Wednesday, October 7th, my dad and the kids dropped Josh and I off at the Des Moines airport. We were both anxious and nervous and excited and just feeling very overwhelmed. Our first flight took us to Chicago and we had a few hours to kill so we had dinner at Chili’s in the airport and shared an expensive caramel apple. We also discovered that we had forgotten a few things, but it was too late to do much about it! Our next flight was approximately 8 hours long, over the Atlantic Ocean, with Lufthansa. Josh was pleasantly surprised by the airline food and we both got excited about the movie options. For anyone who hasn’t taken such a long flight in awhile (or ever on Lufthansa as I don’t know how much it varies by airline or plane) each seat had its own interactive video screen with all kinds of viewing options including tv shows and 12 different movies plus 8-10 more kid show options! One of the options was a movie that Josh and I had wanted to see together but hadn’t come to the theatre near us, so we first chose to watch it–”My Life In Ruins”. (Not “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” good, but a generally fun watch!) My headset didn’t work very well so when that movie was over I just rested and watched Transformers 2 over Josh’s shoulder. We had a four hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. It was exhilirating to have made it over the ocean and to know that we were in Europe, but the wait was long and boring and our feet hurt from the long cramped ride over. We were also still nervous about our bags and customs and getting into Russia etc. We arrived in Moscow around 11:30pm local time (I’m doing this from memory, my times may be off, but I know it was way late.) and we had no problems at customs. My friend Yana was there to meet us and I was so happy to see her again! She helped us until my friend Lena arrived and took us to her place for the night. On the way, we stopped at a gas station and got bottled waters to drink. It stuck out to me because the last time I’d been in Russia I’m pretty sure the only bottled water they had was glass bottles from the local mineral springs and most gas was purchased from big trucks at the side of the road!
Our first full day in Moscow it was cold and rainy–not ideal for sightseeing. We went souvenir shopping on Old Arbat Street and had a Cafeteria-style Russian lunch with Lena at a fun restaurant called “My-My” or “Moo-Moo” in English. 
Then Yana met us and took us to the largest book store in Moscow and bought me some cookbooks and then took us to see the new temple. I’m sorry, it’s late and I don’t remember all about it, but I know I saw a show about it on the History Channel not long ago. 
But by the time we got there it was late and closed, so we went to meet Lena again and her brother Roma for bowling. The traffic was outrageous! Yana’s GPS friend said that we should arrive at our destination in about 7 minutes–it took almost an hour and a half! Still we had a few minutes to spare so before bowling we checked out a bit of the giant shopping mall that the bowling arcade was located in…Josh was very excited to see a Lego store!
I almost won the second game! Back at Lena’s that night, Josh and I had to repack things for our flight the next day. 
Now Saturday, the rain had stopped and Lena and Albert drove us around for some sightseeing before we had to be at the airport at 3. First stop, Moscow University where there is a splendid overlook of much of the city.
Then it was straight to Red Square!
Some of my favorite buidings to look at! We did not have time to take any tours, but we did make wishes at the entrance and go inside “GOOM” for a Soviet-style cafeteria lunch–very good. But then we left for the airport because traffic was bad and the weather was getting worse again. Josh and I took some pictures through the car windows as we drove.
More to come, please stay tuned. 
(Comments welcomed!)