That is the question we have been pondering since March. The kids vote “GO!” as they really want to get back to see their cousins, grandparents, other family, and friends. Here are some ideas Mila has suggested for how we might get home:

When embarking on this journey, we knew that being away from home would be hard, but we were excited to get to catch up with family and friends during a nice long summer vacation back home. Despite the added pandemic-related obstacles, we are still holding on to our hope that we will get home.

We have spent much time strategizing different ways to get home, pouring over google translated Russian news articles and exploring all sorts of possible routes. Until recently, the only options were occasional, expensive, crowded, last-minute, one-way flights across the Atlantic, but we are now starting to see some new possibilities opening up. We have also recently learned that it may be required for us to stay two weeks in a “sanitorium” upon our return from abroad. If that is the case, you can look forward to an interesting blog post in August about our stay in the sanitorium. For now, we are planning a weeklong family getaway in the Russian countryside while we wait with crossed fingers to find a good solution to getting home.

Though we are sad thinking of the prospect that we may not get home, we are grateful for our health, jobs, and the safe bubble of our campus where we’ve spent most of the last three months. We recognize that many people have been impacted in more devastating ways by this pandemic.

Here are some pictures of our quarantine life in Kazan on our school campus.

Earlier in spring, we had some cold rainy days but that didn’t stop Mila from begging and pleading for a picnic. After she wrote me this letter, how could I refuse?

Enjoying the sun and wind on campus.

Dress up fun!

Mila has been losing teeth like crazy- 1, 2, 3 gone in just a couple weeks.

Hopefully by the time of our next blog post, we will have a better sense as to whether and how we will be making it home. Keeping my eyes peeled for that magic tree house!