I Can't Believe How Time Is Flying

I can’t believe how long it’s been since we have posted here. A lot has gone on since our last post. First off there was Thanksgiving in Lake Havasu with Grandma and Grandpa. As usual, we had a blast. It was nice to see everyone feeling well and pretty much back to their routines. We spent a day in Oatman, AZ and met up with one of our friends, J.R.. If you don’t know about Oatman, it’s an old mining town in Arizona on Route 66. The fun thing about Oatman (and the main reason to go to Oatman) is that wild donkeys hang around town and you feed them carrots. We wanted Linda to get a chance to feed them carrots. Well guess what. The donkeys skipped town that day (probably due to wind). There was not one donkey to be seen…. hmmmm. So we had lunch and took off.

When we got home it was time for Bill to do some major work. No not at home ( I wish it was) but at work. Bill is rebuilding three studios by the end of year. Needless to say, we have not seen much of him. While Bill was at work I was busy getting Linda’s birthday party ready, getting Linda ready for preschool and a visit from Bubbie and Zadie.

Linda started preschool the first week of December and is going two days a week. We both had a nasty cry the first day but we got over it. Linda had a great time in school. When I picked her up she had a great big hug for me. That was the best part of my day. When I asked her what she did in school she said, “Pizza, Juice, Mirna”. That’s pretty much her standard answer now when I pick her up.

Bubbie and Zadie arrived later that week for Linda’s birthday party. It was nice to have the family in town. The weather was kind of sucky so that made us all very lazy.

Well next is birthday party. We had it at Playtown. It is a great indoor playground for toddlers. We all had a blast. They do a nice job there. They even take your presents to your car. We forgot our camera but Mary and Bill were there for the rescue. Thanks for the great pictures.

The next week came the nasty head cold from preschool. That didn’t take long. It was frustrating because I felt horrible for Linda, she was just miserable with this one. She was congested, coughing, vomiting, fever and nose bleeds. This was only a head cold and it seemed worse than Bronchiolitis. I think that’s because she was younger then and she didn’t get frustrated just being in the house. I was also suffering from sinus crap (yes that’s a technical term). We really hadn’t seen much of Bill in those couple of weeks and I was really looking forward to him being home for the weekend and I being able to just get rid of the sinus crap or at least taking a little time to myself…. Nope didn’t happen. Bill got sick. Oh brother!!!! I had to try to keep Linda away from Bill so they wouldn’t just past germs to each other. That wasn’t happening. Linda wanted nothing to do with me when Bill was home. So none of us really got any rest.

Well we are finally over that hump. Yeah!!!! We are just draining now. Linda is back to her happy self. We are looking forward to the New Year and what exciting things will be coming our way.

Happy New Year to everyone!!!!!!

Jiangxi 12-06

The title of this blog is the group number for our travel group to China. It is the number we used a little over a year ago to meet our daughter in China.

This past weekend six of the families from that group (including us) reunited in Dallas. Thanks to Patty for arranging our weekend.

When we met up Friday evening at Patty's house, it felt like we just saw each other the day before. The parents continued with their conversations like they never really stop.
The girls of course are all almost two years old with the exception of Jiani. I think she's about four years old. I don't think they remember each other but they had a great time together. I think to them it was just meeting up with some fresh faces. They were all shy at the beginning, but it didn't take long for them to warm up to each other. They are all very tall and they all have the same personalities. None of them really whined much and they were all jumping beans.

Saturday we went to the Dallas Arboretum. It was great. There were lots of pretty plants and a great pumpkin festival. There was also a really cool chocolate festival. It smelled soooo good.









Saturday night we were all at Patty's parents house for a wonderful pasta dinner. They had a jumpy in the back yard and Linda went in for 10 seconds. That's a new record for her. I don't get, she loves to jump, she just doesn't like to be in a jumpy.

We tried to do the "red couch" picture. As you can see the kids had some other ideas.

Sunday morning we had breakfast with two of the families at the hotel. It felt like China with older kids. We had a great time and talked about next year. I'm pulling for San Diego to be the next trip with a stop at Legoland.

It was great to see everyone and I miss them all over again.

