Lanterns and Lotus Blossoms

Oh, the places we went!

We've been gone for awhile. Have you missed us? Our vacation to Minnesota was wonderful. I flew up with the girls on July 5th and the girls were little angels on the airplane. One flight attendant even remarked that they were the best behaved children she had seen. While I'm sure she was just flattering me, it was nice to hear. When we landed, La Lao was at the airport to meet us and then the fun began!

First, we went to La Lao's house where we all played outside with two of mommy's lifelong friends, Amy and Kim, and with Kim's daughter, Grace (almost 3). Here are some pictures from that day. Great Grandma even joined us and, as you can see, Claire latched right onto her.

There are LOTS of fun things to play with at Grandma's house, which isn't exactly child proofed. Grandma's glasses are especially fun to try on.

Next we headed up to St. Paul for a couple days, where we visited Como Zoo. We were joined by Kim and Grace, and another of mommy's lifelong friends, Dawn, with her two children, Patrick and Anna. Here are some pictures from Como Zoo and the little, retro carnival next to the zoo where the girls enjoyed lost of kiddie rides. Sydney especially loved "driving" the RACE CAR!

After a good nights sleep (inside joke for La Lao -- the girls were AWFUL in the hotel), we walked over to the Minnesota Children's Museum in downtown St. Paul. We all had a fantastic time! This place was amazing with 4 floors of hands-on activities for the kids. There was a water room, a pretend tot town, fairytale land, a tot size "habitot" area with caves and anthills to crawl through, and even a rooftop garden.

After the museum, it was time to go back to La Lao's house because all of our family was beginning to arrive for the family reunion -- all 60 to 70 of them! This was the first chance many of them were able to meet Claire and we even enjoyed a cake that said "Welcome Claire to Our Awesome Family."

All too soon it was time to go home. Fortunately, daddy had arrived before the family reunion so we were all able to fly home together.

Chit Chat

Here is some of the chit chat heard around our house recently:

Sydney: "Mommy, when I'm bigger and you have to lay in bed, I will hold your hand and tell you "It's okay, mommy. I'm here and you're safe."

Sydney: "When I'm bigger, I get to go to the office and sit in a room by myself."

Sydney: "We don't say "stupid." "Stupid" isn't a nice word. Daddy doesn't say "stupid." Mommy doesn't say "stupid." Chance (dog #1) doesn't say "stupid." Franklin (dog #2) doesn't say "stupid." Rupert (dog #3) doesn't say "stupid." Claire doesn't say "stupid."

Claire: "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid..."

Sydney: "Mommy, Claire is saying "stupid." "Stupid isn't a nice word. We shouldn't say "stupid."

Me: Claire is only saying it because you are.

Sydney [indignant]: "I'm not saying "stupid." "Stupid" isn't a nice word. We shouldn't say "stupid."

Claire: "One, two, four, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Ready, set, go!"

Claire [said in exasperation like Swiper the Fox on Dora]: "Oh, man!!!"

Claire: "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...."

Thank You, Maia!

Yesterday a package arrived from Maia and look what was inside! Two beautiful portraits of Claire and Sydney! I am absolutely amazed at their beauty and at Maia's incredible talent. Thank you, thank you, thank you from one very happy mom! I can't wait to get them framed and up on our wall.

Quick Update

Summers are a very busy time in our household. I've been travelling lots for work, Mario is teaching two classes, Sydney has started swimming lessons and we had Claire's six-month post placement visit.

Today is Sydney's second swim lesson. The first one did not go so well. Even though she loves to swim in the backyard, when we got to the pool for her lesson, she pouted, hung onto my leg, and wouldn't go in the water. Toward the end of the lesson, she finally got her feet wet, but that was the extent of it. Of course, as we were leaving Sydney started crying "I want my swimming lessons!" We'll see how today's lesson goes. While the first swimming lesson did not go well, Sydney has been doing extremely well in going to sleep by herself! Thanks to Mario's hard work, Syd now lays down and goes to sleep all by herself without crying. As a reward I bought her some Cars shoes with Lightening McQueen on them. Yep, I have to shop in the boy aisle for my little girl, but it's all worth it to see the smile on her face when she opened those shoes! The first night she didn't even want to take them off to take a bath. She is so proud of them (and herself!). As she should be.

