ADOPTION UPDATE

OK.....so I called US Asian Affairs to find out our true LID. Spoke with Norman Niu. I love how he now answers his own phone calls now Our LID is June 14, 2006. Group 122 already received their referrals and are going late Oct, early Nov.

I went to the adoption forecast website and it said for our LID, we should be getting our referals around April of next year. I figure if that is the case then we may not go till June which would most likely be a good thing as Mimi will be done with school.

I also asked Norman about the staying in the apartments. He said that it is actually better than the hotels because it is an apartment with service. So there is no cooking or cleanning involved and you have a washer and dryer in each apartment. Woo Hoo! The downside is that this will happen in Guanzhou and depending on what city we go to recieved our next chili pepper that will be a different story in itself.

Remember, you heard it here first.

BIRTHDAY BOY XANDER AND FRIENDS

Top left pic is Owen (Xander's bf) and Liam, top right pic is Ada (Owen's lil' sis), bottom left is Xander (green shirt) and Hudson (son of Bounce It Up owner), then bottom right pic is Natalie's friend whose name I do not know and she is holding Rhiana (Xander's lil' sis), then there is Natalie.

NATALIE, MIMI AND ERIN

SPARRING

Here is Mimi and Natalie sparring. Nobody really won. They just had a good time together. This was taken at Xander's birthday party at Bounce It Up.

MIMI AND OLIVIA AT BLACK DIAMOND BAKERY

Olivia was there with her dad Andre sitting in the background.

NEW PLACES TO TRY OUT

Within the past couple of years there have been some new places that are popping up. To start off with there is the Costco, Home Depot, Red Robbins, Mizu, Trapper Sushi which came up about 2 years ago. I like all but the Trapper Sushi which is IMHO overpriced and not good service. I am all about getting good to great service if I am going to shell out our hard earned money.

This year it is a place called 272 in Covington. The price is moderate, food and service is really good. Next on my list to try out is The Swinging Arm. I hear that it is a good place to eat. Then I heard through the Maple Valley Grapevine is that there is a new Target to be built in Covington. I am happy about that as I really don't care for driving far. Takes up just about my whole day when I do.

BREAKFAST, BIRTHDAY PARTY, PLAYDATE AND SLEEPOVER

That was our day yesterday and in that order.

We started off the morning with breakfast at Black Diamond Bakery mainly since it was close to the Bounce It Up where the birthday party was held. While at the Bakery we met with Olivia and her dad Andre as they were on their father/daughter date. We found out a couple things from them. One is Olivia will be in Mimi's class next year and her little brother Jack will be attending the same pre-school "Wonder Years" as several other kids in our neighborhood. Michelle who runs the school is a former grade school teacher and also taught at Glacier Park. She hails from SaMo High (Santa Monica High School) and her husband Jason also teaches in the Kent school district and he graduated from Venice High School just a couple of block from our old neighborhood in California.

Michelle and Jason has two sets of twin Owen and Avery the younger ones, then there i Kate and Ethan who are Mimi's schoolmates.

So next year Micah (Shad's lil' sis), Bailey (Blake's sis), Jack (Olivia's lil' bro) will be going to Wonder Years along with Ada whose big brother Owen will be attending Glacier Park for the first time (kindergarten).

When breakfast was done, we all headed over to the Bounce It Up. It's a new bouncy place that recently opened up and the kids love it. I love it because it is all contained to one room except for the party room. It really is not set up for the big kids, just the little ones. None the less, the kids have a great time running around just getting their sillies out.

Mimi was happy to be wrestling with the boys. Even though she is older than they are, they are a bit taller or at least the same height. It was Xander's 5th birthday party and he greeted everyone at the door with a huge hug and would exclaim "It's my birthday!!!!" That just cracked me up. All the kids there were mainly the kids from the neighborhood. That meant Erin was there also and Mimi was quite pleased as they had not played together all summer.

