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!