Ni Hao!  As Kenn noted,  Grandma and I arrived safely despite United's attempt to sweat us to death.   Luckily we had originally had a huge layover in Beijing and still had enough time to get through the international arrival line, baggage claim, customs and re-check-in and make our flight to Jinan, even with a 3 1/2 delay (all spent sitting in a hot, stuffy plane while they ran diagnostics, took us out to the runway and brought us back again).  But no matter, we are here.

I will say, the flight to Jinan on Shandong Airlines was very nice!  They had a video of "seat yoga" which was very peaceful even if some of the moves were a tad complicated to do in an airplane seat.

I am having plenty of opportunity to practice my Chinese as even in the hotel, we've only found one person who speaks English (and he is a student from Pakistan).  Our hotel is in walking distance to Baotu Springs which is one of the well known Jinan attractions.  It's very pretty - a nice park with springs and ponds and willow trees and pagodas.  Sadly, for people who lack a sense of direction, it's also a very nice place to get lost.  There is only one entrance/exit so when I say "lost" I really mean we could not find our way out.  I finally had to ask someone but I think I said something like, "Excuse me, can you help us?  We want to go outside."  I'm sure that sounded silly since we were already outside but they understood.  Phew. 

There were two wedding receptions at the hotel today.  When the newlyweds arrived they were greeted with firecrackers and little cannons that shot confetti into the air.  We were just heading out when they were arriving so we got to watch.  Very cute.

Across the street from the hotel is a big square which is part of a large shopping district.  They have some interesting sites and lots of vendors selling little things such as balloons and kites and toys for kids.  They also sell these water shooting sticks which the kids are all sticking in the fountains and spraying in the air.  The shopping district also has a small market area with lots of food on a stick type vendors - fruit covered with candied sugar and different meats and fish. 

We will meet YiLin tomorrow (Sunday) morning.  They are bringing him here to the hotel.  I think there is another family from our agency arriving tonight.  We did meet another family adopting from Jinan on the Beijing to Jinan flight but they are with a different agency and in a different hotel.

Hm....  Grandma appears to be under the covers.  She claims she's "making energy for the next few days."  And adds, "The plane ride was the pits.  Everything hurts.  My toe's even hurts."  She's hanging in there though.  It's only 7:00 PM.  She needs to drink more coffee

 

This is a small canal near our hotel.  I hate to say it, but it's really not as picturesque as this photo makes it look.  Most of Jinan seems to be under construction and there's holes and cranes everywhere. 

 

 

Some vendors across the street from our hotel. Just outside of Quancheng Square.

 

 

A little area on the square where you can buy food to feed the birds. Lots of kids with their parents and Grandparents.

 

 

Gotta love a giant tea pot.

 

 

 

Shaeleigh and Chancie - thought you guys might like to eat one of these for lunch!  

 

  Just a quickie to let everyone know Joanie and Grandma have made it. I will let Joanie tell you the story in her own words (taken from email received today concerning the flight out of San Fran):

we pulled out of the airport and were told we had to go back because they couldn't get the engines started.  They needed to disconnect the AC in order to run a diagnostic.  90 MINUTES LATER when we were all feeling like turkey's in the oven and the people were getting very very hot and annoyed they told us we could deplane but needed to take our stuff.  So everyone starts to get their stuff and then they say, nevermind it's fixed.  So then we head out.  Then we turn back around - some panel is broken.  Again they tell us to get off.  Again they tell us to get back to our seats (after everyone empties the overhead bins.  Then they yell at us, "stop running around the plane so we can go."  But we don't go.  FINALLY at 3:45 (we were supposed to leave at 12:00) we left.

Not a great start, but at least they have made it to Jinan!