The pizza was quite good too. Found out about a place called The Swinging Arm in this little shopping strip that the Bounce It Up is in also. I had seen it before but never tried it out because it is a bar and grill and did not know if kids were allowed. Found out that kids are allowed and the food is good which the pizza that came from there is. Then I found out that the crust that is used to make the pizza comes from CJ's bakery across the highway. CJ's is a well known local bakery that makes delicious cakes and such so everyone orders from them.

While at the birthday party Mimi and Erin were making plans for a playdate. So that is exactly what they did, have a playdate first at our neighbohood park, then at our house till it was time to go to Elsie's for the sleepover.

Rhonda thought that with the moving, gymnastic practices and her working, the girls did not get much of summer fun so she invited Kalani and Mimi over for a sleepover. All the girls are on Summit Gymnastic team. Kalani is more of Emma's age and friend and Mimi is more of Elsie's age and friend. Still the younger one enjoyed themselves pestering the older ones.

Rhonda prepared a delicious French stew for all to enjoy.

SHIRLEY AND MIMI

Taken at Angie's house last night. By the end of the evening they were
so wound up that Mimi started a conga line going with Shirley in tow.

LIFE IS GOOD AGAIN

Mimi is happy to be playing with her boys once again. Yesterday was spent with Shad the both Shad and Blake. Today it was Blake. All is well and good in her little world again. Tomorrow she will go to Xander's birthday party then in the evening she will be spending the night with Emma and Elsie along with Kalani (Emma's friend and another team mate). Come this Sunday, dad and I are planning to take her to the Mariners game via lightrail of course. It is going to be Franklin Gutierrez free jersey day for the kiddos. That should be exciting. Then it will be one more week of vacation. In some ways I can't wait but on the other hand I am going to miss not having her around all day. My baby is growing up way too fast for me.

GAME NIGHT

We arrived home around 6:30 in the evening and still the kids wanted to play together. It was also the night of the BBQ for her karate class at Lake Wilderness. She really was looking forward to it. But since we came home late and the weather is starting to get yucky (cold, windy and raining), I really did not feel up to going. So we bypassed that activity too.

Instead she scarfed down her dinner and headed over to Shad's house. Blake got wind of what was going on and decided he wanted to ditch his grandpa (a huge deal) who is visiting from out of town and go play with his friends. This boy really hates to miss out on any kind of fun. Can ya blame the little fella?

By the time 8:00 rolled around, it was time for the gang of friends to break up and go their separate ways.

Mimi has always liked card games but now she is getting into playing board games and really loves the game of Battleship. Also found out from Coach Kelly that there is a Pirates of the Carribean Pirateship game that I wanted to get and have yet to find.

So while I was out walking Butch, Mimi and dad played games till it was time to hit the sack. Butch was kinda tuckered out too after his romp with a new friend by the name of Roxy. Roxy is a puppy St. Bernard and she is just a smidgen bigger than Butch. But then again, who isn't?

AT THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Although we did not go inside, this was another photo op.

RIDING THE MONORAIL

As usual, we can never go into the city without riding the monorail to the Pacific Science Center which is where we had lunch. We were famished!

The kids really wanted to go to the Children's museum there but due to the lack of time, we bypassed it. Also they wanted to go on the rides at the amusement park but we bypassed that also due to the same reason. Not enough time.

Finally found the place called Little Shanghai and we purchased a cute pant outfit for Mimi. Unlike in the past years where she did not care for any Chinese outfit, she loves this one and wants to wear it all the time. Surprise, surprise!

RIDING THE LIGHT RAIL

Mimi was really missing her boys.

Next month together with our China family up here, we are going to celebrate the Moon Festival with them. Mimi has agreed to wear a Chinese outfit for the occassion and as she has none, I thought that it would be a great idea to go into the city for one.

Before we left, we had a little time so I told her that it would be ok for her to go next door and play with Shad while I finished getting ready. If she could have been there in a nano second, she would have.

When it was time to go, she asked Shad if he would like to join and so he did.