Pumpkin Patch!

Now this is a first. It's the second time we've been to the pumpkin patch with Linda! Wow! Now that is out of the way, we visited Bates Nut Farm once again. It looks like this is going to be a family tradition as we all had a ton 'o fun. This year we invited our friends to join us. As the saying goes, "a good time was had by all!"

Linda driving the tractor!

Look at those goofy pumpkins!

Sophia, Jinji, Jarrah, & Linda

Which way, Paul?

So many pumpkins!

On No! They got me!

Linda & Jarrah

It's this big! Whaaaaat?

There are so many more pictures I will have to process them and do a later posting. Thanks to Cory for having fun with my camera when I was busy being Dad!

We had so much fun! Thanks to everyone for coming out and joining us. We are looking forward to next year!

Oktoberfest in La Mesa

Can you believe that we are now REPEATING events! Yes, Linda has been home over one year! Her first major event to attend was the Oktoberfest. Of course, we had to go back this year and as luck would have it I did not have to work making it much more enjoyable. On a last moment call our friend Cory and Lena joined us. Thanks for the pictures!

Our favorite is Linda enjoying the Chicken Dance on daddy's shoulders. Oh the things that I must endure.

And what child does not want to play with daddy's hat. Linda loves to play with my hat. Hers? NOOOOOOO. Mine? Yeeeeees.

Finally, there must always be a goofy shot of daddy. Hey, it's part of the job, right?

Next weekend, the pumpkin patch! See you there!

An Interesting Encounter On The Way To The Mall

Wow! It's been a while since a post! Someone has be slacking.

Mel, Linda, and I visited family this past weekend in L.A. We had a great visit and Linda did not want to leave. It's tough not to have family close by as some of you know. We make the most of it, though.

Saturday afternoon we decided to walk to the Beverly Center to get out and stretch our legs and it gave us an excuse to let Linda loose, too. As we crossed a street the driver from the car waiting for us yelled out, "Is that your daughter?" I did not quite get the question the first time and asked to repeat it while trying to figure out if there was a potential incident. It was L.A.
I responded, "yes, she sure is!".
The man then returns with, "I was adopted by a Caucasian couple. I wish you the best."
We thanked him for his kind comments and continued on our way.
You might have guessed, the man was an African-American.

All we could think at the time, "Only in L.A. would that happen." Very cool.

We proceeded to have a fun time in the mall and let Linda walk, jump, and dance her way around.


P.S. We will get a couple of new pix uploaded soon!

A Great Summer

I know we have been very bad at posting! I’ve got to say that after a full day with Linda, I don’t really feel like looking at a computer for too long.

Linda has grown so much in the last couple of months both physically and mentally. She is climbing on just about anything you can think of and she is talking so much.

We started the summer with a trip to Disneyland. Bill had to work there again so we tagged along. It was a nice birthday trip for me. It was the opening of the “Finding Nemo” submarine ride. Disneyland took the old sub ride and revamped into a “Finding Nemo” theme. It was great!! It’s the second longest ride (after “Pirates of the Caribbean”) at 12 minutes long. Linda had a great time and it was really neat for me to see her getting into a ride I remember going on with my family when I was little.

For the 4th of July holiday we went to see Grandpa and Grandma Ellen in Lake Havasu. It was a very relaxing vacation. We hung out at the pool in the morning (when it was only 90 degrees). And played with some indoor toys in the afternoon (when it was 124 degrees). We were going to go the Aquatic Center one day but we got blocked in by a house fire across the street. There were three fire trucks (and a fire catering truck for the firefighters so they wouldn’t get thirsty) blocking us in so we couldn’t drive out. No one was in the house during the fire. The house in under renovation… hmmm. It was great to see the folks and we hope to see them again soon.

Last weekend Bubbie and Zadie came out to spend time with us and see the Dead Sea Scrolls that are on exhibit here in San Diego. The exhibit was fascinating!!! How can anybody read anything that small? We had a great time with Bubbie and Zadie. We blew up our large kid pool from Costco. It fit all five us very nicely. Linda had a blast even if her teeth were chattering.



