A Great Busy Weekend

We had a great weekend. Saturday we were at Legoland with our friends the Clancys. Caitlin and Linda had a great time. We even went through the aquarium. They have updated it since we were last there and it was fun to see the sharks and the octopus.

Legoland also has a new Star Wars exhibit. I really enjoyed it but I thought they would have more from the older movies than the newer ones.

Sunday was the Padres vs. Phillies game. As soon as I heard the starting line-up and that Holaday was pitching for the Phillies I knew it was going to be a bad day for the Pads. I was right. Although the pitcher for the Pads did pretty well until about the six inning. It was a pitchers duel for awhile and the first six innings were done in about an hour... not bad.

I'm looking forward to some more games in our future this season.

That's it for now.

Hello Out There!

I know it's been waaaaaaaaaaaay too long since we posted. Time goes by and the blog has been the last thing on our minds.

It's still fun to read other people's blogs, we just haven't made an effort to update ours. So here I am to update y'all.

Linda is now 5-years old. She is starting kindergarten in the Fall. I can't believe the time is almost here. She is definitely ready for it. I'm not sure I am.

Linda's favorite extra-curricular activity is swimming. She's pretty good at it too. Let's see if it sticks and she joins a swim team.

Things are pretty much still the same for Bill and myself. Bill is still working hard and I'm in my third year of being President of Families with Children from China - San Diego.

Our dog Amber is now 13-years old and blind. She's learning to adjust.

Other than that we have our annual trip to spring training in Phoenix, visits to grandparents in Lake Havasu City and Los Angeles.

So please enjoy these pictures and we will try to post more often.

Fair Day

There is only one place you will see Swifty the Swimming Pig! Yessiree, we went to the Fair on Tuesday!

Linda and Mel taking a break not more than 1/2 hour into the Fair. Why? It took that long just to get in! We arrived at opening and sure enough 1/4 of San Diego showed, too.

We had a good time. We watched a couple of horsed do their thing during a horse jumping event. We saw the goats and cows. We walked the main drag and saw everything fried on a stick. We wandered the wares warehouses. Linda got a new toy and Mel a new duster. We all will benefit form the food screen when we do our backyard BBQs. Funnel cake and hot dogs. We did good. Then we ran out of time and energy, so we split.

Happy summer! (When will it warm up?)

Holt Family Picnic

We had a real fun Saturday. First was Linda's second swim lesson in the morning and then in the car to Irvine for the Holt Family picnic! Linda loves the swim class and was up and ready to go. She was all ready for the change and drive to Irvine.

We had a great time at the picnic meeting up with friends and acquaintances who used Holt as their adoption agency. Jinji was so excited to see Linda. She dumped all the contents out of her little backpack to show Linda. So cute! It was great to see Molly and Haley again. They were awesome sitting with Jinji and Linda while us adults finished up our lunch. After lunch began the fun. To the playground!

The girls were having such a good time, and Daddy being Daddy, decided to stir it up a bit more. I began to catch and release the little ones. They were running all over the place. While we were having a ball a couple of other kids showed interest, as so we met Joy and Priscilla. They are sisters and had a great time, too. It is fun to make new friends and have such a good time.

By the end of the day we were all tired. From reports all the children fell asleep on the way home. We hope to hear from our new friends, and we can't wait to meet up with everyone again.

Where's the pictures? I was too busy playing with the children that I did not take any! I hope someone took pictures because we were having so much fun!

Linda Takes Swimming Lessons

It is official. Linda had her first swimming lesson yesterday. She had a blast. It is a small class and they spend a little bit of time with the instructor. What made it more fun is Linda is in the class with one of her school friends.

Linda kickin' it up! (click on the photo for the big picture)

Linda "jumps" in. Actually, she slid in. (click on photo for big picture)

We actually had a good time watching, too. Go Linda, Go!

Warm Apple Cup

Okay a quick post while I still have tears in my eyes from laughter.

We were trying to figure out if we were going to the Cracker Barrel for lunch or not. Well on my diet I can really only have one meal outside of the Medifast meals and we have a lot of stuff in our fridge that I thought I was going to eat since tonight is a night game.

Well we made our decision to eat in and I say to Linda, "Do you want your spaghetti for lunch?"

She nods her head no and says, "Remember the warm apple cups?". Obviously she remembers the Cracker Barrel very well.

We were in tears. I think we are going to the Cracker Barrel.

Spring Training 2010: Part II

We had a great day today, but before we get to that, I've added a picture from yesterday that Mel took. As mentioned we enjoyed a game and dinner with Mai and Mark. Becky, unfortunately, could not join us. Here is a picture of the gang. Linda and Mai had such a great time. It was awesome.


Today we went to Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, AZ. The Dodgers v. the Reds. What a game. Linda was shoot pictures all over. Check this one out of the field.
Here is a shot by me using Linda's camera. She must really like the game as we had to return to our seats after a brief walk. "Daddy, I want to go back to the seats. I miss them."


As we watched the game, Linda was shooting pictures everywhere. I even watched as she attempted a number of self portraits. This one came out good.

We started the day with some swimming. It was tough to get Linda out of the water to get ready for the game. A car nap and she was having fun at the stadium. Afterward, another car nap, a trip to the grocery store, and more swimming. We grilled with some friends and had a great time. Oh, and the Dodgers did win, 2-1. A great game for a Spring Training game.

Tomorrow brings a day of swimming and a night game. Padres v. Diamondbacks in Peoria. Yes, that will be 3 days, 3 different stadiums. If Tuesday works out it will be 4 days and 4 different stadiums, but we are not sure what game we will see.

Yes, Linda does miss home. She told me this evening. Yet, she says she is having a lot of fun here. Overall we are seeing all the "right" emotions from our little angel. Good night! Sleep well!

Spring Training 2010 Part I

Today was our first full day on our Spring Training Trip and did we have some fun! We arrived yesterday afternoon and settled down. Today we hit our first ball game at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, AZ. This is the home of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. Our fun began before we got to the stadium. We were about a mile or so, sitting in traffic, from the stadium.

Me: "We are so close I can taste it."
Linda: "We are so close I can smell my hot dog!"
We all busted down laughing.
Linda did end up eating 2 hot dogs!

Today's game was the Royals v. the Oakland A's. 26 runs on 29 hits, the Royals pulled it off with a 14-12 win.


This is Mel and Linda enjoying the game. (remember to click on the picture for the whole view).This is the view from our seats. Surprise stadium is a very nice facility. It's one of our favorites.
We met our friends Mark and Mai who are part of our travel group when we picked up our daughters. Linda and Mai played and had a great time. The ate everything: hot dogs, popcorn, dried cranberries, peanuts.... After the game we went to dinner together. Parting was a bit sad, but hopefully we will see them again before we leave.

Tonight our friends Mark, Laurie, Chloe, and Will should be arriving. We head out to see the Dodgers and Reds tomorrow. They play in Goodyear, AZ, a new stadium which we visited last year. Nice facility, too. We'll see if it makes our list of the best.

Various Linda Photos w/ Sophia, Too!

Click on the photos to see the whole picture!

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. :-)