ADOPTION UPDATE

We are still on the slow boat to China but at least we are moving at a snail's pace but none the less moving forward.

Got a e-mail today that group 122 got their referals and expect to travel in Oct/Nov of this year.

The other day I found a website that says they are pretty accurate about forecasting their referal dates. I did our LID and the website says that our referals should come in March of 2011. EGADS!!! But I figure if group 122 just got their referals and possibly travel in Oct /Nov., this website may not be to far from the truth.

Will keep you all posted. Remember you heard it here first.

A BIT OF ROUGH WATERS

Now and then I will think back to what my friend Sandra told me about tomboys. It seems to be coming true now that Mimi is a bit older. Mimi was 4 years old at the time that we moved up here and at that age the girls and boys played just fine.

Now at 7 years of age, they are starting to go their separate ways. On one hand, we have the girls Erin, Halliwell and Olivia who although they have their younger brothers and will play with them, they will not play with the boys such as Alex, Noah, Blake and so on and so forth.

On the other hand there is Blake and now Shad who spend almost everyday playing together and each have a four year sister Micah and Bailey who play together almost everyday too.

Then there is Mimi.

She doesn't quite fit in with the girls although on a one on one basis they play fine however when they all get together sometimes the claws will come out and someone ends up crying because they got their feelings hurt.

Then there are the boys who could care less about the girls and are having fun playing by themselves. The boys are just being boys.

Now and then Shad and Blake will play with Mimi but it is not the same anymore. Today Mimi said to me " I wished that I had not introduced Shad to Blake cause they always leave me out ;-(" I tell her that even if she did not introduced them to each other, they would have sooner or later have met because we all live in the same neighborhood and they will be going to the same school. However Blake and Mimi will be in the second grade and Shad will be in the first grade. None the less it still hurts the same. I guess that is just part of growing up aka growing pains.

In the meantime she still has played with the boys just not as much as she would like to and as you have seen in our previous blogs she has been keeping in contact with her other friends such as Zoe, Elsie, Emma and now Nathan.

Sandra also reminded me that when Mimi was going to gymnastic practice and piano lessons, that kind of left the boys to themselves to do what they wanted to do. She is so right.

I also remind Mimi from time to time that she has done quite a bit of activities this summer. I think I did a pretty darn good job at being her social director. I kept her busy with playdates, sleepovers, swimming lessons, piano lessons, karate lessons, gymnastic practices, sports camp, camping at Ohanapecosh, Remlinger Farms, the Aquarium, the Flight museum, movies, going to California and not to mention DISNEYLAND!

I think that this upcoming school year will definitely be another year of growth for all of us.

ANNUAL REMLINGER FARM VISIT

We always make our annual trek to Remlinger Farms. I really like that place as much as Mimi. The rides are super simple and yet the kids have soooooo much fun.

We brought the girls there yesterday and everyone had a great time. They rode the ponies, fed the farm animals, rode the little steam engine train, Mimi and Elsie rode the roller coaster over and over again. They must have gone on it at least 10 times. The last couple of times they had the whole ride to themselves.

On the top left picture is Elsie, Emma and Mimi. They are actually sitting in a canoe. They loved this ride and all it does is goes in a circle with a couple of twists and turns. No waterfall or anything. There are decoy ducks that float between the canoes and they would make up games as to who would collect the most ducks in their canoe. At one point I saw all three in one canoe, then next thing I knew, they each had their own canoe, then I would look up again and would see Emma pushing Elsie and Mimi in a canoe. They must have stayed on this ride for about a good half hour.

This is a great place to take the youngsters. It rarely gets overcrowded. However when it is the Halloween season, that is a total different story in itself.

By the time it was time to go home, the girls were really wound up. Elsie and Emma had so much fun with Mimi that neither one of them wanted to go home. So they stayed for dinner with us. By the time I warmed up the leftover spagetti dinner dad came home from work and we had a really lively dinner table. Even at 9 at night it is still a bit light outside so the girls went out back to play some more. Where they get the energy I have no clue. Both Rhonda and I were totally exhausted!

