Trip to New Mexico

We had a wonderful time visiting Grandma Mary and Grandpa in Albuquerque. We took turns driving throughout the night to get there and coming home. The kids just slept. It was so much less stressful (although we were exhausted). No one arguing or asking us when we're going to get there.

Rachel enjoyed the grandparents' stairs and making cookies with Grandma. The boys liked golfing and all the fun "big city" stuff we did (museums, zoo, etc.). Grandma Mary is a docent at the Natural History Museum so it was fun visiting the museum with her as our guide. We also had the chance to ride the tram (gondola) 2 miles up the Sandia Mountains and the kids were thrilled to find patches of snow up top (Southern Calif. kids get very excited about any evidence of weather - other than sun).

We're looking forward to dressing up our little monsters for Halloween. Hope your fall is fun!

Our "Baby" Is 2 Years Old Today

During the past 2 weeks Rachel has really been blossoming. Here are some of the ways she's changed:

1) She seems to be whining less and talking more

2) She has become really confident in the swimming pool. Water used to freak her out. Now she's much better at ignoring other people's splashing.

3) She actually blows her nose when you hold up the tissue.

4) She says some of our dinner prayer with us.

5) She is willingly giving people hugs hello and good bye. It helps if they give her food. But sometimes she initiates this behavior on her own.

6) She is well on her way to being potty trained. She has had only 2 accidents since the 1st time Colette sat her on the potty. That's almost 6 days of M&M's. Rachel loves marching around the potty and singing the potty song after she goes. She asked to go potty in Target and Colette was amazed that Rachel had no problem sitting on the huge potty and going potty (no shy bladder here). So yes, we happily bought the 1 pound bag of M&M's.

7) Rachel spends on average about 1 hour/day drawing. We give her crayons or washable markers at her plastic table and she draws "noodles". She does switch hands holding the crayon. But she loves drawing her "noodles".

Oh, and on the not so good part of growing up... she has hit the terrible twos. She answers "no" to every question. Our boys didn't have issues with saying "no" too much. So this is new to us. We foresee many future battles "No's vs. Yes's".

Wow, our little baby has grown up so fast. We try to slow her down but sometimes she just knows it's her time to go forward and grow up. Sniff, sniff. In some ways we're sad she's lost some of her baby ways. On the other hand we enjoy seeing her face light up when she discovers something new or makes a new personal achievement.

It's time for Jeff to start wearing his t-shirt that reads "You can't scare me. I have a 2 year old."

The Queen On Her Throne

Rachel has always been fascinated with potty procedures in the house. Today she is home with a cold and it's a pretty hot day. So Colette left Rachel naked and introduced her to the potty chair. They read lots of books about using the potty and Colette told Rachel she could have 3 M&Ms if she went poo poo in the potty. Rachel sat on the potty many times and then finally went pee pee. Then Rachel ate lots and lots of her favorite fruit, cantaloupe, and sat on her potty while she watched The Wiggles. A couple of minutes later she came running into the computer room yelling, " Wook, wook. Poo poo in potty". Colette wasn't even in the room for the big event. Rachel had done it herself. In 8 days she'll turn 2 years old. Seems awfully young to potty train. We'll see if it's just a fluke or if we should invest in the 1 pound bag of M&Ms.

Our "fish"

Here are some photos of our "fish" snorkeling in La Jolla Cove and swimming in San Diego. Notice the orange Garabaldi near Julian's leg. It is the official marine state fish of California and is protected in California coastal waters.

The sun sets on summer...

Here are some fun images of our summer... enjoy.

Preparing to hit a "home run" at Coach Pitch Baseball.
Silly times at the local harbor.

Petting a new friend at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We told the kids that one of the zoo keeper's trucks got stuck in the mud. Here they are trying to pull the truck out of the mud.
Darth Vader and R2-D2 made of Legos? Our boys had found the best of both worlds at Lego Land.

Off to Zoo Camp at the Santa Barbara zoo.

Back to School

Our "big boys" have gone back to school. Sniff, sniff, sob, sob. Where did the summer go? They wore cool shirts that Grandma Jeannine made for them for their birthdays. Rachel was happy in this photo but soon became sad when she went looking for her brothers in the house after they had left.