This past week we had Claire's post-surgery check-up on her ears. The good news is that both tubes are open and functioning. The bad news is that she already has an infection in her left year so we're back on the antibiotic ear drops. If the infections continue, we will have to talk about removing her adnoids, but hopefully, that won't be necessary. We also had Claire's six-month post placement visit on June 10, which was exactly six months from when she was placed in my arms in the Shanxi Civil Affairs Bureau. In assembling all the needed information for our social worker I was surprised to realize how much Claire has grown in these six months. She gained 5 pounds and grown almost an inch. She has also blossomed in other ways: her language skills continue to amaze us. She puts together 4 and 5 word sentences with ease and is not the least bit shy about telling us what she wants. She now climbs (everything, including out of her crib), jumps, and runs! In fact, one of her favorite games is running away from us so we have to chase her. Not exactly a great game in public places.

We have a couple more weeks of our hectic summer schedule before we head up north for vacation. The girls and I will be heading to Minnesota on July 5 to visit Grandma and my siblings and take in some of the child-friendly sites in the Twin Cities. I can't wait to take my girls to some of the places -- like Como Zoo -- that I visited as a child. Mario will then join us in Minnesota for my family reunion. This will be the first time my extended family (aside from my parents and siblings) will be able to meet Claire. I'm already a bit apprehensive to fly by myself with both girls, especially since we have a connection, but I don't imagine too much can go wrong in a 4 hour trip, unless Claire decides to play her favorite game of running away in the airport.

Tomorrow is Father's Day and we're expecting a visit from Grandma Tampa, Aunt V and cousin Stacey. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there!

Hey Grandma!

Hey Grandma! There is a package in the mail for you! Check your mailbox in a couple days.

Oh, Happy Day!

An extra day off work to spend with my family and remember all the men and women who have died for our country! Happy Memorial Day to you all. I hope you kissed your children, hugged your loved ones and enjoyed some extra time together.

We made a trip to the park up the road where the girls played and explored. Sydney even found a millipede and a frog (note: Millipedes have short legs and don't bite so we let her hold it. The centipedes with the long legs bite!). We then had lunch at Chic-fill-a, which scores top marks from the girls, and then both girls fell asleep quickly for a nice long nap! After the nap, the girls and Mario went to the park across the street to play on the playground while I went to the store and then planted some new ground cover plants in the backyard. I got quite a workout hammering into the hard Georgia clay soil! We then grilled dinner, gave the girls a bubble bath and popped them into bed. Today was the kind of day that all days should aspire to be! Here are some pictures.

Sydney swings all by herself now! She's growing up so fast.

Claire explores the tunnel at the playground.

If you look closely you can see the millipede about to crawl onto Sydney's hand. We've taught her to be gentle with all living things so once she held it, she calmly put it back on the sidewalk.

Claire enjoyed the sunshine!

After the playground and quick nature walk, we headed to the lake. We couldn't go swimming since Claire just had tubes put in, but we did walk to the end of the long dock and we saw some tiny fish among the lillypads.

Me and my girls on a bright, sunshiney day.

Sydney and Claire searching for fish.

Next we headed over the the garden area where the girls enjoyed splashing in the reflection pool.

Sydney was delighted to find a frog swimming in the pool, but try as she might, she couldn't persuade the frog to jump into her outstretched hand. Smart frog.

This area is called the Secret Garden. There is a little fountain in the middle surrounded by rings of plantings with walkways circling around. It's all enclosed in an ivy covered wall and accessed by a tiny, iron gate.