Sunday in Georgia

Our newly repainted and repaired flat!

We arrived Thursday early evening and once our bags were collected (yes, all bags arrived safely) we headed out to the arrivals area to be greeted by nearly the entire family holding a banner that was about 10' wide welcoming Kira and Sandro.  How incredible was that!  Of course there was much squeezing and hugging and all sorts of joyous vocalizing.  

The family swept up the children in such an embrace and we wish we could have taken a photo of it all ourselves but we were within the action ourselves.  We figured that family would come to the airport and had decided that the kids should go off with their aunts if they seemed comfortable with that...and they were.

We were greeted at our flat by "Charlie", our neighbor's new puppy.  Their other dog, a sweetie, had escaped the yard and being a hunting dog we are sure was lured into someone's car and whisked off. So we are all very careful to ensure that the gate is closed when we come and go.  Charlie is a very sweet puppy who enjoys getting petted and is a leaner.  When you pet, he leans against you and just relaxes resulting in his gradual sliding down your leg and ending on his side by your feet.

Yes, there is now one more "American" institution in Georgia.   Last winter we spotted Subway, this summer it is DD!  We tried some donuts and muffins, but they bare little resemblance to those made in the U.S.  Don't know if that is good or bad.  Have not tried the coffee yet, maybe later. 

Also in our neighborhood we found this sign.  Don't you just love it?  It was on the side of a building near a beer garden.

Along with all the renovations are the lack of them.  The restoration skips places,so one can still find doorways that were once grand.  Yes, this has been photographed before and maybe included in a post before.  Marty just cannot resist.

On Friday evening we went to Luisa's Tskineti home up in the hills above Tbilisi, checked up on the kids and had a small dinner, plus it was a lot cooler there than in the city.  The elevation there is enough to make a big difference (1000 meters).

The children were running around and we learned they had had a water fight; were eating ice cream, and in general having a wonderful time.  We had a chance to catch up with adults while they kids were amusing themselves.

Kira and Sandro are posing here with Gabby (beside Kira) and Daniel (beside Sandro).  Daniel and Sandro are Beatles fans so they were listening to music and singing along.  Quite fun!

We got to see the newest of the cousins, baby Nico, who is quite a little charmer at 3 months and growing taller and heavier at a very fast rate.

Luisa admits she never thought she would be so happy as a mother and is having a wonderful time.  She is in no hurry to return to work.

Before we left we enjoyed a wonderful sunset.

Saturday we got in some shopping and had a shock; when we went to pay using our AAA travel card, it was missing.  Once home we looked every place possible and still no card.  Off we went to the last place we had used it and asked at the service desk to discover that, yes, they had the card.  What a surprise; we had feared that it was long gone.

Now Sunday and we are anticipating the weather to once again warm up into the mid 90's this week.  We have been doing okay at the apartment in the evenings with two fans running.  The temperature is reasonable and we are sleeping okay.  Today we will have lunch with our friend Maia and maybe track down Gia the photographer.  More to be posted later.