 minutes until they could get to us--- about 10 minutes later James and Catherine came with mom to meet me at the baggage claim. Brand new Americans.) Customs was easy (for all the shopping we did, we got very little stuff—I am on family leave ya know—no paychecks). We rechecked our bags to Las Vegas and went up to get a rental car to visit with family. Papa machina??—(hey dad, you’re not supposed to be driving a car—that’s Yuri’s job).

First American Meal—French Fries at LaRosas. Somehow wires got crossed—we waited and waited and we were alone at the restaurant. No Cincy family. We never did confirm with everyone, so we figured everyone was busy or didn’t get the word. Decided to drive to my sister Kathy’s house to see if she was home—Nope—she went with everyone else to meet us— Sing it Dr John….“It must’ve been the right place but the wrong time..” Okay—we’ll try again. Scratch lunch—we ate—how bout ice cream? Deal—We meet everyone for Greaters.. It’s great to see one and all. Sorry, my one sister couldn’t make it, but the rest of the “fanm damly” was there! It was a great time- Catherine and James (we can’t convince them to use the diminutives yet) got to meet their Meemaw and the aunts, uncles and cousins. They were great –impressive, especially considering how long we’ve been on the road.

^5:45 Time for pictures, hugs and back to the airport, through security and onto the plane. The nice lady at the gate was able to change our tickets so that each of the kids could have a window and (bless her heart) gave us a couple of the only empty middle seats on our 737-800 to Vegas—Room to stretch out and nap—a good thing—it’s 4:18am in Ukraine.







10:00am EDT

Greetings from 39,000 feet above Newfoundland.

The night at the hotel was wonderful. A great hot shower, wi-fi internet access, croissants and hot chocolate for breakfast—. 100% worth the money and the effort.

I was totally wrong about getting back inside CDG airport. We laughed when the lady at the airport said just be sure to be back an hour before the flight. We didn’t want to have to rush through security again. Well, the folks in Paris continue to surprise. We got on our hotel shuttle at 7:10 and we were at the gate by 7:40. Passport control and security were detailed, but very fast.

CDG is a great airport and despite the fact that we had to ride a bus to a remote plane parking lot (whatever they call it) and up stairs to the plane, everything was fast, easy, and smooth. Oh yea-- we’re happy to report that the cleaner’s strike is over—the airport is spotless. If you can connect here, we’d recommend it.

We are 5 ½ hours into the 8 ½ hour flight. The kids have been very good (so far) on the plane. They did not have the kid meal as requested for Dima—so he picked at his salmon pate (as we all did). In-seat entertainment is a good thing. Lots of channels of movies and TV. Plus music and games… and my faves the “where are we? GPS screen” and “the nose camera so you can watch outside screen”. TIP: Check your flights before you go to make sure you are so equipped. (sometimes you’ll need to switch airports— last we checked, Northwest has in-seat on the Detroit flights—but not Minneapolis, Or just a different flight out of the same airport will work. (Usually 777s, A320s and 747-400s have the in-seat stuff. 767, DC-10/MD-11 do not.