In between all of this we had some nice play dates. Linda and I went to a pool party. I found out about this great floating device that Linda loves. She no longer wants to sit in her ducky (who can blame her). This device lets her move around the pool very nicely.

Here are some recent pictures of Linda and her friends. The picture of the two dads is at the Holt Picnic in June. The other little girl named Elianna is one the girls in our travel group. She comes from the same orphanage as Linda. She is a total sweetheart.

Instant Toddler

I was wandering the house settling things down after returning from Disneyland. More on that later, i.e. another post. Mel decided to lay down and rest = sinus pain in a big way. I lost track of our little darling until I hear the call: "Honey, look at what our child is doing?"

A picture, well in this case, video speaks for itself! Enjoy!

Couple of Pictures

While learning video editing, I clipped these two frames. I know everyone is hurting for more pictures, so while I work on video I will throw a few of these up! Yeah!









Both of these were shot while Linda was playing with the lawnmower referred to in the previous post. Can you tell she is having fun?

Linda and Her Slide

How cool. Linda has her own slide! She also has her own little lawnmower. (Maybe some day I won't have to mow that lawn!)
Here is a little video of her trying it out. She still needs a bit of assistance on the top, but other than that it is all fun and games!



Linda is doing quite well and is having a great time in life, or at least she is when we aren't doing crazy things to her!

I Went To a Street Brawl and a Baseball Game Broke Out

I have to go back a week before I get to the real meat of this post. A week ago Thursday I took Linda to a day game at Petco Park. It was the Padres vs. Diamond Backs.

I was a little scared about taking Linda by myself but I thought what the heck. The worst that could happen is that she gets antsy and we’ll have to go to the “Park at the Park” and play.

I managed to score the first seat in a row on the Toyota Terrace Unreserved. The price was half off the norm because Thursday day games are two for one or half off one on the Toyota Terrace Unreserved section and only $10 parking in the 8th and Harbor Garage.

So I packed a lunch for Linda and off we went. I went to one of the snack bars to get a hot dog and found out they are also two for one. I thought great. I’m getting Linda a hot dog too. We sat down at this hidden section I know about where there is always an empty table and we had our hot dogs.

Then we went to the Toyota Terrace, put the stroller inside some railings between a beam and a trash can and walked four steps down to our seat at the beginning of the row. We had a blast. Linda was yelling “ball”, dancing with the music and clapping when everyone was clapping. I had a tear in my eye. She sat on my lap for about an hour and a half and had a great time.

I was so excited when we got home that I had to call my friend Martha and tell her about it. Martha loves baseball like I do and is also from L.A. During our conversation we decided to go to Petco Park for the Padres vs. Dodgers game.

Well folks that was last night. I think Martha was a little surprise at my Dodger gear and that I’m gutsy enough to wear it here in San Diego. We wandered around the park for a bit, got some food and drinks and went to our seats. We had a very nice conversation and watched the Trevor Hoffman festivities in peace.

Then the idiots arrived. I have lived here for ten years now and I still don’t understand the “fair weather” Padre fan (no I’m not talking about real Padre/baseball fans). You know the idiots that have no idea what they are talking about and just yell to hear their own voices. But after ten years (and I guess being a mom now) I have just learned to roll my eyes, grumble a little and ignore it.

Martha is not use to it. This idiot kept yelling stupid things in our ears. His kid is bopping me with his balloon hammer and they were just plain annoying. Martha turned around and asked politely to keep it down and it got worse. He was throwing the f-bombs and other things and Martha was upset because HE’S SAYING ALL OF THIS INFRONT OF HIS TODDLER!!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!

Then he just started to get personal. I don’t remember what he said but Martha got up in his face (you go girl). The guy behind the idiot had to hold him back.

At this time the Dodgers were losing so that was not helping things. We decided to leave our seats about the 8th inning (really because I didn’t want to deal with the idiot while trying to go down steps). We found an usher and Martha told him the story. He didn’t help much. Then we found another usher that basically said, “Sorry but we have to deal with bigger drunks than that.”

As we were leaving we saw on the screen that Trevor Hoffman was blowing the save and the game was tied. When we got to the car, the Dodgers won 6-5. Yeah!!! I bet the idiot was quiet in his seat now.

