So this past weekend we went to the mountains to a reunion picnic for our adoption agency CWA, I was so thrilled to see Jane, our China case worker who was in China when we met Mina and actually handed her to me... So check this out Mina 3 months later... Amazing, right? I really wish she
wasn't clutching her sippy cup. But I still am so excited to have this photo. I don't know why but it was so heartwarming to hear her being called by her Chinese name by women who knew of her before I did... The picnic was great I could have spent much more time there gabbing with everyone, but alas it was time to go. We head for another part of the mountains to go camping... Well, when life hands you lemons..... pack it up and go home??? We love camping,, we are not high maintenance people by any means, and camping makes all of the kids really happy, well usually. This time, not so much. It was rainy and muddy. We had actually found this cool place where you can camp and tube down the river...Well we did
that the first night and then it started pouring rain!!! So we made dinner in the rain and tried to roast marshmallows, it was a mess. We woke the next morning to more rain, and decided to trek the kids to the top of the river and tube anyway, for goodness sake we had come this far we were going to go tubing. It was soooo fun.
The kids LOVED it!!! Well Mina liked it as long as I didn't get stuck on any rocks, If I did she started screaming and hitting me. Almost in a funny way, Like quit it Mama, just go down the river faster. Otherwise she really liked it. Sure the water was freezing, and mommy & papa were soaked, but tubing down a river past waterfalls and all... priceless. Needless to say we did one 30 minute stint down the river that day and headed back to camp where we packed it up ( soaking wet and all) and headed on our long trip home. We had promised the kids smore's so we came on home and had a little floor picnic and ate way to much sugar, yummy! I wish I had some photos of our tubing experience but i was not about to brave the river with my camera in the pouring rain. If you can't tell Mina now thinks that if a camera is anywhere in sight she needs to make this "cheese" face. It is really hard to get a photo where her face is not all squinched up these days.
We are home from our fun filled July!!!! We had a great time, our first stop was sunny south Florida, I have to admit that some other folks on the airplane were a little frightened to sit by one Mama traveling with 4 kids, I questioned myself at first too, but then I remembered that I am blessed to have the best kids ever so armed with a bottle full of chocolate milk (Mina's favorite treat) we made the trip, and I have to admit I am a little proud that this was the entirety of our luggage as well. We had a blast in Florida and it was great to see all of our family and Mina had a great time meeting everyone. I was worried about all of the changes, new houses, new beds, new routines, loads of new people... but once again my worry was for nothing. The girl loved it, all of us did. Check out Mina hanging on Miami Beach! We also went to my brothers house for a few days and hung with our grandma and cousins. It was great to see my neice and nephew. Love those kids.... After a fun filled week, me and the 4 kiddos hopped back on a plane and Papa picked us up and we headed straight for our family beach trip! Fun & relaxing week. We loved just having some family time, and all the kids loved boogey boarding and looking for little creatures. One of J.C.'s favorite books is "The Sandcastle Contest" we have read it 100 times at least....well story line of the book is as you may have guessed, about a sandcastle contest, the kicker is that the prize for winning the sandcastle contest is winning a "bathtub full of ice cream" ....So for months I have been promising a sandcastle contest at the beach with the same prize. So I have been hunting for a bathtubish type container that would hold way too much icecream.. this blue plastic boat thingy was the closest I came, but I heard no complaints when I emerged from the kitchen holding the biggest most ridiculous ice cream sundae ever. You should have seen the kids eyes, priceless really!!! The foot photo is the closest we can come to a full family photo, and of course I had to set one evening aside for kid photos on the beach... Surely not a fun family favorite, many bribes and begging involved on my part, but hopefully one day they will appreciate it. So all in all July was great here in our family.... It is nice to be home and enjoying getting back into our gloriously hectic routine. The thought of school starting soon is a bittersweet. My big girl and I will be having a mommy-daughter day on Saturday, I am really excited, a bit of school shopping and a girls only lunch at a Sushi restaurant (her new favorite food) Thats all for now........
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