More pictures…

Ok, so here are some more pictures of our week in Kiev!!

 

Jake had his first real bath away from the orphanage.  He didn’t like it much, which actually fits right in with our kids at home because they don’t like to be clean either. 

 

I don’t think at the orphanage they actually give them a bath in water.  I think they are sponged and soaped up and that is about it.  He will get used to it and I am sure that he will grow to like them very much.  Right now though, they are quick quick quick!!  LOL

Mommy – GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!

 

On Sunday after we went to church and had lunch, we went to a Kids Store near the Darnitsa metro station on the Left Bank.  I tell you, this store has absolutely everything!  I had to get the kids some little toys there!  These two pictures (above and below) are the windows in the front of the store!

 

 

These strollers (above and below) are EVERYWHERE here!  I would have loved to bring home 4 of them, but they wouldn’t travel too well in my suitcase! :-(  I just love them.  I wish you could find them like this in the states.  I don’t doubt they have them, but they aren’t so easy to find!!

 

 

Myself, Jamie and Debbie – this was after lunch and a good afternoon of fellowship on Sunday.  THANK YOU Jamie for taking us out on the town!!!

 

Just a view up and down the street (above and below) outside the children’s store!  Have I told you that people drive and park pretty much wherever they want around here?? IT IS CRAZY!!!  I have never been a little scared to even walk on the sidewalk for fear that I might get hit by a car!

 

Debbie and I wandered back down to Independence Square yesterday.  The name fits it so nicely.  It was built to commemorate the Independence of Ukraine from Russia during Soviet Times.  It is amazing the freedoms that these people enjoy that just 20 short years ago, they could have never dreamed of.  For instance, a gal that showed us around when we first got here, was telling us about the Mayor of Kiev and the corruption that happens in government here.  I was thinking as she was saying this, that if this were 20 years ago, she would be arrested for talking like that.  AMAZING what a few years will do for a country huh??

 

 

 

Behind the building in the center is where my flat was when I first returned to Kiev with Jake.  I chose to change over to Debbie’s apartment because it was bigger and she had a washing machine.  If you look closely at the building on the left, in the bottom, there is a McDonalds.  Just a block or so from my flat for a few days.  It was nice!!

 

During the summer, they turn on the water at Independence Square.  It was so hot that day and we soaked our feet for a little bit in the water.  It felt so nice to cool off a little bit!!

Jake wasn’t so sure about the water.  I think he thought he was getting a bath!!  Poor little guy!!

 

 

There were several fountains and there were people swimming in them all over.  It was funny!!  However, when I wanted to take a picture, there was no one in the fountain!!

 

We stopped at this swank grocery store (that is our apartment building in the background on the upper right side of the photo).  It was a real gourmet shop and had lots of great things to choose from that we haven’t seen here before!  When we came out, this was parked outside.  A Ferrari, I think.. lots of people were taking pictures!  I wondered if Barbie got out and went into the grocery, but I must have missed her!!

 

More pictures to come tomorrow!!!

Blessings