Baby Whall!..

Baby Boy Whall!!! We got a phone call today after waiting 13 months with a referral for a baby boy! Here he is on August 28th at a 2 month check-up. He weighed in at 7.0kg which translates to roughly 15 pounds. Some of you may recall that Marie weighed 15 pounds at 9 months. .. As my friend Rossette put it, " Marie might have to settle for the title of "older" sister (not bigger!)

Our "little" boy has a Korean name of Ji Tae Hwang. This name was not given to him by his birth parents. We are in deliberations about the name we will give him. He was born June 4th. He is currently living with a foster family near Seoul and we hope to travel in March to bring him home!

For Lisa

Here they are! We had an amazing gorgeous day Saturday and today was a little bit colder and cloudier. Today was the day we could get outside though. We went to Crystal Mountain and took a few turns down the alpine slide. Then we took a walk through the Michigan Legacy Art Park. What I remember most from the day was how loud our walk was as we crunched over a few inches of leaves. The Art Park is a short 1.5 mile walk in the forest, up and down easy hills and along the trail there are large sculptures and other pieces. There is a small labyrinth with a lookout in the middle of the trail and a few nice views. These pix are inspired by our Florida friend, Lisa, who asked to see some autumn color.

Fall Fun

We had the pleasure of some friends' company last weekend. Three different families came over with their young children last Sunday afternoon. All the families had adopted internationally and had children Marie's age. They loved checking out the different toys and we braved "pumpkin painting." You can see from Marie's face she thoroughly enjoyed herself. She keeps moving her pumpkin to prominent locations "so everybody can see it."



We also have sacrified "style" and feng shui for a little while and moved the play tent up to the main level just to have something different to play in for a while. Most nights, after dinner, Marie and I retire to the tent for some reading. Jim caught us the other day.

It is a beautiful fall! I was lucky this weekend and had the opportunity to ride a chairlift up a ski hill. The view of the trees was amazing; we are almost at peak color. Marie is noticing it and she will point out the colors to me as we drive home from school. "Look at that red tree Mama!" She collects the leaves and pine cones and wants to share them with others. Many of you have small leaf piles at or near our home carefully selected by Marie.

A Ridiculous Amount of Scissor Footage...

I got carried away...Uncle Rob, I have a 5 pound bag of paper here for you! Jim thinks we can hire her out as a paper-shredding service; what do you think???

Giggles

Paper for Uncle Rob

More Paper for Uncle Rob...perhaps her PJ's are a little too big?

okay, okay...I am done now. Nobody said you had to watch the entire thing...

Marie's New Fave

Marie is learning lots of new things at school. New songs, new manners (she tells us to put our napkins in our laps), and how to use scissors. We learned that if we want her to not watch TV, all we have to do is remind her that she can use her scissors and she immediately runs off to her desk to do "her work." Just this moment, she just finished breakfast, took her plate to the sink and then sat back down at her desk with her beloved scissors saying in her little sing-song voice, "Back to my work!" She also likes to call Jim over to show him how to use the scissors and then she gives him what she calls, "a baby turn" with the scissors.

Sept Update

Celebrating Two Years together...a day late. Don't tell Marie. Jim had judo class on the actual date so we pushed our dinner out one day. Here she is shortly before we went to the restaurant.
Her two current faves are with her: Neenee and Hoho. Ironically, both are Chinese. Neenee is one of the Olympic mascots that Aunt Ab brought back from the actual games; Hoho is a character on the Nick Jr. show, "Ni Hao, Kai Lan." She has been sporting them around the house with her since mid-August.

At the Chinese Restaurant. The waiter was fascinated with Marie. He chatted with us all night, telling us about the area she is from and wrote out "Jiangxi girl" in Mandarin for us to take home. He was very concerned that she wasn't learning Chinese but...we are in Northern Michigan. Frankly, I want to learn Chinese too!

We had an exhausting weekend. I got roped into running this year's Homecoming Dance at my school (the year that we added 400 new kids to the school). Friday night we went to the football game and Marie loved the marching band. "Where did the band go?" was heard repeatedly for the first half. She did clap enthusiastically at every good play though! Her babysitter was also home from college and Marie was so excited to see her. "MY FRIEND!" she kept saying over and over! This being Traverse City, we also saw her teacher, my former students, neighbors, etc. It was fun. Saturday was planned as Daddy-Daughter day. Jim had his most brilliant moment in our 10 years of marriage. Instead of paying to take Marie to gymnastics, he snuck her in to the kids judo class. She played on the mats and "threw" the teacher down. We think this will be her regular Sat morning routine. Sunday turned out to be Daddy-Daughter day as well as I didn't fall asleep till extremely late Sat night and was in bad shape Sunday. Here are the two of of them making muffins Sun afternoon.

