Finally...Family!

We spent an absolutely fantastic week with 3 of our charming, witty, adventurous children.  We had so much fun.  Elder Pierson commented as we were saying goodbye that the nice thing is that it could have been any combination of our 7 children and their spouses and they would have had just as much fun and been just as good a mix.  We are blessed with a jolly group.

We met Lindsey, Amanda and Aaron (who one day earlier graduated with an MBA from UT with a perfect 4.0) at the airport last Sunday.  As we saw all of the obviously Singapore crew and passengers deplane with no sign of them, we became concerned.
Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty five, thirty minutes ticked by and we were panicked.
The photo from their settling into their seats in Houston assured us that they had made the plane.

 They finally emerged and we discovered the hold up.  Lindsey's passport had been marked M for male and our very feminine mother of 6 had a stare down with the Russian authorities.  "Are you a boy or a girl?"  It took intervention from the Russian consulate and a new visa to make our daughter officially feminine.

After that rocky start, we sailed along famously all week.  Sapsan bullet train to St. Petersburg for 3 days, marveling at the history and culture created by the Romanovs, particularly Peter the Great and Catherine the Great.  Our guide knew everything and anticipated our every question.  Our rental apartment had the patina of a European flat.

The beauties of the Hermitage, Catherine's Palace, Peterhof and the European flavored city.  We loved it all.

Our 3 days showing off our beautiful city of Moscow passed all too quickly.

A jam packed week.  Thanks to their spouses who were troopers.  Welcoming Amanda and Lindsey will be new puppies (these dads are pushovers) and a new car for the Clausens.  

We have the itinerary down, now.  Anyone else want to make the trip? You still have 6 months.   We will make it worth your time.