Pittsburgh Reunion - Thursday

We have been very fortunate this summer to be able to have some mini reunions with different families from the travel group that we traveled to China with while adopting Faith. We planned (very loosely to account for 3 year old whims) a long weekend in Pittsburgh, which was a midway point for several of the families. Unfortunately, we did not get to see Alison and her mom and dad as they were not able to make it. But we enjoyed seeing Sophia and her parents, Maria and Nelson, and spending another weekend with Kaylei, Becky and Darrin. We had a wonderful time and felt blessed by the time that we spent with all of them. We have lots of photos, so we will bring them to you in a day-by-day installment of slide shows.

Thursday was our travel day, and we set off as soon as Nathan completed his final at OSU for the Anthropology class he took this summer. (By the way, he got a B+ !! What a way to start off his college career!) We decided to stop for lunch, and pulled in the parking lot just minutes after Darrin, Becky and Kaylei. We could not have planned that better - what a random act and a blessing. So we enjoyed the start of our trip together at lunch at Cracker Barrel. Once we got back underway, we arrived at the hotel around 5 pm. When we got to the desk to check in, we found that Maria and Nelson had just checked into the hotel just a few minutes before. We certainly didn't expect to match times so closely, but we were happy for the circumstances! Once we got our hellos completed, we were off to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and some time for the kids to run around and get to know each other. Even Nathan enjoyed it!! The girls had a great time riding the few kiddy rides and playing video games, then they were off in search of "TICKETS"!! Of course, every kid has to have enough tickets to pick out prizes before they leave! Faith and Molly ended up with small combs and microphone headsets, and a piece of candy. They couldn't have been more happy.

We ended the night with a garden "fairy" party, with costumes for the girls including fairy wands and wings, a pretty skirt and flowered crowns. The girls looked so pretty all dressed up and enjoyed playing in the costumes the rest of the weekend. The adults (and kids) enjoyed scrumptious brownies that Marie prepared and cupcakes. Then we all settled in for some rest before the next day of fun.

Creation Museum

Our second reunion trip was made to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati. It was a very interesting museum - lots of dinosaurs (didn't really expect that!), a beautiful planetarium show, beautifully landscaped gardens and a petting zoo. While the museum was very interesting, I think that we would have gotten much more out of it if we would not have gone with the little ones. There was plenty to look at, and it was very crowded and only a few areas held their attention for very long. They were much happier to be outside at the petting zoo, the bouncer and walking along the gardens. But most importantly, we were there to visit a family that we had traveled with when adopting Faith: Brian, Angela, Ariel and Kayli ! We also enjoyed seeing Becky, Darrin and Kaylei again. It is so heartwarming to see the girls together. Kayli was very social and was more willing to have pictures taken than Faith usually does. Molly loved talking with Ariel (I think she is tired of not seeing many kids her age!). We had a great time!

Faith was pretty active that day, wanting to run, run, run. She just didn't like the slowness of the crowds in the museum. She enjoyed the Noah's ark room and we talked about the story of Noah, saw where the animals stayed on the ark and looked at how the world flooded. But she really enjoyed the petting zoo! Faith has been warming up to animals, and once she found out that she could feed them, well, that was all it took for her to walk up to every animal and pet them. She was too funny - she only wanted to give them a few pieces of the feed at a time. I was so worried they would bite her fingers off trying to find the food. We tried to have Molly feed a few, but she was so scared. Even with Mom's help she would not approach any of the animals to feed them. (At home she is even afraid of dogs, cats, etc). Molly was fascinated inside the museum by the animated statues. At one point, she was passing the display with Methuselah, when "he" began talking - asking questions of the onlookers such as, "Do you know how old I am?" and "Do you think I am older that 100?" Well, Molly thought he was real, and started answering back. After a few questions, he started his speech about his life, and Molly turned to me and said, very puzzled, "He's not real!" Sometimes, she is still so very naive, seeming so much younger than her age. But I guess it would be nice for all of us to remain that way a little longer!

Fun, Fantastic Fourth!!

Hello all! I am going to try to do some catch up posts then keep up with the posting more on a weekly basis. (Trying to take some advice from a friend! LOL)


We had a wonderful 4th of July this year, that included time spent with friends that we met while adopting Faith. We haven't seen Scott, Laurie and Allison since the kids were adopted, but we have kept in touch through blogging, Christmas cards and emails. We all spent the afternoon and evening at Darrin, Becky and Kaylei's house since they so graciously opened their home to us. We started the day off with the parade in Gahanna. This is Nathan's last year to march (it is bittersweet) but he is the drum line section leader, something that he has been hoping for since he heard of the drumline in middle school. They did an awesome job, as usually, even with the light rain. The girls were only interested in the candy once the band had passed by.


Molly's first 4th of July and Independence!

Waiting in the rain for Nathan

Nathan's last parade for GLHS

Wow! Look at our loot!!

After the parade, we hit the road to see Kaylei and Allison and their families. It was so nice to see the girls, even though Faith was shy at first about interacting. The girls are growing up so beautifully and had so much fun playing together on the swingset in Kaylei's back yard. After some great food, and multiple crafts, we attempted to have a parade of our own. Unfortunately, Faith was not at all cooperative, getting tired and a little cranky. Molly was as always cheerful and played with all the girls. She loved the attention from everyone! Unfortunately, it was very difficult to get pictures where everyone would cooperate in looking at the camera, but I hope you enjoy the shots. We were very blessed by such a wonderful day!

July 4 Pics (Cont)

Molly modeling her visor

Allison working on her "A"

Kaylei concentrating on her project

Here are the parents - trying to capture the day on film!!

Our parade kept adding and losing kids but lasted long enough for everyone to get a turn.

At least I'm excited we're having a parade!

Kaylei and Molly-what lovely smiles!

Toddler DDR

Notice that we used chips as bribes to keep dancing (tee hee)