Kenn, Shaeleigh and Chance

Howdy, howdy, howdy! Kenn coming to you for the first time in a long time. I will try to keep everyone updated about the journey to China and the trials of being Mr Mom here at home. Joanie and Granny leave bright and early in the morning via Grandpa's Taxi service. Hopefully Frick and Frack ( Thing 1 and  Thing 2 ) will sleep until 7 or so. Not likely but one can only hope. I DO plan to be up to see them off  (wake up time is 3:30-easy for me....not so much for Joanie) but I am hoping we will not wake Chance up or else he will be a handfull come later in the day! That's all for now, just getting my bearings back updating the blog. As I said, I hope to keep everyone in the loop as much as I can. We plan on Skyping throughout their trip but that, too, is new to us. Gonna be a lo-o-o-o-o-ong two weeks!!

 

Mom and I head out bright and early on Thanksgiving Day. We leave around 6:30 AM Thursday and arrive in Jinan around midnight on Friday. We have a day to recover and we meet YiLin on Sunday. Sadly, the non-stop to Beijing does not run on Wednesday or Thursday so we are flying through San Francisco then to Beijing and from there to Jinan. Coming home we'll go Guangzhou to Beijing but then it's a straight shot home.

Because of the little Beijing to Jinan flight, we are restricted to 1 checked bag weighing no more than 44 pounds. My suitcase weighed in a 42 pounds. The large majority of that is gifts of the officials, books and crayons and cars for YiLin and the mini pharmacy all us crazy American adoptive parents bring "just in case."

And now.... I'm off to bed!

We received our Travel Approval today! CRAZY! We should find out our travel dates tomorrow or Monday but our agency is requesting a consulate appointment of December 6th as the first choice, which means the Mom and I may head to China the day after Thanksgiving.

Our agency had called Kenn's cell and he had Shaeleigh call me and deliver the news. Yahoo!

Now we have to agree on the rest of YiLin's name! And pack. And do a thousand other things. No worries. Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow we panic (not you Mom, you remain calm, just a little adventure....)

One things we did check off the to do list:

Yep, that's it. The Mom Van.  So far I have completely embarrassed Shaeleigh. Twice.

First let me say that after we'd decided on the Odyssey I spent a few weeks searching CarMax every few days to find the one that fit my seach specs.  The only "extra" feature I had on my list was automatic doors.  Oh the irony.....

First day driving Shaeleigh to school in the van, I'm the first vehicle in the drop off line and I can't open the door.   If you've ever been in an early morning elementary school carpool line, you know how it is.  There's a lot of pressure to stop, push the kid out of the door and get going.  Remember, Kenn and I got yelled at for taking 2 seconds to take a photo of Shaeleigh on her first day of Kindergarten.  So here I am, pushing every button I can find and the stickin' door will not open.  The kid on the other side who's job is to help get kids out safely, wish me goodmorning and get me going, is just staring at me.  Then he's laughing.  Shaeleigh is standing by the door sayin, "Mom!  Open the door!"  Geez.  Finally, I did something right and the door opens.

Then I can't close it.  I can't take the stress so I just drive off with the door open.  Chance is in the back, "Mom, the door is open."  I pull off into the corner of the lower lot and push 1000 more buttons and finally get the door closed.

Day Two.  I practice in the driveway before we leave.  Open.  Close.  Open.  Close.

I get the carpool line.  I can't open the door.  WHAT THE HECK?!  I'm pushing and pushing.  And clicking and putting it in park, taking it out of park.  It's worse then the first day.  Shaeleigh ends up climbing over the seats and goes out the front door.  How embarrassing.  Why did I want automatic doors?  What I should have searched for is a sunroof.  I could have tossed the kids out.

Anyway, I got to work and did a little more practicing.  Finally figured it out.  The van automatically locks all the doors 9 seconds after you start driving off.  Not 5.  Not 10.  Nine.  So practicing in the driveway BEFORE you drive off is not a valid test.  Sigh.....

So there you go.  Stand by for travel news!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

Me:  "Chance, what do you want to be for Halloween?"

Chance "Spiderman....  my usual."

And so Chance was Spiderman for the third year in a row.  Same costume

 

 

Cutie in the pumpkin patch.

 

 

The Boys.

 

 

Conquering Mount Tire.

 

 

Sorting The Loot.

 

 

Shaeleigh's current favorite books:  Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

 

 

 

 

I found my old Gameboy in a drawer.  I thought Shaeleigh would get a kick out of it.  Look who got obsessed.

