Remembering Together

One of the things that Jordan, Joshua and Sarah all love to do is look at picture books. That is doubly true if the pictures involve them. Mommy and Daddy both love to scrapbook - preserving memories - and the children enjoy looking at their past and hearing all of the funny stories. In fact, before Sarah and Joshua came home, they each got photo albums from home ... so the tradition starts early in this family.

Mommy has been spending a little bit of time at her scrapbook table and all of the children have watched her for the last few days. Finally, Joshua decided that he wanted to try it too. After an emergency run for more supplies, Mommy and Joshua sat down at the table together.

One of the wonderful gifts that we received when we brought Joshua home was a set of pictures of him as a baby. He loves to laugh at the pictures of him running with a balloon for a sword and a blanket for a cape as a little boy. He wanted to preserve these and Mommy and Daddy thought it was a great idea.

After a lesson with the tape and the cutter (I think he got tired of hearing "be careful" over and over and over) Joshua got to try his hand at the art of scrapbooking in his own book. With some help and supervision from Mommy, he took to it right away. It was great to watch the two of them sitting there as they spent the afternoon scrapbooking together.

Take me out to the ball game

Saturday was a Cub Scout outing at the baseball game. Joshua loves baseball and Jordan loves hanging out with his friends and staying up late, so we figured it was going to be an all-around winner - we were not disappointed.

Before the game, we got to hang around outside the park in a humid 93° and play with the other scouts. Jordan and his friends took Joshua right along with them in running around. They got a good look at a State Police display that was set up - including a wrecked car (remember to buckle up) and a display from the SWAT team which were both acclaimed as very cool. We also got to parade around the field before the game.

We took our seats and the home team hit a home run into the section next to us. We had our share of hot dogs and snow cones - which are key to enjoying a summer ballgame. After a while, boredom set in so one of the parents took a few of the boys over to the small playground which is inside the ballpark. Of course the boys all spent the time chasing a little girl around the play area.

As the game wound down, the boys were anxious for part 2 of the evening, camping in the outfield! After the game we went out and picked up our tent and sleeping bags and headed for center field (you can see the top of our tent under the Kindred sign in this picture). Once the tents were set up it was time for baseball, frisbee, and tag. We got to watch "The Sandlot" on the jumbo screen and the boys were surprisingly quiet during the movie. As the credits rolled, the games began again until Daddy and the other adults began calling a halt around 1:30 AM. It had cooled off to 90° so sleeping was oh so comfortable. Daddy got to sleep on the ground while Jordan and Joshua had camp beds, but everyone managed to get at least 2 hours of sleep. 6:00 AM came early and we packed out for home - where we all napped on the sofa during the day. It was great to see the boys just being brothers and friends as if they had always been that way.

New Bike For Joshua

Ahhh The Wonders of Jet Lag

Waking up at 4 AM - falling asleep at noon - waking back up at 6 PM and still wide awake at midnight. That wonderful little thing called jet lag.

The family is home and happier now that we're getting the right amount of sleep (even if it's not at the right times). Tomorrow we begin to fight the jet lag in earnest. But for today - naps and haircuts were the order of the day. We also went to our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner and were disappointed after having the real thing just a few days ago.

So now we're planning on spending a week getting acclimated and settled in as a new larger family - should be a lot of fun.

A Reason To Visit Taiwan

Yes, it tastes like beer and green tea - but not in the good way.