Gotta love baseball.

We Are Home!!!!!

Enough said.

Where Are We????

Well, the car is quite sick. Seems like it will get a new alternator and battery along with a new set of AC compressor bearings. Oh fun.

Linda? Doing great. Of course she is quite wacked out on any consistency when it comes to eating and sleeping, but she is hanging in there. Tonight is the first night she actually has fallen asleep before 9pm! This will last up to when this noisy air conditioner turns back on. We've had some good nights with minor whining, so the AC in this room has not disturbed her too much. Every time we ride in the car is a different story. Out cold. She doesn't last more than 10 or 15 minutes before falling asleep.

Today we visited my Dad as a family. He is doing great and is waiting to be released from the hospital. Looks like tomorrow is the day. What a bummer! he will get to go home before we do! Actually, that is awesome. Linda was her cute self on the visit. After a little time in the room, Mel took her outside in a courtyard where Grandpa was able to watch her run around a bit. All was good.

We hit the pool this afternoon. Only the second time on this trip. :-( Linda had a great time in the water once again. The floating duck chair is a hit. After we rinsed off and relaxed we treated ourselves to the Macaroni Grill. Nice place and pretty good food. Linda was such an angel. We had two elderly couples tell us how cute she is. How nice.

After a little work we are now ready to settle down. We can't wait to get home!

The Murphy's Spring Training Trip

Well, we are having "fun" on this trip, but I think Linda is having the most fun and I will start with this: Linda has been such a trooper and sooooooooo good!

We decided to start our trip a day early as a family crisis, mild but a crisis, occurred which landed my Dad in the hospital. Where? No place but Phoenix. BTW, he is doing very well and should be released sometime during the week. We started our trek on Thursday morning. A beautiful morning for SD. It was uneventful until we arrived in Phoenix. We get to the hotel and find that it is so new that the pool was not even open! "How long?" we asked. Another couple of weeks! There is no way in hell we are going to stay in Phoenix with another family and have no pool for the kids to play in, so the mad dash to find another place. We manage to get rooms in another place and got a decent discount, but we are going to be calling the customer relations folks as soon as this wacky trip is over. Thursday is shot. At least I got to visit my Dad.

Friday was a pretty good day. Nothing to report. Linda did not get to the pool for her very first swim, but she did get to see, and I use that term losely, her first baseball game. We had a good time running around, and she did OK sitting in our laps for a couple of innings. It was also a rare time that she was up waaaaaaay past her bed time. Well, that has become a common occurrence on this trip. I guess that is what vacations are for.

Today started well. Linda had her first dip in a swimming pool. No complaints. She had a wonderful time. I carried her in the pool without a whine or scream. We bought a floating duck that she can sit in. She loved that. She kicked and splashed. Linda does not like blow-up arm floaters. Oh well, back to the duck. She was so tired afterwards that she took a nap from which she did not want to wake up, but we had a game to get to. This game we decided on as a last minute one and we were to buy lawn seats, so we did not buy in advance. We were less than a mile away from the stadium when we got the call from our friends that it was SOLD OUT! We retreated to Peoria to see the Mariners play the Rangers. On the way to Peoria I misjudged a dip in the road. Mel was feeding Linda as she was starving. Wham! Pasta salad on the floor in the back and on top of Mel's Coach purse! Bill is on the shit list now. We finally get to the game and enjoyed the few innings we were there. Well, we played with the kids and just had fun.

After the game we decided to do the scenic route back to our hotel and cruise down through Phoenix to Scottsdale and then to the hotel. We never made it to Scottsdale. Murphy struck again and our little Mazda SUV dropped dead. After a number of phone calls and the battery on the cell phone was dying, we got a tow to the closest Mazda dealer. The dealer sent a salesman to pick us up and he waited with us until the tow truck arrived. While we were waiting, Mel took Linda to a Walgreens across the street to cool down while I waited in the 90+ degree heat for the drivers. We used the Mazda roadside assistance plan that we purchased and thus all the "rides". The dude from Mazda took us down to the airport so we could rent a car! Yup, we now have a rental while the Tribute gets checked, and that won't even be until Monday as the service department is closed on Sundays as usual. We drove out of the rental car lot at 7:20pm. How wacky and random that Mel and I discussed earlier how nice it would be to get Linda down at a reasonable time. NOT! We went to dinner and now, at 10:20pm, Linda is yelling for Mama and is showing no signs of settling down! She will when I am done here.

