Pike Place Market

Some photos to Share

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See the deer back there?
Olympic National Park.



Harley with Coco.
Olympic National Park.



Melanie & Coco snoozing - soooo relaxed ;-)



This one cracked me up. He sleeps like the girls do!

Coco's first day home. Mike took this to show
his size - tiny!

Meet our newest member, Coco!

The girls are having a blast with Coco! They had the genuine smiles in this photo, not the fake/posed ones - that's an accomplishment for sure!

Monkey Bar fun!

Some photos of the girls on the monkey bars and play-set that Mike is building out back. Too much fun!

Meeting Uncle Duane & Aunt Judy

Harley met Uncle Duane and Aunt Judy for the first time. It was fun and we all got to enjoy pizza and visit.

This is Melanies' post below.

Today we all met up with Aunt Judy, Uncle Duane, Auntie Resa, Phil, Andrea, David, Nana and Papa. We met up at Nana and Papa's house to be exact. And let's see how NOOOOOOO I'm done writing NOOOOOOO hehehe I was already done writing - stop typing hehehehehehehe.

This is the end of Melanie's post above.

Everyone have a great night!

Sugar and Pinkey

Washing up their new babies

Melanie and Sugar

Harley and Pinkey

We visited Build-A-Bear yesterday. Melanie has a new doggie named Sugar and Harley has a new monkey named Pinkey. They are their new bestest friends =)

7 years ago today

It's been 7 years since we got to hold Melanie in our arms. This is what I wrote about her when I emailed the updates while we were in China. It brings back a lot of memories reading this email.......

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We jumped on a plane and took off for Melanie in Kunming in the Southwest portion of China. This city is great! We met Li (our guide) at the exit of the plane terminal and she brought us to the hotel. The hotel is also just as pretty and Mike is in heaven with all of the flowers and blooms all around us. This week is a festival of flowers so we get to visit the city in it's best light. The first night was quiet, we took a walk to Walmart (yes, in China) and did some shopping. Walmart here is nothing like the ones at home! It was fun running into children that wanted to practice their english and say "hello" in their squeaky high-pitched voices and then run away giggling. I loved it! We've been lucky enough to have or find everything needed for this stay. Next, the big day. We met Li in the Lobby at 8:30 the morning of the 15th (that was still the 14th for you guys). Piled into the van and off we went to the China Adoption Bureau to meet the babies. We got in and started more paperwork (it never ends!). While we were signing papers, the nannies and babies starting coming into the room. Everyone scanned over the little faces for the one they recognized as their own and, hey!.....where's Melanie???? Before we panicked, we noticed that one nanny had on a backpack carrier and there was her sweet little face! Of course, I immediately started to bawl as soon as I realized it was her in living color for us to hold and kiss. One by one, the babies were handed to their forever Daddies and Mommies. Since she was in the backpack, we were last but that's okay because we could see her and watch her expression throughout the wait. Can this day finally be here? We walked to the nanny and Li and she was handed to me. She probably thought "what's she crying for, hungry?" and then she smiled. Our baby is healthy, happy and loves to smile and laugh! I think she likes us and we're so happy! It was quite the morning for all five families and only one crying baby. Unfortunately, Dexter and Molly's baby Aleah was grieving for her foster mother. She has since been doing much better and is bonding with them well. Melanie was happy from the moment we laid eyes on her. Not much of a complainer and hope that it stays that way for quite a while. She laughs out loud when we do silly things like eat her feet and blow on her belly. She wasn't really sure what to think when I was trying to explain to Mike that the beds were hard because they have no springs. I jumped up and down in a circle around her and she barely moved. It was like the bowling ball bed commercial when nothing moves. Each day is full of adventure and sightseeing. Melanie loves getting out. She's taking in a lot of information every day. She opens her eyes in crib and looks over at us and smiles or laughs before and after she gets put down for sleep. I don't know what we did to deserve her, but we thank God as often as we can that we get to be her Mommy and Daddy. For dinner last night, we ate at a restaurant that has their local cuisine and cultural dancing. Melanie was watching them from the time the show started all the way to the end. Guess her attention span is at least an hour and a half! The show, the girls and the costumes were beautiful.

This photo was taken in GZ, our last stop before heading home.
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Referral photos:

Updated photos--April, 2009

Marine shows!

I didn't rain on us - awesome timing for this visit!

Six Flags Discover Kingdom

Sweet, tweety hugs!

Rides & stuff before the Killer Whale (Shouka) and Dolfin shows.....

Napa California (The Parent Trap)

This is the vineyard from The Parent Trap starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid and (sadly) the late Natasha Richardson. We have been watching this remake since it came out on DVD so it was fun to see the house from afar...... This was the first stop that morning on the way to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo CA.

Spring Break

Meeting Grandma Clara in Roseburg OR

Meeting Great Gradma Margrett while in Reno

Lots of fun playing in the midway and bringing home the treasured stuffies to put in the rooms!

Virginia City - donkey pose.....

Virginia City again - ready for a stage coach ride

Gold in the safe!

School pictures

The girls got their school pictures back before Christmas but I haven't shared them here yet (shame on me!). Enjoy the pictures of my beautiful little school girls ;-)

I have to wonder if any schools out there actually have the kids in for a month without days off? It seems like the kids are out of school as much as they are in. It seems like they were JUST home for a week for "Mid-Winter Break." Oh well, the girls had fun staying at home with daddy and they got to take their time with the homework assignments that were sent home!

Enjoy the photos that keep you all coming back to visit!

I can't believe it's February

Can it really be almost halfway through February? It seems so crazy to think that December and January went by without a note for the blog but here we are - in February already. Needless to say, I check out lots of other people's blogs and hope like crazy that they've posted more photos for me to oooh and aaah over and I know you guys do the same. I didn't list "keeping the blog updated and current" as a New Year's resolution but I really should have! I will be better.

Melanie's in 2nd grade this year and loving school very much! Her teacher is quite impressed with her and describe her as self-directed, helpful, respectful and always gives 100%. She loves a challenge, is shy but willing to try new things and state her opinion.

Harley's in Kindergarten growing so fast - learning leaps and bounds! She's got the alphabet down and even learning to read. They get a new "sight word" or "famous word" each week that they read/recognize. You should see Harley's face when she finds these words in books or magazines or anything she looks at with words written on it. Harley is very outgoing, playful and animated.

Here they are feeding the Seagulls on the waterfront!

Take care everyone!