MUSEUM OF FLIGHT

Last week President Obama was in town. Unfortunately we missed his visit to Seattle. We also experienced a sonic boom at the same time. While having lunch at the Uwajimaya in Renton, I heard some fellas on their lunch break talk about these topics and one fella suggested that we take Mimi to the Museum of Flight. I had completely forgot about that place. So I mentioned this to dad and suggested that this could be on of the things he could on his own father/daughter day.

Before Nathan and his family came to dinner last Saturday, that is exactly what Mimi and dad did. They first had breakfast at Testy Chef and of course Mimi had to use dad's phone and text me at home. They then went to the museum and had a blast. They saw way more stuff than I have uploaded here. They even got to see the Air Force One which was quite exciting.

EMILY, NATHAN AND MIMI

Since we all had such a good time with the Spencers last month, we decided to get together again this month. Because of Nathan's inability to hear, Mimi and I are learning more sign language with Lisa's (Nathan's mom) help. Although Mimi and Nathan play really well together, Mimi did mention that it is a little hard to play with him because he cannot speak. She is learning to have a little more patience with him because she did not realize that he has only been here for about 6 months now. For some reason she thought that he came here as a baby like many of her China friends and so he should be able to play with her like her friends Shad and Blake. One good thing about Nathan is that he is such a bright boy and catches on quickly. Since his hearing aids are still fairly new, he is having a hard time speaking but can sign real good. Lisa thinks that like many youngsters, Nathan has what I call "selective hearing". At least that is the case around our house at times. Nathan loves playing Wii. So Mimi had taught him how to play Guitar hero and he loved it! I found out that Nathan loves amusement parks so we may take the kids to Remlinger Farms next month for rides and pumpkins.

ELSIE TURNS 7

This past July, Elsie turned 7 years old. Since Elsie and her family had a lot on their plate for the month of July, Elsie did not have a party that month. Instead they had a small party for Elsie at their new home this month, however Mimi was not to attend as we were camping at Ohanapecosh on the date of the party. Since Mimi could not go to the party, we had Elsie, Emma and Rhonda over for a private birthday party when we got back home from camping. We had a really nice summer this year although it was way to short. After tommorrow it will cool down quite a bit. Even though it was still warm enough for the girls to play in the water and have some fun.

SUMMERTIME FUN

Mimi has been keeping quite busy this summer. This morning the girls had gymnastic practice from 9-11. When I went to pick up Mimi, the girls already made plans for a playdate this afternoon. It was fine by me except for the fact that I had not prepared anything for them to eat as I had not done any grocery shopping yet. Soooo, to McDonald's we all went. I must say that I do enjoy their snack wraps and caramel frappe.

Next thing I knew the neighbors and their kids were all over at our house for some afternoon fun and then we all had dinner together. I prepared mac 'n' cheese and lil smokies for the kiddos, yakisoba and chicken wraps for the adults plus some Le Creme (my fav) pinot noir to drink. It must have been a good dinner cause everyone polished it all off. A good time was had by all.

ROAD BLOCK

Last week amongst some other crap that was happening in my life, I suprislingly received a phone call from Ms. Hemlata at Bal Jagat. They are still our primary home study office. She asked what was going on with our home study office up here in Washington. As we are trying to get all of our ducks lined up in a row, she mentioned that she had e-mailed the office and everything was bouncing back to her and her phone calls were being sent to a residential office. I was quite perplexed and did not know what to tell her.

Man oh man! What else can go wrong besides this humongous loooooong slow boat to China that we are on???? I called Greg at work and things are fine now. PHEW!!! Still on the slow boat to China but at least the road block is out of the way. Appartently our office up here changed phone numbers and did not let Bal Jagat know about it.

Our home study guy Mike says that we must be getting closer to going to China since Hemlata is in the process of doing what needs to be done in order to get chili pepper number 2. I am still not uncrossing my fingers yet at this point though.

