Back a While: Wild Animal Park

Hey look! What the ....? (click on photo to view whole picture)

Linda, Sophia, and Bird. Oh, don't forget the belly button! (click to view whole picture)
Cory, stop flippin' the bird!!! There are kids around!

Oh So Long.......

So, what does Linda look like today. Gosh, when was the last time a picture was posted?

Enjoy this one, it is an awesome shot!

Whose Who?

I was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. I see the dog standing there with the inquisitive look.
I said, "Linda, what are you doing there?"
Linda replies, "That's not me, daddy! That's Amber!"
Me, "Oh, I was wondering when you got so much hair!"

You must love these little moments in life!

Happy Thanksgiving

We all have something to be thankful for, and many of us are thankful for our little ones. We are so thankful to have Linda with us. We just visited Lake Havasu and Grandpa and Grandma Ellen. We had a great time hanging out and playing.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and we look forward to a safe and wonderful holiday season.

Cheers!

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween. We had a good time. Even Linda enjoyed it more this year. Even though the picture doesn't look like she was having fun, she did!

Linda was our little Tinker Bell! We went up to Grossmont Center where they had their annual trick or treat event. Then we walked our street. One house had Linda spooked, but overall she had more fun this year than last. It was fun.

Till next time!

Jiangxi Travel Group Reunion

We had a great time this past weekend visiting with the families from our travel group. It's been 3 years since we've all been home with our little ones! Well, they are growing, so little is not quite the right word. We had so much fun in Phoenix. Thanks Becky and Mark for hosting this year!

Swimming is always a hit with children and I sure did enjoy being the "steam engine" for a bunch of them in the pool. We loved the Train Park. Linda and I spent a little time looking at the model trains on display as there was a model train festival going on while we were there.

We miss you guys already and cannot wait to see you all again soon. Now a picture or two. More coming.

Linda having breakfast. MMMMMM, waffles.

Friends at dinner.

Can never get them to pose for a picture. They sure are cute, though!

A Fun Day with Friends

We traveled to San Clemente to visit the Davee's today. Linda is always so excited to visit Jinji. Linda loves all her friends even if she doesn't get to see them too often. We had a great time. You cannot always get good action shots with a cell phone camera, but this one was a winner:

Kids and water always works! On the other hand, what shot did I get of Jinji?
Looks like Jinji got the best of Gator!

Thanks for the fun, guys!

She likes spaghetti!

As if what she had for dinner wasn't enough. I caught her with my phone "finishing" up the left over spaghetti!

FCC-SD Kite Festival & After

We had an awesome day at the Family with Children From China Kite Festival today. We have a couple of videos that need editing, but I could not resist the pictures below.
I think all the families had a great time today and we enjoyed catching up with them. Tough times flying kites as the wind was gusty at best, but better than other years. We did see one kite go for a long ride. I wonder where it ended up. Yup, lost in the wind and sailed away!

We returned home and in the process of cleaning up when our tired child, Linda, wanted MORE SWEETS! She grabbed a bag of cookies and was told "No, not now." Tantrum time. She sat it out and then stood it out, and then..... Well, she stood defiant in the family room. I finished some dishes and turned around. Linda passed out from either being too tired or a sugar crash. Now the picture:



As you can see she is out cold! Nappy time!

Disneyland: Work & Fun!

We just returned from a couple of days at Disneyland. One of those perks when you work in radio. We arrived on Thursday late afternoon and played in the park until the new fireworks show. Linda was too worn out to continue to the new Fantasmic event. Anyways, we had a great time.

We had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen this morning. Oh what fun that was. Following is a clip of Linda with Chip! Enjoy.

Must Have Ducks

So there we were the three us hanging around the house this morning. Bill and I were sitting in the living room trying to figure out what to do today and Linda is riding her bicycle around the house.

I finally said let's go to Seaport Village. For those of you that don't know it, it is a nice area of shops near the water here in San Diego.

Bill thought that was a great idea, but Linda had something else in mind. Linda wanted to go to Grossmont Center... a shopping mall. Well we go there and will be going there probably a thousand times during the week. So we said no.

Of course Linda comes back with that famous whine, "But I wannnnnnnt to."

We asked her why she wants to go there. She told us she wanted to see the puppies. We told her that at Seaport Village we could see ducks walking around.

Well we got to Seaport Village and found a duck walking around. We followed it for awhile. Then we went to Crazy Shirts (one of my favorite t-shirt places), the hat store and then took a walk to the Fish Market for lunch.

On the way we looked down at the rocks and water to find crabs. There were a few here and there. We saw some really cool kites flying around and then we walked over to the coffee place and had a quick coffee.

Then Linda asked for the merry-go-round. We all rode it. I swear I was holding on for dear life. That sucker is fast.

We were on our way out and I said to Linda, "Aren't you glad we came here. We had a great time?"

Linda said, "There was only ONE DUCK."

Oh brother, we thought. So we went over the little pond and there she got to see at least four or five ducks. And then Linda was happy.

Can't put anything past her. :-)

Bonsai Video

Oh my. I do not know where she learned this. School?
This cracks her up when she sees it.

Video attempt

I'm trying to upload a video or two from my phone. Let's see if this works!
This one is Linda playing with the water table and our neighbor yells over the fence.

