Gotcha Day, Shepard's Field and Day One

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting. We cannot access our blog and our friend Kenlyn is posting for us. Thanks Kenlyn!!!!

We arrived at Shepherd's Field on Friday afternoon. The flight was a bit bumpy and poor Colin got a little airsick, but he boounced right back:) We had to take a fast train to the baggage claim area. The Beijing airport is the largest I have ever seen! We took our van to Shepherd's Field and Brookie was waiting outside for us. She seemed very happy to meet us, but a bit shy and scared. After we got to our room, she dove right into her suitcase and shortly had every hair thing on plus her sunglasses. We got to hear her wonderful giggle shortly thereafter. We had some dinner and settled down to bed, kinda... We were all up at 2:30!!!! We had breakfast out with the volunteers and then headed to the houses at Shepherd's Field. The children are all so beautiful! Both Colin and Tatum enjoyed playing with the kids and Brookie loved showing her friends her new things and her family:) We also played on the playground for a few as it was REALLY hot! That night Brookie and Dennis had dumplings. Colin and Tatum slept right through dinner and woke up at 11:30 for the day!!! Brookie is wonderful. She has a sweet side and a goofy side. She has some things we need to work on, but Colin and Tatum are acting as great role models:)

I will post about getting to Fuzhou next. Trying to catch up:)

And We're Off!

It is 4 in the morning and we are almost ready to go. The bags are packed, the adults have showered, kiddos had a tubby last night. The car is picking us up at 5 and our first flight is at 8:45. We leave for Beijing on the 12:05 and get there Friday at 1:45 pm (China time) It will be EARLY morning our time when we meet Brookie. I will post when we land!!!!

Brookie here we come sweetie:)

What We've Been Up To:)

The end of June brought the annual dance recital. This year, Tatum was in it!!! She did 2 dances...a ballet to You've Got a Friend in Me and a tap to I've Got a Dream. Mommy and Daddy were just beaming watching her:) She had so much fun! Colin made it through the first half and then hung out with the girls in the back for the second half:)
We headed over to our neighbor's house for the 4th of July. What a great day!!! The kids and I spent the morning at Nationals watching the girls dance. We hung out with friends all afternoon. The kids played, ate a lot and went swimming. Even daddy joined in the fun!!!!
Tatum celebrated her 3rd Gotcha Day on July 7th! I can't believe she has been home for 3 years already. In the same breath, I can't remember life before she came home:)
The kids found out that in October, they get to be in their first horse show:) Colin was practicing his grooming and tacking when a nice man gave him a lucky horseshoe. He was nice enough to share it with his sister:)
This weekend, we had our neighborhood blockparty. More friends, food and fun!!!
Brookie received her photo album of us and was so happy! The pictures of her brought tears to our eyes and we can't wait to go get her:) We will be leaving on July 21st!!!!! Packing has begun:) Make sure you stop by while we are away as I will update the blog everyday:)

The zoo

We went to the zoo with Nana. We saw a baby emu and a huge turtle! They had a pond are with lemurs on either side on islands. The sloth bear was sleeping sitting up and looked like a big stuffed animal:) They also had beautiful birds and crazy looking wild hogs. The kangaroos were all lounging on their elbows looking like little divas! Tatum liked the ringed-tailed lemurs the best and Colin liked the zebras.

When we were finished, we headed over to the park next door:)

Memorial Day Weekend

What a wonderful weekend it was! We got together with the neighborhood for a cookout. It is always nice to hang out with the adults and watch the kids play. Mini golf was on tap for Sunday and we ended the evening with some ice cream:) We did our annual stepping stones on Monday. Dennis did a great job mixing and pouring the concrete:) Colin and Tatum loved squishing the shapes into the mold and then stamping their names in. It was so hot and humid that it took quite a while for it to cure:) Popsicles cooled everyone down while we waited! Can't wait for Brookie to make her first one next year!!!!!