ELMO

Julianna really loves Elmo. It is nice we get to see the characters at Busch Gardens. As a surprise, I am taking the girls to the Elmo show next month. (You may think Caroline will not be so thrilled, but trust me, it is a day off from school, so she will love it!) Julianna birthday party will be the next day, and you guessed it, Elmo themed!!!

The Busy Days of Summer

Sorry for the lack of posts. This summer has been busy. We stayed busy going to the beach, Busch Gardens, WaterCountry, the zoo, and even got in a quick trip to Florida.

Now, that it is September, maybe we will get back to some type of schedule. We are back into Caroline's swim team. She also has chinese school and a sewing class beginning soon. Julianna will have story time.

Julianna will be 2 in one month. Wow! that is hard to believe. I can really say, "Where did the time go?" She is super cute!! She is talking a bit more, loves to do what Caroline is doing, lets me put her hair is pig tails, and loves the alphabet. She has learned several letters and their sounds already!!! Oh, and she also LOVES her boots. See the picture below.

We had a great time at the Animal Kingdom Lodge ( although too short of a time thanks to no show Earl!) Julianna loved seeing the animals from our balcony. She had fun at SeaWorld and Aquatica. She really is a great traveler. Both my girls are good at traveling. Caroline is such a great help and has traveled to Florida many times. She is a pro!!! The only time Julianna had a fit was when I had to pull her off the carousel at SeaWorld. She would stay on one of those all day if she could!

Today... One Year Ago

We were on a very LONG flight home with our sweet Julianna. She only had about 1 hour of unhappiness on the entire 15 hour flight!!! It was soooo good to get home!!

One Year Anniversary

One year ago today on August 2, little Guo Dan Fen was placed in my arms. She was a tiny, sick, scared, crying, hot little baby. I remember thinking she felt so hot. The ride to our hotel must have been so traumatic for her. The orphanage worker told our guide she had just gotten car sick. I remember thinking I didn't want to do anything that would upset her more.

Since she was one of the last babies to arrive, it wasn' t long after we got her that I remember our guide saying, "Babies are hungary. Take babies to your rooms and feed them." Such an unusual feeling. Here we are, we were just given a baby, and now she's ours and we just go back to our rooms with her. No big fanfare - the baby is now yours. WOW!!!!

I tried to feed Julianna a bottle. I did not have the opening in the nipple right, so she got only a bit. She fell asleep fairly quickly and slept through the night for the most part. She was sick, exhausted, and I think she wanted to sleep hoping we would not be there when she woke up.

She slept a lot over the next 2 days. I think it was the combination of being sick and scared.

Each day was better, though.

Now, one year later, we have a beautiful, smart, happy little girl. I thank God, and China for giving us such a wonderful gift.

Enjoy the pictures. Some are from last year, and the pictures from today show her eating her Chinese food dinner. She LOVES egg drop soup!!

A Fun Day

Today, to celebrate our one year gotcha day, we did some fun family things. We started the day off bright and early leaving at 8 am for Watercountry USA. It was a cloudy, cool day, so we did a few fun things. Then, jumped in the van and headed over to Busch Gardens for the afternoon.
Both girls had lots of fun. Caroline and Gary got to ride 2 BIG rollercoasters, and Julianna was happy to meet Elmo and Cookie Monster. I think for her though, "driving" the lady bug car round and round in the circle was the hit of the day!!! I have no pictures because I didn't plan on needing a camera at the water park. We did have a family pic taken at the beginning of the park and it is actually a very good shot of all of us!! I had to capture our 1 year anniversary some way.

One Year Ago

All this weekend I have been saying,"We were doing this one year ago..." I remember waiting in the Newark Airport for 8 hours just to get on our flight to Hong Kong. and Oh, that horrible flight. Caroline was so sick. We only had about 4 hours of sleep then off we go to Hong Kong Disney!! Here are a few pictures from those special days. I would do it all over again in a heart beat!!!!!

A Fun Filled Reunion

We had a blast at our one year reunion. (The hotel alone will leave memories for all of us. LOL) We met up with 6 other families in Ohio for a few days. We had fun at a big aquarium and a fabulous children's museum. Way to go, Georgette for planning it all. I can't wait for next year!!