~ 2 YEARS AGO TODAY ~

. . . we were climbing The Great Wall of China! It was an unforgettable day of siteseeing, meeting our travel mates and learning about our daughter's birth country ~ Our amazing view!

Daddy climbed to a "hero's height", up & up he went!

So this was where we were at 2 years ago today; however, on this day this was our gorgeous view:

Little Miss Paige came to visit ~

I love how Mia is sitting, looking at her~



my neighbors (literally) flew over to greet Paige & her mommy~

yes, everyone who sees Paige, falls in love with her ~

when Paige saw the kids come in, she quickly crawled over to them,

and pulled herself up on one of their legs and "talked" to them ~ adorable!

Auntie Lisa gets emotional over Mia's hugs,

our girl's comfort level is. . . there :)

Two years later, we have all come a long way. . .

~ 2 YEARS AGO TODAY, WE LEFT FOR CHINA ~

We are approaching Mia's 2 year Family Day very soon ~ and our girl continues to amaze us every day ~ she has come so far and we are incredibly proud she is our daughter!

On Thursday, Aug 30th we kissed our boys good-bye ~ we wouldn't see them again for 15 days! We knew it would be a journey like no other, but we really didn't/couldn't fully understand the impact of adoption and the country of China ~ it really does change you, for the much, much better :)

Meanwhile, our girl was living in the Guiping SWI since she was 3 months old, and we prayed she was in good hands and being prepared for her transition into our family...

these photos where from our care package camera ~
they make me sad everytime I look at them ~

the SWI looks very clean, but lonely ~

our girl (Dan Dan) is 19 mos old!

she was crawling & cruising, but not yet walking~

Jin Yu Dan~

All this would change in a few shorts days, 2 years ago our 19 month old daughter needed us and we desperately needed her! I remember boarding a train (on the way to our plane) and we were talking to the conductor and other passangers about our journey ~ we showed off pictures of our daughter ~ we were so proud!

Once again, I'll be reminicing about our trip to China ~

~ DADDY-DAYS 2 ~

Continuing on with our vacation weeks with daddy...we took the kids to a local amusement park that we used to frequent when we were kids! It still proved to be fun, and they added fans with water sprays for the hot days; which it was hot this day!!! Eddie couldn't wait to drive mommy around :)

Eddie just LOVED this :)
This is how Maddy went thru the haunted house :)

Mia LOVES motorcycles (to daddy's dismay) and she was

thrilled to find a pink one!!

My very favorite picture of the day :)

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Oh, the mommies and daddies (that would be us and our friends Barb & Tom) made time for an adult night. We all drove into the city for a yummy dinner in little Italy and, of course, dessert at Ferrara's bakery ~ double yum! We walked thru Chinatown and stopped at a great store Meaghan Grace's mommy told me about, Pearl River Market. It had 3 floors of all things China! I bought Mia a few things and our friends actually found 2 beautiful tables there! It was a very fun, relaxing night.
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O.k, so on to our daddy-days...we drove into Southhampton, which is a pretty town we used to frequent when the kids were real young (and haven't been back to since) - it is such a pretty area...it was also daddy's birthday and we hope we made it a good one for him :)

This is our group at a picnic table in the park -

we packed snacks (because all of our kids LOVE to eat!)

and the kids played on the playground and ate, ate, ate!

Ohhh,how they love each other :)

Brandon adores Mia ~ the other day he played with

her in her room for over an hour :)

The prettiest girl...

in the whole wide world!

and such a character to boot !

Sweet Maddy ~

After playing and eating we strolled thru the town. It is so quaint and pretty. Some of the stores we remembered where either no longer there or where closed because of the time - the dad's didn't mind as much as us girls! We then had a rather late dinner (due to service!), but the kids kept each other busy and we had a good dinner - another good, good day!

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A First Time For Fishing: Our daddy has always loved fishing and spent may hours with his own day fishing. He often takes the boys and on this day, he taught our friends dad and their kids to fish...

Alexa & Anthony on the pier

while the older kids fished, the younger ones played nearby

on the rocks ~

Max is king of the rocks!

What a view we had!

Me and the two pretty-girls!

All of a sudden, we hear cheers and yelling from pier:

Brandon had caught his first fish!!!!

We all came running and cheered him on ~

The little people sure had fun on the rocks ~

we always have fun with this special family

we are blessed :)

~ DADDY-DAYS ~

Well, daddy is back to work after a two week vacation...and we miss him! We really had fun and enjoyed each others company :)

Back to last week: we had such a wonderful evening spent on the beach; we packed up our dinner, drinks and football for some relaxation and fun in the sand!

I just love these pictures of Eddie ~ he had a blast running, jumping

and, yes even laying in the waves :)

A "friendly" game of football with the dad's and kids!

I love how Maddy, Max & Eddie are "charging" :)


What a gorgeous evening, spent with our great friends!

After packing up our blankets, chairs, etc and then washing ourselves off; we headed into the town of West Hampton for some yummy desserts. It is such a pretty town and we always enjoy stopping off at this particular bakery - mmm, mmm good!

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O.k, I had to add these pictures from the following day... the dad's took the older kids to a pre season Giants game; while my friend, Barb and I took the little ones (which would be Max, Maddy & Mia - the 3 "M's " ) to the book store, mall and dinner. Of course, we had to make a bathroom stop - they just enjoyed drying their little hands off SO much - it was adorable:
We spent every day last week with this wonderful family and, NO, we never tired of each others company. Even the kids were asking when we would see the "crazy C" family again! Now that's love :)

More to come of our "day-cations" ! Stay tuned