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.