 

We are officially waiting for our TA (travel approval).  We've been waiting a week now so we have another 1-4 weeks left.  Once we have TA, our agency will arrange a consulate appointment for us.  Typically we should travel 2 weeks prior to our consulate appointment as it's the last step before we can head home.  It's looking very much like we will be able to travel before Christmas. 

The VAN is here.  Yes, after much dragging of the heels, I conceded to trading in the RAV4 for a minivan. Sigh...  not really my thing.  But, it's hard to find something better once you add a third kid.  And so, we made a couple trips to CarMax.  We decided on a Honda Oddessey and then pretty much just kept checking their website until we found the year/mileage we thought was a good match.  We ended up finding "her" in Connecticut and we hear it arrived today.  It's a kind of red/maroon so I guess I can pretend I'm driving the Oscar Myer Weiner Mobile (although that's a much cooler gig).

So, no pics.  I was mostly just testing out the new theme.  TTFN.

 

No we're not sending the kids off to college just yet, we are trying to gain space.  While we waited for Shaeleigh we "nested."  While waiting for YiLin we are de-nesting.  The good news is, after being rained out last weekend, we had our garage sale and the house looks much emptier just by the virtue of not having the giant heap of treasures in the dining room that have been there for three weeks.  Of course Kenn is still suffering because everything that didn't sell is all piled up in his "man cave" but we have a pick-up scheduled for Friday.

And so.... where are we with YiLin?

For those in the adoptive circles, we have our 1800 approval and are waiting for our cable to be sent.  As of last week we were not in the system so we not likely to get our TA (travel approval) until mid-November at best.   To sum it up for those not familiar with TAs and I800s - there is still a chance that we will travel before Christmas but more than likely, we will end up traveling soon after. 

For those saying, "who the heck is YiLin?"   ...I will admit, my blogging has so fallen to the wayside that I have not fully introduced Smitheroni #3.  He is currently 6 years old and living in Shandong Province (south of Beijing).  He is exactly 1 year younger than Shaeleigh.  Well, 1 year, 2 days.  After many months of pondering names, we decided that we'd just stick with the name he has (although we will be dropping the tones so from his perspective, it may be a whole new name). 

We recently found out that there is a little girl in Chance's school named YiLin (although her name has different characters).  I asked the girl's mother about how she would translate our YiLin's name.  She told us that "Lin" is a legendary lucky and happy animal is Chinese folklore.  It also means "great people" because it is a kind of rare animal.  "Yi" has many meanings.  One meaning is idea/thought/meaning.  Another meaning is expect/intend to.

Our agency has asked that we not post photos so I am going to stiff you on that.  We did get a small update a few weeks ago - one new picture and news that he has started first grade.  His favorite subject is Chinese.  Hm...  we might be in a pickle there. 

But, more news to come - we should know in 2-6 weeks, what our travel options are.

Meanwhile....

 

 

Shaeleigh started 2nd grade and is doing well.

 

She has found a loop hole in the "no more stuffed animals" rule. It goes like this, "Mom, I want to learn how to sew." 

 

This Roxy.  She's a Moshling.  Shaeleigh fell in love with Moshi Monsters last year.  Now suddenly it appears she was on the cutting edge of trendy kid stuff because Moshi merchandise is starting to pop up in the toy aisles.  Moshi Monsters has an online world, cards to collect, as well as stuffed animals and little tiny plastic figurines.  Shaeleigh's former favorite, "Bella Sara" (world of mystical horses) at least had positive messages and chapter books.  Moshi Monsters has little redeeming value.  Okay, she is learning to sew.

 

 

Chance in a basket. We discovered a the mother load at the library. All the marvel comic books and manga stuff is over in the series section. Superman, Spiderman, Transformers, Pokeman.  Both kids LOVE the library trips.  Shaeleigh has discovered Diary of a Wimpy Kid and after she read one we could never find the rest on the shelf.  So then we discovered the joy of putting books on hold.  Not only do you get your book, but you get to pick it up from a special shelf where it's hanging out with your name on it, AND you get a phone call from the robotic voice letting you know your book is waiting.  Shaeleigh and I put a few Power Ranger books on hold for Chance too and he was soooooo excited to see his name on the books sticking out of the shelf.

