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.