So now we are stuck here in Phoenix for what looks like an extra day as we were to return home on Monday, but Tuesday will be more like it if all goes well with the car. We still love that car, it's just a bummer that this happened on this trip with everything else that is going on. Another random thing is that I took the car in last Tuesday for a regular service! Talk about adding insult to injury.

I hope Murphy was only visiting today and the next couple of days will be fun and as normal as could be expected. Linda has been patient and just a little princess through all of this sitting in car seats, strollers, and unknown cars. I hope everyone else has had uneventful days and we are taking care of Murphy. We are now going to try and get some sleep.

A Conversation Between Mother and Daughter

Here is our daily conversation.

Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes Linda

Linda: Uh


Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes sweetheart

Linda: hehehehehehe


Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes dear

Linda: Fish

Me: Not before breakfast sweetheart. Drink some milk.


Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes Linda

Linda: Dog

Me: Yes the dog is over there.


Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes sweetheart

Linda: Dada

Me: Daddy is at work. He'll be home later.


Enough said. :-)

Mommy Lessons

Linda is feeling much better now. She is almost her old self. We have been keeping a low profile this week. At the beginning of the week it was easy because Linda was very mellow. We would read books and watch Baby Einstein DVDs and Sesame Street. Of course as the week goes on and Linda is feeling better we have to get creative and play with lots of toys. Then she's getting cabin fever (like myself) and grabs her jacket and heads straight for the front door and points. So we do quick trips.

Today when Bill came home I took a quick exercise walk. On my walk I bumped into a neighbor with two little kids. I told her about Linda's bronchiolitis. She just kinda rolled her eyes and said that's a bummer. Then she goes on to says something like a couple of weeks ago her son got the flu and then a little while later her daughter got it. She just wish that the kids got the flu at the same time.

Okay, here I am practically in tears because Linda was feeling miserable. I was all concerned about her breathing and drinking enough fluids. The neighbor just wished her kids get sick at the same time.

Wow it just reminds me of that line in the movie Parenthood where the one mother says with her first child they really watch him closely. By the third child we were letting them juggle knives.

I guess I'll still be practically in tears when Linda is feeling miserable for a little while (18 years).

Chicken Broth for the Sick

Well we are dealing with Linda's first childhood illness. Linda came down with a runny nose and cough on Friday. Like usual she was her wonderful self. Still bright and smiley and full of energy... just with a runny nose and cough. Saturday was pretty much the same. But Sunday morning her breathing just didn't seem right to me. It was kind of loud and shallow.

So we called the doctor and went in for a 11am appointment. Yes on a Sunday (we love our doctor's office). The doc took one listen to her lungs and said we made a good choice coming in today. She was wheezing. She has bronchiolitist... ugh!!!! So the doc sent us home with some prescriptions and told us to give her plenty of liquids.

It's interesting to see how mother's intuition kicks in. Even though Linda just had a runny nose and cough, no fever and still had energy to play, I just didn't feel that her breathing was quite right. I hate the situation but I'm glad to see I actually have the knack for being a mom.

We are hoping for a peaceful night. Bill is just getting over a sinus thing. My sinuses are clogged up. And, the last couple of nights have been horrible for Linda. I've got to tell you Bill was a trooper last night. It was the worst for Linda. She could not get comfortable. Bill was there to calm her down while I tried to unclogged my sinuses and get some sleep.

One thing I have learned is that if you need a good liquid for your kid to drink/eat, chicken broth works great. I think between the first dose of medication and the broth, it gave Linda a good sneeze that was a real mess. But she was breathing better after that.

Linda Flying

Linda is really getting into her Tigger plane. We took it outside on Saturday and let her ride in the driveway. It is one of those push toys. Linda's legs are just long enough for her to move it. Since we have a slight slope in the driveway we discovered that Linda likes to move forward towards the garage and then roll backwards to be caught by one of us.