 

 

I was attempting to take a picture of myself to add to the photo album we were sending to YiLin as I didn't have anything with my shorter haircut.  Of course the best photo of me is the one with no-shirt Chance sticking his bottom in the air. 

 

 

Then Chance, who decided the photo shoot thing was fun, wanted to have a session for him and Baby.

After asking me to take 100 shots in different poses he wanted Baby to have her own sitting. Oh, and he wanted to be the photographer:

 

 

He's an abstract artist apparently.

And now we close with a few quotations from the artist himself:

 

I bought a new purse a few weeks ago and when I asked Chance how he liked it, he said,

"Well...  it's only brown and old looking."

 

Chance walks in the room while I'm mumbling in Chinese:

Chance:  "What are you doing?  Are you practicing Chinese?"

Me:  "Yes.  How did you know?"

Chance:  "Because my brain works."

 

We're in church where there is a huge crucifix hanging over the alter.  Chance points at it.

Chance:  (not whispering) "That guy without a shirt - that's Jesus?"

Me:  (whispering) "Yes"

Chance: (still not whispering) "I thought it was God."

Me: "Yes.  Jesus is God."

Chance: (really not whispering) "God's the guy without a shirt?  (pause)  Wait a minute....   I thought Jesus was a baby?"

 

Chance on breakfast Part I:

Chance:  "I want some of those, you know, things that you eat."

Me:  "Hm....   what do they look like?"

Chance:  "You know, those different kind of toaster strudels, you know, with no cooking."

Me:  "A Pop-Tart?"

Chance:  "Yeah! Yeah! One of those!"

 

Chance on breakfast Part II:

Chance:  "I want some Chinese Toast."

(For the record, I never figured that one out but I gave him an English Muffin and he didn't complain).

 

 

This blog post is dedicated with love to all those who recently had hips replaced, be they right or left and with no regard or restriction whatsoever even if they inadvertantly leave key letters out of ye olde blog poster's name and blame it on their perceset [sic].

But, as tomorrow is official Back to School for Shaeleigh, I"d better sum up the summer.  Chance has three more days as a Giraffe then he has a few days off before becoming a Star.  Someone at work was commenting on how the parents are probably happy for school to be starting again.  In thinking about it, I much prefer summer.  School schedules are a pain in the neck (this week Shaeleigh has a half day Monday and Friday and Chance is off on Thursday and Friday).  But nevermind, let's dwell on the happy summer memories....

 

This is what everyone's hair looked like when we got back from the beach.  Hahaha. 

 

The beach was awesome!  We went the week BEFORE the hurricane.  Both kids loved the water this year.  Plus, it was the first year that neither of them were afraid of showers.  Perhaps it doesn't seem a key thing to note but anyone who has tried to get a sandy kid clean in a hotel bathtub will understand the joy in seeing kids clean off happily in the outdoor shower.

The kids were really great about walking this year as well.  Our hotel was on 26th street (first block of the boardwalk) and ever cost-minded parents that we are, we refused to pay $12 bucks for a tram ride ($3 each) and decided to walk down to 1st street on the boardwalk.  We stopped for fries (Thrashers) and ice cream (chocolate and melty) and didn't hear too many complaints at all.  Both hooligans are in love with arcade games so that was the clear highlight of the boardwalk adventure.  Well, that and Batman:

 

(Note the happy tram riders in the background).  Shaeleigh was so good.  Chance was actually afraid to go to stand next to the Dark Knight at first and Chance LOVES Batman.  So Shaeleigh went up and stood next to him.  Chance will follow his big sister anywhere.

At anyrate, we didn't quite have the same luck with the walking on the way home but I'd say we got about 13 blocks out of them here and there and the rest of the way the wee ones got a lift in one set of arms or the other.

