Visiting with Mantas & Kristina

We met my cousin Mantas and his wonderful family tonight for dinner. I first met Mantas when he was about 11 when we had the big family trip over here in 1993, then again when he came to the states a few years later, then he lived with me for 4 months back in 2002 and Mom, Ted and I came over for their wedding in 2004. They drove about an hour, from Kaunas, to join us. They brought us a beautiful bottle of Lithuanian honey liquor and a set of fire trucks for Saulius. We had two toy race cars so their little boy - Gustav - and ours could play together and a little Winnie the Pooh for their baby girl, Emma. Both of their kids are beautiful! Mantas looks like a solid family man and his wife is still as beautiful as their wedding day. We had dinner at the Lithuanian restaurant across the street and the boys bonded immediately. They shared a milkshake, their juice and played well together. I showed Mantas pictures of the family. His wife, Kristina, is an english teacher so we got to have translations of what Saulius is really saying and learned a few good words like "telo" for quiet. After dinner we walked back to our apartment and spent about an hour chatting while the boys ran around and played with all the new toys. We were able to skype with Ted which was great. We may be going to Kaunas next weekend to see Mantas' parents and other aunts/uncles and spend one night with them. They also invited us to join them on a holiday the end of the following week to the beach or lake. We really can't make any plans until we get the court stuff finished.

Saulius was pretty wound up and we had a little trouble getting him to sleep, he did have a very full day. Tomorrow we meet with the adoption lawyer to review what will happen in court and what we are going to say. Should be another full day.

I'll post pictures tomorrow. Can't find the camera right now and tomorrow is going to be a busy day.










Saulius and Gustav playing with new toys.










I don't want to share my milkshake!










More time with toy trucks!