It's been too long

Linda is 3 1/2 y.o. She is adorable. She also gives us a few headaches. It's all part of growing up. Here are a couple of shots from my cell phone which are soooo damned cute. Can you say "daddy's girl"?



I just have no other words right now. Too tired to think, but at least you "get the picture"!

Happy New Year!

I would love to jump up and down like Linda, but some of us are not feeling up to it. Our new year has started with the parents being quite ill. Today Melissa actually went into Urgent Care to get checked out. Apparently she has a pretty bad sinus infection causing this real nasty cough. I bet this is why my head is stuffed, yet I do not have the cough any longer.

Where did it come from? LINDA! Our little gem was sick over the holidays. She finally broke her fever on Christmas day. After about two months of coughing, she came down with a bug that lasted about a week. Sure enough a week later I am feeling pretty bad. A couple of days later, Mel.

Even though we are hit with this nasty stuff, it was awesome to see my Dad and Ellen during Thanksgiving, and then to see Bubbe and Zedie (Mel's Mom and Bill), for New Years. We greatly appreciated the visits. Of course, I was stuck working except for the actual holidays themselves.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great year and we continue to watch our wonderful child grow and become a beautiful young lady that she is.

Merry Christmas

We had a holiday. Nothing special. Linda's fever broke and she was normal today. Coughing is still quite annoying. She cannot sleep. Doctor's are worthless. Hopefully we will learn more when she is tested for allergies.

Pictures of Linda from Reunion

More to come.

Adoption Family Reunion 2008

The weekend is done and we had such a blast! There is so much to talk about that I do not even know where to begin! I'll give a brief run-down and mention now that tons of pictures are on the way!
Friday was a day at the beach and dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.
Saturday was a day at Legoland and dinner/BBQ at our co-host's house.
Sunday was a day of rest and most families had to leave.
Monday was a day at Seaworld with the last couple of families.

All in all it was a great success. To see all the children growing up and to know that we, as families, share something in common and fee that we should stay in touch is wonderful. Thank you to all that participated and to those who could not, we still think of you.

Pictures to come! I have much processing to do. Stay tuned.

2008 Moon Festival

As you all know we have been a bit sloooooow posting pictures and writing about our fine experiences with Linda. Approaching 3 years of age and we are having the full spectrum of highs, lows, and in-betweens. Well, how about a little bit on the high side today? We attended the FCC (Families with Children from China) 2008 Moon Festival and another one sponsered by the China House in Balboa Park. Both were as fun as fun can be.

Starting with the FCC event, we arrived early and Linda had a ball at the park. No, she did not have a ball, she had FUN! Being a Saturday and the fact she would get to stay up a bit later than normal, she made the most of the time. The playground was fabulous. The group then does a little "march" around the park with their lanterns. I did manage to get one OK shot off as I was too busy being Dad to take pictures. I am the toy, you know.


At the festivities at Balboa Park, we had some great entertainment. I did get a few shots off and even Mel pitched in with camera duties. I will have more Linda exclusives, but enjoy the shots of the dancers that follow.

Wholly C* Batman, We Haven't Posted!!!!

Yes, I know and Mel knows, we have not posted in quite some time. Thanks for the reminders, folks. We have been so busy "parenting" that we forget or are too tired to post. Go figure, everyone else seems to have no problem having a camera about and ready to post. Hmmm? I wonder if they keep their computers/laptops handy for all occasions? Me, I get tired of staring at a computer to really do much more than check emails and some news. I better get with the show!

Pictures are to come, but here is the latest. Our little darling is growing up so fast! We are doing the TT (Toilet Training) or whatever you want to call it. It has been 85% successful. Linda is quite a strong-headed little girl and does very well with a little mishap here and there. Otherwise, we've had people tell us she is doing fine. Mel? Well, we won't get into that.

We made our first cross-country trip a couple of weeks ago to Maryland! We visited for the first time Linda's Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Jon, and nephew Jonathan. Linda had a blast! The flight was a nonstop on Southwest. We had no issues. Linda got her own seat and we bought one of those safety harnesses. The first time we used it she began to do a little crying until we showed her that mommy and daddy had to wear their belts, too. We had toys and games. Books. Linda loved the white board and markers (dry erase). She is such a good traveler I wonder if she instinctively knows she flew half-way around the world at a very young age!

Baltimore was beautiful. I know we took our chances doing an August trip, but the weather cooperated all week. Linda enjoyed the National Aquarium and walk around the Inner Harbor. The house had a swing set that she loved. Uncle Jon bought a pool so we could have a dip which we managed to squeeze in one day. Oh, and the fire flies! Linda was amazed. We caught a couple and put them in a bug box. She looked at them with wonder. Birds. Deer. Wood chucks! One morning we were sitting in the sun room playing as we just got up. I had to take a nature break. I walked back Linda was squeaking with excitement. She spotted a baby deer and a mommy deer! Excited and proud, she stared at them and we watched until they trotted off into another yard. How fun.

Linda really enjoyed her and aunt and uncle and I hope we get a chance to visit again soon. It's a shame it is such a hassle to travel and the expense. It was worth it, though.

More later! And did I mention, pictures, too?

PS- Did I mention how difficult it is to take pictures of Linda? As soon as she sees the camera she runs behind it and yell, "I want to see!" "There's nothing to see, I haven't taken a picture yet!" She's funny. I think she will get a cool present for her birthday this year. Wink wink.