 

I don't know how much Batman makes in his tip jar for a night's work but when I retire, if I don't look good in black spandex, I think I'll make my living as a hair wrapper.  Woe to the parent who does not ask the cost of getting their daughter's hair wrapped in thread with feathers at the end because for the price of 3 tram rides with a small tip included, Shaeleigh got a new look. 

 

Yes, that was $40.  Lady said it would last until December.  I said, "no, it will last until 29 August when the Principal of OLOH calls Shaeleigh to the office and snips it off."  (not to worry, we unwrapped it today)

 

Ah, my family.  This is what I get from them.  They's so cute.

 

Ugh.  Can you believe we ate these?  They were delicious too - although they sure look disgusting in retrospect.  We got them at The Fractured Prune.  Oily, icing covered, messy O's of grease.  So sticky that we actually had to stop at a gas station to eat them.  Well, we were short a cup of coffee and a Red Bull to wash them down with but that's an aside....

 

Here she is with her hair thing.  She would not give me a smile - only goofball faces.  But I snapped this one just before the tongue came out. 

The rest of the beach photos will have to wait.  They are hanging out in a disposable camera and may become available in the Fall (once again, we try to set realistic expectations here on the Smitheroni blog).

 

And so we will move on to the camping adventure.  Well, pseudo camping.  We went all the way to Bull Run (a trip so short that when we got there, Kenn decided to try to find a gas station before we drove to the cabin, and the driving around looking for a gas station doubled the length of the ride down).  At Bull Run we stayed in the "Rustic Cabins" where you don't have a bathroom but you do have a refrigerator and air conditioning.  You also have enough furniture for three cabins.  Two rooms with a futon, a full size bed, a bunkbed, a table, four chair, and three benches, plus the fridge.  That leaves just enough room to take the half step needed to trip over something.

The kids spent the first day hashing out who was going to sleep on the top bed of the bunkbed and as soon as the lights went out, everyone got really generous, "Shaeleigh can sleep on the top...  Chance said he wanted it first....  " and the poor bunkbed was left empty on the top AND the bottom and sleeping in a tent next year gained rapid favor. 

 

Ah, nothinig like little creeks full of rocks and nuts to toss.  We took a great hike - classic camping adventure.  The loop on the map they give you at the "camp store" looks feasible but once you've walked for an hour you doubt that you're heading in the right direction.  We did make it out before folks got too whiney but it was close.

 

The cabin had the cutest little porch swing - I took this photo and then as I looked at it in the viewer and realized that product placement left much to be desired.  I told them to lean in for a sweet Father/Daughter shot and just as I click the button -

 

Out of nowhere comes Chance.  He leans in and goes, "Mooooooooooooooo"  HAHAHAHAHA.  I think we laughed the whole week about this picture.

 

This is the Daddy Long Legs that hung out in the girls bathroom the entire stay.  She just moved about the sink freaking Shaeleigh out.  

 

And here we are.  Our little home sweet home.

The kids got along so well on our vacation.  Hard to believe really - not one squabble, even in the car.  Shaeleigh read quite a bit which is a nice talent if you can manage it - reading in the car.  She's been reading the Bella Sara series.  She spends most of her drawing time, drawing the Bella Sara horses or My Little Pony but on occassion she decides to step out of her comfort zone and draw a little something for her brother:

 

This is Bumblebee (Transformers)

 

And, Superman of course.

 

So my garden....  as usual, a sad state of affairs.  We got about 8 stalks of corn and some stinkin' squirrel pops up and started eating the ears one by one.  We weren't sure what was getting them until Kenn caught the bugger red handed, or red mouthed, in the front yard with an entire ear of MY CORN in his mouth.  The squash grew and grew until it died.  And the beans did okay if you don't need more than 5 beans a week.  The sunflowers - like everything else, we planted them with love in those little peat pots and nutured them until they were big enough to transplant.  I took care to put them in carefully spaced holes in a nice sunny spot and then were were eaten overnight.  Fantastic.  And so, I took the seeds and poked them into holes made with my finger with no love whatsoever into a random blob of a pattern.  There they took off and grew 10 feet tall.  Why don't they put that on the back of the package?!

