Almost Home

Last night we endured a 17 hour train ride which began Thursday at 4 p.m. from Simferopol, Ukraine in the Crimea region and ended at 9:13 a.m. in Kiev. We went straight to the Notary to get the power of attorney documents finalized so that I (Drew) will not have to return to finalize the adoption once the 10 days is over. I was also supposed to sign a form at the U.S. Embassy. Unfortunately, the Embassy was closed as they are celebrating Independence day today or at least the free day off of work. After some discussion, we will be working it out in the states and Jen will bring the forms back with her.
It seems like a long time ago that we arrived here in Ukraine. A lot has happened in the last 3 weeks. We are definitely ready to return home however and see our boys and sleep in our beds.
With our court date happening sooner than expected, we were able to spend time with Oxana, who stayed with us as a translator last October when we hosted the girls. We rented a car for 4 days with a limit of 250 km per day or 1000 for the trip. We returned the car with 988 km driven. We visited as many sites as we possibly could. We enjoyed the beach, a quick scuba diving trip, a few churches, some castles, old government mansions, and lots of farmland and vineyards. Driving was not as bad as we read about or were told by the locals, but still more chaotic than in America. It was nice to have some freedom and not depend on others to get us around. Below are some pictures from Crimea.

A palace on the way back from Yalta.

This is a Tatar palace called Bakhchisaray near the Uspensky Monk monastery.

This is the monastery, built right into the rock.

Another palace on the way to Yalta, near Alushta.

Jen getting ready to scuba dive in the black sea.

And, another palace, between Alushta and Yalta.

And one more. I believe this was the Fortress of Duke Voronsov. I really should have been taking better notes.

Jen and Oxana in front of an orthodox chapel with a beautiful view of the Black sea from behind.

I am going to try and find all of the names of these palaces. I can't remember them now! I should have been writing them down as we went along. But, as you can see, we had a great time visiting beautiful Crimea with Oxana. Thank you so much!!! We'll be home soon! JR and I just counted the hours and we figured we will be landing in 24 hours. Yippee!