Spoke with Norman the other day and again he said that group 122 will be getting their referals next month. That is the same thing he told me last month. So I am kind of wondering if that is his standard answer at this point. We are group 123. Things are also quiet on the China33 website also. I saw on Rumor Queen that some people are already getting their calls. Soooooo maybe we will be going by the end of the year???? I sure do hope so. That would be such a lovely Christmas gift to ourselves I sure. Anyways, as soon as we know, I will post it here first along with the picture and info before posting on facebook.

WHAT WE DID THIS SUMMER.....

What haven't we done lately???? Hmmm??? Since moving up here to the northwest, I have become acclamated to the cool weather. So when the temperature gets anywhere past 75, it is unbearable for me. Today is supposed to hit 89 and start cooling down tomorrow. Out peak hours of heat is between 3:00 and almost midnight. Therefore going to bed is difficult.

We have been keeping cool by going camping, It was loads of fun. Mimi and Ben definitely have a love/hate relationship. They fought and played big time. One day we all went up to Paradise Inn for the day. Ben's mom Patricia and I decided to stayed in the cool lodge while Mike and dad took the kids on a hike with Tom and Eloisa. Patricia read a book and napped while I learned to play BS with the boys Ronnie and Deverett. That is sooo much fun. We were on the second floor when without even looking, I just knew Mimi had returned. All I had to do was heard her voice saying "DA-AD".

When she came upstairs, she was madder than hell. "Mimi, what happened?" I asked. "You're gonna have - ta ask dad" the girl replied. "What about the sleepover in Ben's tent tonight?" I asked. By this time Ben had joined us and it was obvious that the two had a fight. He was trying to make up with her and she just turned her nose up at him. "Well......we'll have - ta think about that one!" she exclaimed. Phew! Those little Chengdu chili peppers are something else!

Turns out that as they were on the hike, Mimi wanted to continue going upward with the hike and Ben wanted to go back down. They both dug their heels in and would not budge. Dad said that Mimi kept saying "All I wanted to do was go on a nice hike and Ben ruined it!!!" Both dads tried to get them to comprimise but neither would budge. Mike said that it was like trying to settle the was in the middle east. Part of me felt sorry for them but on the other hand it was quite nice to see cause they now understand what we moms go through on a daily basis.

I must also say that the sleepover did not work out any better. After the hiking fiasco, Mimi and Ben eventually did make up and they were back to playing in the stream by our campsite. However the sleepover did not work out because Mimi likes it pitch black in order to sleep and Ben likes full on bright lights.

More updates on our summer adventures to come.

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

HIGHLIGHTS

When I was Mimi's age, I loved going to the library every Saturday
morning and reading Highlights.

A couple of years ago I started a subscription for Mimi and she really
looks forward to recieving them in the mail every couple of weeks.

She is also really into the spy thing, so we sent away for the
Highlights Top Secret Adventures. You were allowed to choose two
countries and so she chose China and Japan. Japan came today just in
time too because she will have something to do on our long car drive
to Ohanapecosh.

SLEEPOVER

When the movie was done and I had taken Mimi to gymnastic practice, it was time to take Zoe home. It was then that Shelley asked if Mimi could sleepover with Zoe as big sis Alleyah had a friend staying the night. What's been happening lately is that a couple of Mimi's friends has older sisters and when they have friends over, it's the younger sisters who become kind of a pest. So it is just easier when they both have friends over for the night. Later this month Mimi and Elsie will have a sleepover at her new house. Big sister Emma is not looking forward to Elsie and Mimi's sleepover. I guess this is what we have in store for us when our time comes. Sigh.....

AT THE MOVIES

Mimi has been keeping this summer with piano lessons, karate and
gymnastic practices. Then there is the playdates and movies in between
times. Today was spent with piano, going to see Dispicable Me 3D with
Zoe and gymnastic practice in the afternoon.