And now....  some random shots:

 

Little know fact - In his spare time, Peter Parker likes to jam out to Katie Perry while wearing a tie.

 

Chance trying to hula hoop.

This is from the Fourth of July.  I think I have them posed at this fence a few years ago as well.  Need to dig that up.

 

They might even be facing in the directions above.

 

Once again, if this is what you give me, this is what I will post.  Chance saw a photo of him with this hat in Vietnam and had me dig it out for him.  It was goofy back then.

 

Tall guy, small us.

There's more but I must get to bed.  Perhaps tomorrow (but as always....  no promises...)

TTFN

 

 

 

I did forget one important picture in my last post:

 

Our paperwork is complete with one exception - USCIS approval.  We are hoping to get it this week or next (we're on day 61 of the wait - average wait time 68 days).

 

     

Rumor has it that there were people whining, theatening me with taking away my blog of the year title. Oh yeah, I didn't win blog of the year - well there's the problem right there - a clear lack of motivation. 

So a couple of weeks ago I come home and Chance is sitting on Kenn's lap.  He has Kenn's dirtbike magazine opened - Kenn tells me he'd been staring at same page on and off all afternoon.  I'd like to tell you that it was a picture of a cool dirtbike doing some cool trick but no, it was some advertisement featuring a scantily clad woman.  This is why parents get upset about advertisements.  Who needs a four year old staring at scantily clad women?  What does one do with that?  We asked a few questions, "Do you like that picture?  How come?" but didn't get any particularly interesting answers and so decided to let it go.

What's interesting is that today, we went to the library and Chance happens upon a book about the artist Lichtenstein.  He saw it on one of the display racks and for whatever reason it caught his eye and he took it down to look at.  He then put it into his pile of select superhero books to check out.  After we got home I found him on the floor staring at one particular page:

 

 

He was just staring at it. 

Me: What's that a picture of?

Chance: A lady and glue.

Me: Glue?

Chance: Yes, wait, see..... (he flips back to this page)

 

Chance: See this rocketship is in glue. The lady is from this rocketship. Glue is coming from her eyes.

He then goes back to the lady and just lays there staring.

Come bedtime I bring his library books back to his bedroom. The Lichtenstein book was left behind because it was still on the floor. I read him one Batman book and tell him he can pick one more. He starts looking around and then says, "wait," and runs out to the family room to get the book.  It's a book about Lichtensteins life (not for kids - lot of words) so I read the captions under the pictures and when we get to the one of the glue lady (I edit the caption as it's called something like "Drowning Girl") he says dreamily, "I could look at this one all day." I asked him, "why?" and he says, "it's so special."

Somewhere inside our little distructo is the soul of an artist.

Drowning Girl (aka: Girl with the Glue Coming Out of Her Eyes)

 

 

Ah, speaking of artists - Happy Father's Day here's a wacky cake!

Speaking of glue - Chance comes out of his bedroom around 9:30 the other night with pink gum stuck all down his chest, arm and into his armpit which is essentially glued shut.  "Mommy, I have gum on me."  I have gum on me." I have no idea where the gum came from. Kenn and I searched the house the next day but couldn't find anything. When questioned, Chance said, "I don't know.  From my doggie blanket," and when we didn't find anything on the doggie blanket, "I don't know. A think a witch took it."

For the record, I couldn't get the gum off and sent him back to bed with his poor armpit stuck together.  He was half asleep so figure that was better than breaking out the peanutbutter and what-not. The next morning I actually found some goo-off wipes and got it off pretty easily.

 

He's keeps us laughing.

 

 

This is my contraption.  I had a few weeks at work where I was so busy I felt like a spent all my time in meetings or sitting on my bum answering email.  I just needed some energizing and I thought, I need some bike pedals under my desk or something.  So I googled it and who knew - there's all kinds!  Even elipticals and stairsteppers for under the desk.  Hahahaha.  It's awesome.  I have a few people in my office coming down to borrow them from time to time.  If only I could bring them into the boring meetings, "Don't mind me, just keeping my mind awake, no, no, I'm listening, don't mind the sweat.  Anyone got a rag?  Hey you in the suit, you drinking that water?"  Hahahahahaha.

