Saturday.. Swimming, Boating & Popsicles

On Saturday, everyone came over to our house and we went swimming, grilled burgers and hot dogs, went tubing on the lake and the girls enjoyed popsicles.


Swimming in the pool


Meili and mommy going down the slide


Lily and her mommy on the boat


We took Lily and her daddy on their first tubing ride, and they really enjoyed it. Emma and Esther look like pro's at this!


That must've been one hard tubing ride! Esther was completely out! She's such a cutie when she sleeps.


Meili enjoying her popsicle. She is a beautiful little girl and I sware this kid has never taken a bad picture in her life! I took a bunch of pictures of her, including close-ups and they all turned out great!!


And here's another beautiful Beijing girl enjoying her popsicle


I just love this picture of Esther


And beautiful Miss Kelly...


Kelly and Meili






The girls decided to take a break from their popsicle eating and check out Meili's daddy's camera


Ian gave the girls a ride in the wagon as we went down to the dock


Rachel and Emma.. don't they look alike?


Ian, Elena, Rachel, Kayla and Rachel's daddy. Rachel had a great time until the tube swamped under the water and they all fell off.. then she got scared!


The boat's good for getting these girls to sleep. They were out not five minutes after we left the dock!!

It was sad seeing everyone go, but we are already planning next year's reunion!

Friday... All Five Beijing "Babe's" Reunite

On Friday, we got together for dinner and everyone came, including the C's, whom we hadn't seen at all yet. Their beautiful daughter Esther is a day older than Emma, and she is the tallest of all the girls. It was so fun getting the girls together again since this was the first time that all five of them had seen each other since China. The girls had so much fun together playing hide-n-seek through the restaurant (which we had almost all to ourselves) and ran all over the place. It reminded me of all the fun times we had in China, this time with a few extra kids in tow.


The girls reuniting


Lily on the left and Esther with Lily's daddy


Emma and Kelly are best buds!


Poor Ian was the ONLY boy out of all our families.. and he didn't at all enjoy playing with the girls!! :-P


Ian & Rachel (??!!)


Between our five families, there are seven little girls from China and one more on the way! Meili's mei-mei is waiting for her family in China, and they hope to bring her home next summer.
(L-R Back Row: Meili, Lily, Rachel, Emma, Front Row: Esther, Kelly and our Esther)


Another shot of the girls. Poor things, we lined them all up and then at least five of us were snapping pictures right and left. I think I took about 30 shots of the girls, because they're never all looking or smiling in the same picture! These two were the best out of all the ones I took.


The five beautiful "Beijing Babe's" who came into our families' lives on August 24, 2004. They were all together for their first year+ of their lives, and now they're scattered throughout the USA, but we plan to keep them together and in contact as they grow.


"Kelly, wanna smell my stinky feet?"


The Esthers

Thursday and Magic Kingdom

On Thursday, we met three of the families from our travel group, the B's, H's and W's and went to Magic Kingdom for the day. Despite the HOT weather and long lines, we had a lot of fun. It was Esther's first time at Disney World and she was so excited to see the princesses. She LOVED the Princess show, and all of the rides. Emma loved seeing the princesses too, and started crying when the show was over. I had to tell her that Cinderella was tired, so she was going to go back to her castle and sleep. So everytime we went past Cinderella's castle, Emma would say "Cinderelly's sleeping!!" Afterwards, we had a wonderful dinner at a Polynesian Restaurant and then went home and crashed after our long day!!



Emma and Esther


Kelly (left) and Rachel. Kelly was Emma's best friend in the orphanage. Rachel is 6 and is also adopted from China.


Esther watching Cinderella in the Princess show.


Cinderella...


Miss Lily, who is almost four!


Meili & Esther at lunch


Em, Meili and Esther


It's hot outside!


The girls playing on the playground... they may just be standing there, but they did run around and play.


Esther, Rachel, Kelly and Emma


The girls waiting in line for the roller coaster.


The crew


Rachel and Kelly


The girls playing on the slide


Meili as Tigger


The girls loved the Pooh ride and their Tigger and Eyore!


The gang at Dinner


Emma and her lei

Wednesday..

Miss Lily


After just meeting each other, the girls were a little bit shy. (Well, not Emma & Esther!)


But a game of ring-around-the-rosy got the girls laughing and enjoying each other.


Meili is enjoying her pizza


Elena and Lily swimming in the pool


Emma and Lily are all smiles!!

What Have We Been Up To??

Well, sorry we haven't "blogged" in awhile. Life has been pretty busy around here!! Last week we had a reunion with our travel group from Emma's adoption in 2004. It was a wonderful time getting to see everyone again and watching the girls interact with each other. Two of the families we hadn't seen since China, so it was wonderful to see them and their girls!! Of all the girls, Emma is the smallest! The youngest baby in the group, Meili, is almost the biggest! We had so much fun and look forward to all the reunions we will have in the future!

For now, here's some pictures from two weekends ago... more tubing pictures!!!

Returning to China

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/23/BAG84K45B41.DTL

(You'll have to copy & paste the above link)

Here's an article about a group of children adopted from China, who are back in China right now on a two week journey to learn more about their culture and heritage. The children were invited by the Chinese government to learn more about their "roots" and tour China, as well as visit the orphanages where they lived until they were adopted. My aunt is accompanying the group as photographer and is also in the process of adopting our newest cousin.. whom we hope to have home before Christmas next year! Emma & Esther will have a cousin who shares their heritage, and they'll be able to go on trips like this when they are older!
Please keep the group in your prayers as they left July 25 and will be gone for two weeks.

American Girls..

They were born in China.. but now they are All American Girls!!!