Caves, Memorials, and Markets, oh my!

Naturally I got up before the crack of dawn, had my yogurt and read emails, or rather lack of. I had a very nice group of comments to read. Thank you blogger commenters, love you guys!
M called and ask if we wanted to go to the caves of the monastary, but the one that is in the Donetsk region, not the big ones in Kiev. So we said yes and she said she would be here at 2 pm. I took a very quick shower and we headed to the orphanage to see T for a little while. We took the clothes we bought this past weekend in Donetsk to try on and they all fit her very well. They are 12-18 months size (80 European) We took her outside and we only brought her a sucker today and we played for a while and then we gave her the sucker. She loved it! She loved being with mommy today, but she did go to daddy for awhile too. We had to take her back to her groupa way too soon, but we headed to the Market. We stopped at the small market we always go to, but then decided we would head over to the outdoor market instead. So we took a little walk and while we were there we saw T and whales doctor from the orphanage. She is always so pleasant and she always wants a hug from whale. I really need to buy her a nice gift for taking care of my babies. Anyway, we went in and we found some ham, they let you sample anything you want before you buy it. So this ham could very well be the best ham I have ever eaten in my whole life and that is no joke. Seems like it was about $3 for 2.2#'s, We got some bacon, hot dogs, candy, cheese and ground beef. It was so funny, the lady selling the beef was trying to tell us what it was, because we couldn't figure out if it was beef or pork, so she made horns on her head with her fingers and then spread her arms up and out like it was real big. It was funny! Anyway, we also got some cheese and spaghetti. We went to a restaurant about a week ago and V had some spaghetti and they put ham and cheese on it. So we thought we would try it for lunch and it was quite good. I made it myself from our market purchases.
M, V and M's husband came to pick us up and we drove about 30 minutes or so and we went to a memorial for the soldiers from the first and second world war. It was a touching story. We then went down the hill to the Monastary and M and I had to put on jackets to cover our butts for some reason. Most of the time you have to wear a skirt, but she said we could wear pants, but just had to cover our bums first. Women also have to cover their heads while on the grounds of the Monastary. We found out after we went in that the caves were closed. Bummer! We really wanted to go down through the caves. The mummies of past monks are buried in there and the sides of the coffins are glass. You cannot see the faces because they are covered in cloth, but you can see the hand and fingers. We really wanted to see this, but no such luck. There was suppose to be a service at 4:30, but we didn't want to wait around for 40 minutes. We decided to stop at a cafe outside the gate and get coffee, but guess what, it was closed. They then thought of a very nice hotel/restaurant/coffee house with a childrens playground so we all loaded into the car and drove into the country a bit and went in. They were closed, private party! M said it looked like a funeral dinner type thing. So piled back in the car and drove to a cafe and got coffee and drinks. whale had ice cream. We then drove back to Kramatorsk and went to eat at the Ukrainian restaurant from the other night. I know now it is called "Chumacks way" there is a story behind this name. A tribe from Russia known as the Chumacks would travel down through Ukraine to the southern part to get salt, because they had none where they were from and they would always stop in this part of the country to rest on their way to get the salt. Therefore, Chumacks Way. I had Borscht and homemade Verenky and DH had stuffed Pork chops, Borscht, and boiled potatoes with garlic and dill. Whale had stuffed potatoes. It was all very very yummy and with tip it was only about $14 for all of us. We came back to the apartment and M's husband put the pictures of us on the computer so I am going to add a picture of all of us at the orphanage the other day. I hope everyone enjoys the picture finally. I still feel like some stalker somewhere is coming to chop our heads off so I hope it is worth it to you all.
So here we are, sitting at the computer and getting ready to start this weeks challenges on Pogo. Please have a wonderful night. I am hoping to actually be able to sleep until the sun comes up tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Goodnight.