We did have an incident where she went forward into the lawn and do a tumble. It was quite entertaining as she went forward and over. Like a trouper, she was having so much fun she forgot to cry and got right back on for some more fun.

Oh No! And you Thought Bill Would be the Corruptor!

Well, after dinner I finished cleaning up. Yeah, like a good husband I do the dishes. Anyways, I wander into the family room and what do I find!


And you thought the geek, myself, would be the first to start the kid on computers! As I find out Linda likes to crawl into Mel's lap when Mel is checking email and reading the news. Who knows what else she is browsing! I guess it is all downhill from here!

As I understand it, Linda likes to look at pictures, so when Mel cruises over to blogs, Linda looks at the pictures that are posted. Cute.

Night all!

Baseball is Only a Couple Of Months Away....

So, leave it to Mel to get Linda, and me, to a baseball event. Today we went to Petco Park to visit the stadium and have some fun as it was Friar's Fest. Yeah, Mel is the Dodgers fan, but when it comes to baseball she is willing to do almost anything.


Today we didn't care to get autographs, but we did "walk the bases" with Linda and visit the team store and wander the stadium. After lunch we visited the Park at the Park and let Linda run around on the grass. We all had a good time.

On the way out, Linda wanted to push her own stroller, so away she went! This is her new favorite pastime. It is quite cute. It does slow us down a bit, but that is a small price to pay to tire out a youngster!

As Promised...

Linda's First Birthday

I’m not a very mushy person by nature. I’m not one for writing love letters. I know Bill and I were very happy to be able to celebrate Linda’s first birthday together. It was all I could think about for awhile after we received our referral.

We can’t tell you how happy we are that we got to experience some of Linda’s baby stage. There are so many transitions that Linda has gone through. We are seeing her change from a baby to a toddler right before our eyes.

Well Linda is now 13 months old. She is walking more than crawling around the house. She has fun at the playground now and even goes to her favorite (play) bus at the park and gets to the steering wheel by herself.

Linda is staring to mimic us. She likes to brush her hair and teeth and wants to put her socks on all by herself (of course she has a way to go on that but what an effort).

We went to the doctor yesterday for Linda’s 13 month visit. Linda is doing very well. She is 31” tall and 22.4lbs. She is above average for all the groups. The doctor was very please to see her walking so well.

I know I say this quite a bit, but it’s just amazing the changes that we see everyday in her. There is always something new.

(Don’t worry pictures will follow.)

Let me just finish this post by saying:

Linda, mommy and daddy love you very much!!!!!

Decmeber, Birthday and Holidays... Oh my!!!

Well we made it through our first December. I can see now that December will always be a busy month.

First we start off with Linda’s birthday. It landed on a Saturday this year so it was an all-weekend event. Bubby came in for a long weekend and even got to baby sit on Friday night so Bill and I could go to Bill’s Company Holiday Party. We had a nice evening and Bubby did a great job.

Linda’s birthday party was on Sunday. Zadie came in early Sunday morning for the festivities. We had Linda’s friends (and their parents of course) come over for a morning party. It was suppose to be at a local park but the weather did not hold up so it was at our house. Linda had a great time. (Pictures to follow)

Next was Chanukah. We had Lisa and Anton over for some playtime, potato latkes and jelly donuts. We also went to Jarrah’s house for some potato latkes and fun play time.

And last was our trip to Lake Havasu City to visit Grandpa and Grandma Ellen for a long weekend. We had a great time. Linda loved to explore the house. She did a lot more walking. Linda has also decided that she wants to brush her hair, her teeth and feed herself now. Wow, everyday is a new change in her. She is growing up so fast.

Grandpa gave her a little truck to play with at the house and she loved it. She would push it around and made a funny vroom vroom noise. It was cute to watch.

New Year’s Eve was pretty quiet. Linda stayed up till 8:15pm…. Wow! With Bill’s job, it’s not very often that we get to spend New Years together at home so we really enjoyed that.

Well that's it for now. Have a Happy New Year!!!!