Today was adoption day!
Well, we’d already adopted the boys before, but today we adopted them again! This time, it was a California re-adoption, a bit of legal maneuvering that essentially makes acquiring a birth-certificate much easier. They now have California birth-certificates; previously, we’d have had to physically go to Moscow to obtain copies of their birth-certificates, had they been lost.
Here’s how it went down:
We all showed up at the courthouse at about 8:15 or so (I met mom, nanny and the boys), and headed in. Ollie went out through the security scanner once after having already gotten in (I think he was on his way to greet Uncle Adam or Aunt Wendy), but otherwise security was uneventful. Uncle Adam and Aunt Wendy gave the boys American flags to carry (leftovers from Independence Day). We headed up to the third floor where a few other families were waiting outside a courtroom. Shortly thereafter, we were all let in to the courtroom to sit and wait. Eventually a very large family (must’ve been fifteen of them; they took up the whole right side of the courtroom), was called back to the judge’s chambers. Then another. If I recall correctly, we were third in line.
When we got back to the judge’s chambers, we were asked to sign two documents, and then the Judge formally announced the boys’ new names (they got an extra last name). There was some playing in the judge’s chambers, but otherwise the boys were well-behaved and earned the stuffed animals the judge gave them (Winnie-the-Pooh for Reid, and a large rabbit for Ollie).
Then we went to Disneyland!