Our Little Harvest

Jeff installed a few garden boxes for us to plant a summer garden. So far we've enjoyed Gabriel's corn (always wear Roman armor when harvesting corn), Julian's cucumbers (he's doing something silly with his lips in the photo) and Rachel's Teddy Bear Sunflowers. We're still waiting for the tomatoes and yellow bell peppers to ripen.

Fun at the county fair...

We had a good time at the county fair this year. The boys are old enough to go on some of the rides.

We all had a great time looking for our entries. Julian won 2 blue ribbons- 1 for his art (bottom left in the photo) and 1 for his Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate Cake (Grandma Jeannine's recipe).

Gabriel won 3 blue ribbons- 1 for art, 1 for a craft project and the big blue one for his "Cookies N Cream" cake. Our family also entered the Scarecrow contest. We made a "recycled robot scarecow" out of recycle junk from around our house and grandma's basement. We were thrilled and surprised to win "Best in the Division" and actually won a small monetary award. Now the scarecrow will grace our own garden. Rachel's highlights were the shuttle bus ride to the fair and the roasted corn on the cob.

Our boys in the Sunday funnies...

This comic strip really "hit home". The liopleurodon is actually one of Gabriel's favorite prehistoric creatures. The comic strip is "FoxTrot" by Bill Amend. Click on the photo to read...

Where did June go?

Whoosh... are we mid-summer already? We ended June with a family celebration for Julian's 6th birthday. He was very excited to receive a special light saber and Indiana Jones action figures. He's a big boy now but he still loves to dress up in costumes and go on backyard adventures.

July 4th was so much fun. It was Rachel's 1st July 4th as a U. S. citizen. We are very patriotic so we marched (more like strolled) in the Push Em Pull Em Parade, BBQed with friends and family and the boys stayed up to see the fireworks.

All 3 kids are taking swim lessons and Gabriel is less than thrilled to be in the advanced swim class that takes place in the super cold competition pool. But he puts on a happy face and braves the frigid water every day.

It's amazing just how many new talents our boys teach Rachel.

Happy summer to all!

Blueberry Picking

We went blueberry picking at a local farm. Even though it was pretty hot, the kids had fun eating, picking, feeding the farm animals and riding in the wagon. We picked about 3 pounds of blueberries but only arrived home with 2 pounds. Hmmmm.

California Beach Bums

We like the beach when it's foggy but we love the beach when it's sunny. Julian's been working on growing out "surfer hair" and he made a "surfer necklace" in kindergarten and wears it around the clock.

Rachel loves to roll around in the sand. She has a lot of fun until sand gets in her diaper.

Gabe is quite the boogie boarder and beach comber. His never ending quest for the perfect piece of sea glass has us all spending far too much time hunched over searching the sands.

One Year Ago This Week...

One year ago this week we were matched with a baby girl waiting in an orphanage in China. Xiao Xin Jin's face was revealed to us in only 2 photos but we fell in love with her at once. This week also marks 1o+ months she's been our daughter... that means she's been with us longer than she was ever without us. She is healthy, happy, and loves her forever home and family. Here are some "before we met" photos...

and "after she joined the family" photos. She's made leaps and bounds socially, physically, cognitively and emotionally. She still is stubborn and curious but in all other ways she is a very different child than the one we met in China. What a difference some time and opportunities can make to one little person.

Our Life in Recent Photos

Gabriel and Julian both did a great job in our church's annual musical. Rachel got to try out her first bikini during our heat wave. She kept poking her tummy with her finger and giggling.
On Jeff's birthday (May 25th) Pastor Overton guided us through Rachel's baptism. Baptizing a toddler is not an easy feat. But Pastor Overton remained patient and kind even when Rachel pulled his ear piece out of his ear. Rachel wore an off white, satin, traditional Chinese, dress we had bought for her in China.
Rachel still won't let anyone but mom or dad hold her. Cousin Elyse got in some snuggle time when Rachel was very unconscious.
Rachel running on the beach after the baptism.

She's Officially Ours

Third in line for the throne,

she's officially in her forever home.

Rachel had her "day in court". Judge Coleman led us through all the legal stuff with humor and patience and lollipops for everyone. We had a small celebration at a local park to celebrate Rachel's official welcoming. It was such a relief to have all the paperwork done... signed, sealed and delivered. BIG SIGH!

Photos: Our family with Judge Coleman, Rachel's Good Luck Dragon cupcake cake (Rachel's sitting on the ground behind it) and Rachel playing in the sand box with her friend XuXu (also recently adopted from China).