Adoption 6:09 pm
Our little berg of Hays is featured on CNN.com today as a place to “ride out the gas crunch” - I guess they like our small town life. They report we have a “median commute of 9.12 minutes”. My commute is much shorter (if I’m not dropping off kids) it is usually about 5 minutes.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/moneymag/0807/gallery.bplive_gas_crunch.moneymag/2.html
Adoption 7:36 pm
I think he has a future in advertising. Anybody want to buy some bubble bath???
Adoption 5:33 pm
Hi Everyone,
Well, we spent the week after vacation just relaxing. Today we went to the Hays Waterpark. Jackson has always been a great swimmer. This Summer Grace’s swimming skills have really taken off. She loves to swim underwater - she looks like a little mermaid swirling around at the bottom of the pool. She has already learned to float on her back. It is a little hard to swim with her in deep water. You never know when she needs an extra hand. If you try to grab her too soon she gets mad and tells you “I don’t need any help. I KNOW how to swim.” The next minute she is sputtering mad at you for not helping her sooner. I have told her many times that when she swims on top of the water her “swimming” doesn’t look a lot different that her “drowning”. Just to be on the safe side either Mom or Dad is always close by. Last trip to the waterpark Grace discovered she loves going down the big white water slide - of course Mom has to go with her (Dad can’t because of his insulin pump). Today I bet we went down that slide 30 times (and up the stairs to the slide). I am pooped! Gabe continues to make progress. He can kick his feet and put his face in the water. Today I even took him on the big white water slide. He loved it! Below, find a couple of pics from our day.
Dana
Adoption 8:41 pm
I’m playing around with my Flickr account today and found I can blog about a photo directly from Flickr to the WordPress blog.
This is my brother-in-law-to-be (in just a couple of weeks) out in the harvest field a couple of weeks ago. Ken and his twin brother, Dan harvested 2100 acres of wheat on their family farm near Burr Oak, Kansas.
Adoption 10:25 pm
Tomorrow we are heading to Kansas, but not before a stop in Denver for a tour of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. They have a mummy or two and Jackson can’t wait.
Below are some pics from this evening.
Dana
Grace and Kate
Katie
Beth, Dan and Grace
Pete and Grace
Sophie and Grace
Adoption 5:10 pm
Hi Everyone,
This morning we got up and walked the trail around Bear Lake. After dropping Andy, Gabe and Grace off at the condo Jackson, Kate, Jessica and I continued on to Copeland Falls. Below, find some photos.
Dana
Adoption 10:48 pm
Hi All,
We were up bright and shiny this morning and we took all the girls to a nearby lake and had a professional photographer take their portraits. As you can see from the photos I posted they looked just beautiful. It is amazing how much they have changed since we met them in Changsha, Hunan three years ago.
After lunch - horrible service - some of us drove up Trail Ridge Road and saw some of the prettiest scenery I have ever witnessed. We traveled above the timberline to the tundra - there is snow on the ground there year round.
This evening we had everybody over to our condo for a pizza party. We also had cake and ice cream to celebrate that all the girls had turned four this year. It was great to be able to let the kids run and play while the grown-ups had a chance to visit. Tomorrow we are going to go hiking.
By the way, I don’t know what we would do without Jessica and Katie. They have been life-savers - especially helping us with Gabriel. We love them!!
Dana
Adoption 8:39 am
Here’s the view from our condo this morning!!!!
Estes Park Sunrise
View from our condo
Adoption 10:50 pm
Hi All,
Today we got up and made the scenic drive to Estes Park, Colorado. When we arrived we visited with our good friends Dan and Branna and their kids Thomas, Beth, and James. After lunch we all lounged in the pool. A great time was had by all. We are staying at Mary’s Lake Lodge and it is BEAUTIFUL!! Our condo is great - four floors! Three bedrooms 2 1/2 baths, laundry room, 3 decks - the works!!
Tonight we had dinner with all nine families. We all traveled together in March of 2005 to adopt our daughters. The girls were all from the Hengshan, Hunan orphanage. To us they are like an extended family - the girls just like sisters. The girls renewed friendships and had a great time.
Below, please find a few pictures.
Dana
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