Readoption

Today was our re-adoption of Andrei in the state of Wisconsin. His adoption was completely valid in this state, but the readoption will make it easier for him in the future. Previously he only had his Russian birth certificate. It was in Russian, and the translation looks like something I could have easily made on my computer. (We did have it formally translated and notarized, though) Some states don't recognize these birth certificates because they are easy to forge. Also, if he needs another copy of his birth certificate later in life (marriage or whatever), he would have had to write to Russia to obtain it. Not very easy.

So we hired an attourney and went to court today. Six months to the day of our last court date. I swore in first, and the attorney asked me if we went to Russia and adopted Andrei, and if we had our homestudy, and if we thought it was in Andrei's best interest that we adopt him. Then he asked me if I understood that this meant that I had all the same rights and responsibilites as a natural parent. Yes to all. :) Then he asked Brent all the same questions and then we were done.

It took 10 minutes - quite different from the 6 hour long interview in Russia.

Now he will have a Wisconsin birth certificate that says he is a foreign born American citizen.

Today in pictures

Photobucket Album

100 Mile Bike Blog?

My good friend, Mel, has started a challenge for herself to bike (instead of drive) for 100 miles this summer. She even has a blog dedicated to her progress.
I'm not huge into biking, but I really don't like driving. So I take you up on your challenge, Mel. She nicely gave me permission to count every time I walk or take the bus - so far I'm up to 13.1 miles not using the car. Andrei and I have biked to Mel's house, we walked to the video store, and we took the bus downtown. I also walked to the grocery store and pulled Andrei's wagon, since my bike did not have baskets on it - but now it does - hurray!
Yesterday we took a real adventure and biked to the movie theater. It's not super far, but the roads are kind of busy, and biking with Andrei is a challenge. He just got on a bike for the first time this past month, so he's still using training wheels. It's an older kid's bike and he can't work the hand brakes, and still falls sometimes. So he rides the sidewalk, and I go slowly on the road, coaching him across streets and asking him annoyingly why he had stopped again (he wanted to pick a flower for me - oops).
So here I'd like to say thank you to Google Maps - especially satellite view. We couldn't very well ride to the movies on Taylor Drive, so I looked on Google to find an alternate route, with sidewalks and was nice and slow paced for us. I even found a shortcut walkway from a dead end into a parking lot. So we rode up behind the bank on Taylor and Wilgus, and then walked our bikes the rest of the way. Andrei did great, even though it rained a bit on us. And I hope I'm making the habit for him to think of biking or walking first before hopping in the car.

I would love to bike to work, if I didn't have to be there in the middle of the night. Brent and I have joked that if we ever move downtown, I could canoe in. :)

I have to admit that I don't have a helmet yet. (Andrei does - don't worry) I'm partial to this one - what do you think?

Scrabble

So.... who here likes to play Scrabble? There's a Scrabble tournament at the southside Starbucks next week. Anyone want to play?

:)

Hypermiling to save gas

Hypermiling is a new term used for the practice of driving very conservatively to get as much MPG as possible.

Here are some tips I found on how to do this.

104 hypermiling / ecodriving tips

The website above has listings of people getting 80+ MPG on their non-hybrid cars.
I'm trying to beat 21 MPG on my way to work. Maybe we need a different car.