Oh yeah...I hear there was a Michigan football game too! Something about the biggest comeback ever and the 500th game at the Big House. I was crepe papering-and-ballooning the cafeteria and Jim had Marie out and about; we both missed it!

Two Years

First moments together in the hotel room in Nanchang

First glimpse of our little peanut...one in green staring right at us!

Today, insisting on being naked for her post-nap snack

Looking at her Jiangxi Sisters book with Daddy, celebrating 9 families

Enjoying the moment with Hoho the Monkey

Two years ago today. Two years ago today, Yi Hong was awakened very early, put in a new green polyester outfit and red shoes that were way too large. She and 8 of her sisters went on a long ride from a small village of Yihuang to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province. They arrived at the Gloria Hotel sleepy and hungry and hot. They were rushed into a conference room and placed on the floor. Most of them starting crying immediately. But they had faced a lot of change recently. All were in foster care until a few weeks prior; the last few weeks saw them returned to the orphanage. Until this busy Sunday morning. Now, one at a time, each girl was placed into the arms of a person who had waited for that moment their whole life. Both parent and child cried, for different reasons. The new families were sent up to their rooms to take care of their daughter, with instructions to return back downstairs in the late afternoon to finish paperwork. And the story began...

Today, two years later, was a very different day. When I picked Marie up at her preschool, I was greeted with an enormous smile and hug. She had a wonderful morning. After her nap, she insisted on being naked for her snack. I finally got her to put clothes back on and we went outside for a swing in the hammock. She had a nice dinner with Daddy and then the 3 of us enjoyed looking at this year's book of our Jiangxi Families. To them and our dear Chongqing families, Happy Family Day!

R U Ready for Some Football???

Sadly, while Marie and Aunt Abigail prepped with their pre-game breakfast and were ready, the U of M team was not...

School!

Here we are at the entrance to Marie's school. This was actually her individual class visit. The new ones first had a visit from their teacher in their home, then they got to check out the classroom for 1/2 hour with no other kids around. I appreciate the time they took to make her feel at ease. I snuck out of our first staff mtg for this - Jim left work too - you can see our work keys and tags!
Here Marie is with her teacher, Ms. Julie. Ms. Julie and I chuckle because HER son is a student at MY school across the street. So we can keep close tabs on each other's "baby!"

Another great feature of the school is "car line." At the busy morning drop-off time, they have it down to a science. Jim drives in and their is a lady in the parking lot who reads the sign on our dash with Marie's name on it. She points Jim to a open spot in front of the school and radios in for someone to come out and pick up Marie. An adult comes to the car, takes her out and walks her into school and Jim drives away. It's a great set-up. We also are welcome to come into the room at any time. You can come into the class or observe through the window.

Marie has also decided to bring some lessons home. She now announces to us that she has to go potty "By MYSELF" and goes into the bathroom and shuts the door on us. We cannot go in! She hikes her little body up on the seat (refuses to use her potty seat) and does it all. Comes out with her clothes back on, not knowing that one of us is on the other side of the door listening to it all.

For the first few days, she did stay right at Ms. Julie's side. She held her hand for most of one day, except when Ms. Julie explained she needed her hand for a lesson. So Marie observed many lessons as she stayed right with her teacher. She has gotten a little more adventurous every day, we hear. We hear nothing from Marie. When we ask, "Did you have a good day?" we hear, "Maybe." "Did you eat lunch?" "Maybe." So she might like school; we aren't sure!

Last Hurrah at Malibu Beach

The view at Malibu beach

L-O-V-I-N' the Choo-Choo at the park

Uncle Jeff is just the best at this!!!

At the beginning of the ride (note happy trailer girl!)

"I Love the BEACH!"

Our second-to-the-last day in LA consisted of going to the Griffith Park and Observatory (all of us for the first time even though some of us have lived there for 22 years!) That was awesome and a great deal. Choo-choo rides for dollars, pony rides, playground, free parking and just down the hill from Uncle's house. Marie had a blast and did a lot of things out of her comfort zone, like riding a pony.