 

 

See? Someone thinks I'm funny.  Poor Chance - he fell pretty hard on his chin at school and must also banged his front tooth.  It turned gray a few days later.  He luckily had a dental cleaning scheduled and they took an xray - didn't look like any damage but it might remain off-color. 

 

 

I took this picture just for the elbow. Shaeleigh could easily be a contortionist. Her fingers and arms bend in some pretty stomach turning ways.

 

 

We took a hike to find a waterfall that we were told was at a nearby park.  I had my expectations set pretty low on the waterfall but note that there weren't low enough.  BUT, the hike was fun.  Lots of rocks and roots and both kids were good walkers. 

I should also note, as I'm thinking of it, that Shaeleigh killed two spiders on her own over the weekend.  This is an amazing feat.  The first one took such effort that I thought for sure a small hurricane was blowing through her bedroom at the time.  BUT, since she usually screams and comes running at first siting, it was a big accomplishment.

 

 

A rather successful self-timed family photo!

 

 

Small child, large forest.

 

 

Small child, large field.

That was taken on Shaeleigh's class field trip to Great Country Farm.  Chancie and I went along - we had a very good time!

 

 

They had some fun playground stuff - including a giant spider web.

 

I love farms.

 

 

The kids all got to pan for gold.  They found some fool's gold and lot of different kids of gemstones.

 

 

Here are the readers.  Despite my previous post about Chance and his lack of library manners, we have been going every other week.  He is actually pretty good at the library.  He has found a love for all the superhero books.  Sadly we have only found a handful - unlike the 100,000 Amelia Bedelia books that Shaeleigh LOVES.  Both kids really love to read.  Chance of course, is just looking at the pictures and memorizing what we read to him, but Shaeleigh is doing really well with reading and will stay up all night if we'd let her, just reading book after book.  She is particularly fond of Amelia Bedelia, any Mo Willems books, any My Little Pony (of course), and Fancy Nancy.

 

So Kenn got the kids a Slip and Slide.  I thought it would be great!  What kid doesn't love a slip and slide?  Oh yes, the same kid that didn't like bounce houses.  That would be Shaeleigh - what are we going to do with her?  She needs to boost up that confidence!  Chance (as seen above) finally got the hang of it (sorta). 

 

This is about as far as he slide most of the time. In fairness, the box says, 5-12. Maybe they're too young?

 

 

Shaeleigh rockin' out while not slipping or sliding. She is enjoying summer camp (after an initial rough week settling in). She's coming home with all sorts of new talents (hula hoop, new methods for thumb wresting and playing rock, paper, scissors, increased knowledge of Pokemon).

 

She's a cutie, although Kenn and I have definitely decided she is pure "big sister" - she does like to rule the roost.

 

The kids are both taking swimming lessons. That's going about as well as the slip and slide. If we can just end the summer with her getting her face in the water we will be vicotorious. She LOVES the pool, LOVES her swim lessons.  And luckily we got an instructor with the patience of a saint. He's great. She's a tough nut to crack.

 

 

The Pea.  He's showing his age more and more.  Moving around pretty slowly these days.  Chance still calls him Paintie Paint.  But, Chance still calls me Dad so I guess we are all just used to answering to whatever.  Lately Chance calls us all "Sir"  or "Ma'am" or "Sir-Ma'am."

 

 

Shaeleigh drew this picture of Paint in Heaven. I thought that was touching. She is usually not too sentimental.  I should say though, although we get on her for not showing a very wide circle of caring, she won the "Crusader of the Year" award for her class. Award goes to the person who "Demonstrated Outstanding Christian Character Throughout the School Year."  She's a good kid.

 

Just a goofy picture - but there are so few of me that come out blog postable.

And now I'm off to bed. Xanga keeps jumping to the end of the post when I try to post captions under the photos so I am going crazy. Below are some random shots. Perhaps in a few months I will be back to further explain. Bwah hahahahaha.