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.