Last day was the true Southern Cali experience. We got bikes and rode them from Venice Beach up to Malibu. Marie sat in a little trailer Jim pulled behind his bike with a $4 bag of kettle corn; she was digging it. The view is just amazing and as we rode I kept trying to think of where in the world is there a comparable experience? We have a bike path along the bay here but it takes 10 minutes, not over an hour! I don't think there is a similar path anywhere...it was so amazing. (Okay, second time I said that.) Once we stopped and were down at the water's edge I laughed because I immediately got my "nature eyes." I could feel the eye strain as I started scanning the ocean for spouting and jumping, looking for dolphins and whales. And I did indeed see a pod of dolphins leaping as we biked back!!! Jim reports that on the return trip, he kept hearing Marie report from her little trailer, "Almost done!" He wondered what she was "almost done" with! Sure enough, once we unzipped it we discovered that the kettle corn bag had become a pillow, she had completely unpacked the backpack and, best of all, had liberated all the wipes in the little travel pack of wipes I carry and decorated her trailer with them. The day ended as we scarfed down dinner at a Cuban restaurant afterwards (cause there are SOOO many of those here in Northern Michigan!) Sadly, the next day it was back in the airplane to come home. And next week, teachers report on Tuesday. This may mean that summer is over : (

"Gotta Go to the Getty"

The Getty Villa

At the Griffith Observatory

(Okay, Marie's not in this picture but I love it of my big bro and me)

Jim as some sort of Roman soldier...living the dream

Marie touring the halls of the Getty with Daddy and Uncle

Decorating a vase in the kids room

After hearing, for years, that we had to go to the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Jim and I finally made it. The Getty Villa is a recreated Roman villa tucked in the hills overlooking Malibu. It houses a part of JP Getty's antiquities collection. It's 100 percent Jim's dream to stroll through the Villa and pretend it's all his...alas, he had a toddler with him so the strolling was brief.

Marie has been learning body parts (this is going no place good). She has been intrigued with some found only on her father, if you get my drift. Well, the Romans were not big believers in keeping it covered. You've seen a Roman statue? It's all out there. Like most museums, there is a hushed atmosphere in the galleries, so little voices can ring out and fill the room with their pronouncements. For example, Marie noted loudly that many statues did not have noses or that they have big eyes. However, the guards and patrons truly loved it when we walked into a room, came face-to-face with one large statue and she proclaimeed at the top of her voice, "That's a penis!"

I am so proud...

Arrival in LA, CA

The Diva in her hired Lincoln ride from the airport to Uncle Jeff's

Checking out Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Walk of Fame

"I could get used to this hot tub thing..."

Some chocolate milk for Marie and Green Tea for Uncle Jeff at their first breakfast

Home from Hollywood land...a great, too-quick trip to Uncle Jeff's town. Too whipped to tell it all now but you can see that Diva Marie had a fabulous time! She loved the plane; those seats aren't too small when you are 26 pounds and your feet don't reach the seat in front of you. We are all tired, sugared out and jet lagged as we got up at 5:30 LA time and got home about 7pm EST. Took Marie down to the lake for some strategic swimming/running in the water and she conked out immediately. Now it's my turn!

I Need a Nap

The view from the top of the Dune Climb at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore

Does that water look a little too yellow-y to you?

Jim getting an arm workout by entertaining an 11 yr old, 3 yr old and Marie.

Watching a hot air balloon

Marie combines her favorite activities of singing and eating.

Get it when you can.

We were treated to a nice visit from some of Marie's cousins. The boys live downstate, about a 4 hour drive away so this was their first visit up this summer. We did almost everything you are supposed to when you go "Up North" in Michigan - swam in the lake, boated, saw a bald eagle, got ice cream at Moomers (voted The Best Ice Cream Shop in the USA by Good Morning America), went to see the animals at the 4-H fair, caught toads, played at the park, went to a drive-in movie, climbed the sand dunes and ended with a trip to some big waves at Lake Michigan. The only thing we forgot to do was S'mores. (I do not think the sugar was missed though.)

The kids had an amazing time playing together. The boys taught Marie how to rough-house and she taught them some things too. After loading the screaming 3-yr old in the car because he didn't want to leave, they are off. We have a short va-cay at Uncle Jeff's this week and then one more bout of cousins before Labor Day.

Dog Days of Summer

Me looking exceptionally tired with my little peanut who is in Play-Doh Heaven. For those wondering, we are not at home but at my Aunt's house. Our house doesn't have nearly that much light.

At the fair with Grampa. For some reason, she looks spooked. She LOVES the carosel. I don't know why she has this look cause I know she is in Heaven.

Petting goats with Aunty.

It's the weird part of the summer - the accelerated part. In Michigan, once August hits, everyone realizes that it's just a beautiful place to live and that school starts right after Labor Day. So people go on serious-summer-mode, there are hundreds of 4-H fairs and Festivals...it's SUPER vacation time. For example, in the past week we have had...
1) My dad and other family over for dinner
2) Two sets of friends over for dinner and boating
3) Two beach dates
4) Family that have come up from downstate to spend a few days
5) Phone calls from more family preparing to come up
6) Marie has gone to the fair
and, sadly 7) Momma has had to go to work for 2 days (gasp!)

There is canning to do, still more trips to go on, lesson plans to start to write! It's B-U-S-Y but G-O-O-D