Autumn Moon Festival

Yesterday and today have been filled with celebrations for the Autumn Moon Festival. Yesterday we had a picnic at the park with our "preschool" friends, made crafts, ate food, and had fun, fun, fun playing together. The group is in the process of regenerating itself. We are getting more and more new familes with young babies who have recently come home. That is the nature of the group, it always has been. Children grow up, and there is nothing we can do about it. Along those lines, another bittersweet aspect of the day was remembering that Hayden attended last year's moon festival festivities with us. She had the day off from school and came along with Ryan Ashton and a jug of orange juice in tow. A lot has changed in one year's time. Hayden is at college, Ryan Ashton is no longer with us and is, instead, at his little school, and Lia, who also accompanied us, is at her new school.
We did have one mom who saw us at the park yesterday and walked over with her daughter (also from China) to see what was going on. It was quite obvious that we were not your average group of friends congregating together for a day in the park (with the girls all dressed up in their traditional clothes). We invited her to join us, she did, and her daughter immediately fell into step with the older girls. They will be a wonderful addition to the group.

Today we celebrated again with our "school-age" friends. Again, the girls dressed up and we headed off to a friend's house for food, crafts, and fun, fun, fun. The girls made paper lanterns and Jade Rabbit pictures. Then one of the moms had bought "glow stick" lanterns. Once it got dark, we took the girls out for a little parade. These were two jam-packed days.

Zoo Atlanta

On Sept. 13th, we met our dear friends, the Duncans, at the zoo to celebrate the 1st anniversary of their daughter's Gotcha Day. We teamed up at playgroup playdate with her Gotcha Day and enjoyed the beautiful day and the blessing or our children and friendships. We had an up close and personal visit from a tiger. Thee pandas were engaging, and the baby panda, Mei Lan, had just celebrated her one year old birthday. Little Callie, who I used to nanny for, was there. I think that was the highlight of my day. She has grown into quite a little lady and easily kept up with the bigger girls. After the zoo, we were surprised by an impromptu visit from Hayden and her roommate. Hayden literally came home to take a bath (since she can only shower at college). Praise God for bathtubs...if that is what it takes to lure her home. She and Tiffany joined us at a local Chinese restaurant where we met back up with the Duncans and a group of friends to, once again, celebrate Aidyn's Gotcha Day....It was a reminder of how blessed we have been to have been given all of our children. What a precious gift.

FALL SOCCER 2007

Today was Maggie's first soccer game for the 2007 fall season of soccer. Calling it "fall" soccer is a contridiction of terms. It is soccer, but the temperature would indicate that it is still summer. Observe the perspiration dripping down Mag's face. Maggie gets the award for having the happiest feet ever. Her little feet never stop moving, even when she is standing still. She isn't real big on trying to kick the ball, she continues to skirt around the pack as if she were herding them. Mark gives out stars at the end of each game, and she received a white star today for the best herding efforts. It is a blast to watch. The boys had their first game today, and lost 9/1. Not sure what happened there because their game and Mag's game ran concurrently, hence we have not pix to share of their first fall soccer game.

Maggie's First Day of School

August 5th, 2007...it is official, Maggie went to her first day of preschool. Of course, she had gradual entry, so only half of her class was there, and she only went for one hour, but she went, nonetheless. On Tuesday, my sweet friend, Carolyn, let me come out to her house to borrow her sewing machine to whip together Maggie's "first day of school pillow case dress." Believe me, they are EASY to make. It is the only thing that I can sew. So, with dress sewn, book-bag monogrammed (again thanks to Carolyn), Maggie was ready for her first "hour" of school. After school, we and Maggie's friend, Karen, and her mom rode our bikes to Sonic for lunch to celebrate. As you will note, Maggie has a helmet on in one of the pictures, that is because my main criterion in picking her preschool was its distance from the house. I wanted to be able to ride her via bike to school. As it turns out, it is a wonderful preschool with great credentials, so we really couldn't have been more fortunate.

The Shark that Mark Caught

You have heard of the house that Jack built? Well, this is the story of the shark that Mark caught. Finally after two days of the Hilton Head Monsoon, the rain stopped. Of course, it just happened to be on the day that we had to go home. So Mark headed out early to get some fishing in. Mag and I followed him down to the shore and combed the beach for starfish. All of a sudden, Mark yelled, "This is a big one." After reeling and reeling, he said, "Get the camera, I think I caught a shark." Lo and behold, when he got it in, it was a shark. That generated a lot of excitement, and people who were out early walking on the beach were suddenly stopping and taking pictures of Mark and his shark. Max and Riley's nanny was mortified when she learned that Mark threw it back into the ocean. As far as we could tell, the shark survived. But, as per the guy in the bait shop, there are only about 1 or 2 shark bites a year in that area, and one is apt to only lose a finger or something else along those lines. Oh, and for you nature enthusiasts, it was a Black-Tipped Shark. I would estimate that it was about 3 feet long. What an exciting finale to our eventful weekend get-away.

Hilton Head Day 2

The rain continues... when it finally was just a drizzle, we got out to take some black and white "beach pix." These are just a few. Once the photo shoot was over, the kids hopped in the pool until it started to rain again..

Labor Day Weekend Hilton Head Day 1

Our weekend got away got off to a bumpy start...as of Friday afternoon we were still trying to make arrangements for the boys who forgot to ask for the weekend off from work and trying to celebrate their 17th bday, doing laundry, ironing, packing, etc. So we got up EARLY Saturday morning to drive to Hilton Head where we were to join Mark's cousin, Sean, his two children, Max and Riley, Aunt Jacque, as well, as Mark's two sisters and their children. All was well until about 2 hours into the drive when it began to rain. That was a just a mere foreshadowing of what was yet to come. I think we could have quite possibly driven through a monsoon. After driving with little to no visibility and hydroplaning countless times, we safely arrived in Hilton Head. It then preceded to rain (like a tsunami) for the better part of the day. We got about a 2 hour break when the rain stopped or at least nearly stopped and the children were able to go out to play. Despite the rain, there were no dampened spirits. The kids had a WONDERFUL time playing together and the adults enjoyed each others' company as well. It turned out that all was well in Hilton Head. ,