Happy 4 Year Family Day!

It is hard to believe 4 years ago on March 31st, we held Libby for the first time.  It would be a toss up as to who was more scared, but we let her be the one to cry and scream and tried to act like we knew what we were doing.  We first met her in the civil service office in Guangzhou.  There must have been 50 families there that day meeting their children for the first time.  I was in such shock, but could make out many different languages being spoken through the tears and crying of the children.  When they called our name and we walked forward to meet Libby, thought my heart would pound right out of my body.  We were so thankful for the parents of another woman in our travel group who kindly took pictures for us.  It was the most surreal experience I have ever had and glad to have pictures although I look dazed in all of them. 

The day was much of a blur, but remember going to the Carrfour to try to pick up baby things and being so overwhelmed by it that I wanted to just give up and cry myself.  Eric decided we should walk back to the hotel so we could just have some time together and we took our first long armed shot as a family on the pedestrian mall.  Who would believe that 2-1/2 years later, we would be staying in a hotel on that mall with our darling Maisy?

Back at our lovely suite at the Victory, Eric sat with his little barnacle on his lap and tried to get her to eat.  It would be the beginning of a struggle to get any nourishment into her little body.  Thankfully, we discovered the drinkable yogurts at the breakfast buffet and she would slurp those down, along with the Slurpies Baba bought at the 7/11 across the street. 

Memories that stick:
First smile from Libby was day 5
Laughed for the first time when she drank Baba's beer and we made a big deal of it.
Loved the song Girl from Ipanema and we would sing it to her while walking around the island.
Played with the stacky cups so much that to this day we still thank Doug and Colleen for them.
Checking our blog for all the kind words and helpful hints to get us through each day.

Girl of our heart, we love you more than words can say.  I tell you every day, faith and trust and a sprinkling of pixie dust.

Disney Pics Part 2

Below are pictures of our trip.  It is hard to believe that we planned it for all of those months and it is over and we are home!  I am already planning our vacation for next spring, and it will be a quiet layed back beach kind :)

Disney World

It only took a few weeks, but think we have recovered!

First of all, we realize now even more than before how fortunate we were to stay in the resort we were upgraded to by Disney. Being at the Boardwalk was the perfect location. Our first day there, we took a walk and came around a bend in a river and saw a lovely ornate building. Asked a worker what it was and he smiled and said, "France". Turns out we were at the back entrance of Epcot! We also had a lovely lake in front of us that faced two other resorts. There was a landing in front of the resort and you could take a boat to Epcot or Hollywood Studios. They also made the boardwalk look like a 1920-30's boardwalk, complete with magicians and other acts in the evening. Our room looked right down on the festivities.

The resort was very lovely and our friends Leeanne, Ron and Ellie were right next door. We were able to enjoy outings both with them and then do outings as just our family of four. We had a few bad nights and I am sure they wished they were a few doors down from us!

We enjoyed an incredible brunch at Animal Kingdom Lodge and then a safari at the park. Staying there had been an option, but it is so far from everything that I am glad of the decision we made, as lovely as it was.

Confession time. I was a total geek at the princess lunch. The castle was beautiful. The waiter was a hoot. Our lunches were surprisingly good. Yes, I was waving my pen for the girls to get their autograph books to be signed. Maisy, of course, was the coolest and pretty much just fixed every princess with the "stink eye", which shocked a few of them. Part of Magic Kingdom was closed, but we did get to ride in the teacups, my childhood dream, and It's a Small World (hmmm, how did Eric miss that one?).

Our favorite park was Hollywood Studios. It was a 10 minute walk from our resort and had so many fun things that both girls enjoyed. We loved watching a performance of Beauty and the Beast, having lunch with Jake of Jake and the Neverland Pirate, and Special Agent Oso, a saw a cute little Muppet performance and so much more.

There were some downsides to this trip that I will be very honest about. Our girls are both homebodies and being away from home for a whole week was just too long. As much as they loved the character lunches, rides and fun food, they also longed for home more often than not. If they could have spent the day at a park and teleported home, they would have been in heaven. No matter how much you try to relax, it is just a busy place filled with stimulation. If there is a next time, we would do a shorter stay and off site where we could make our own meals and escape from the magic as needed.

That said, there were no bigger smiles than Libby's when she saw her favorite characters and got a hug. Maisy gave everyone fron Belle to Donald Duck the stink eye if they dared to approach and then would laugh about it. As it was my first time there, it was pretty darn special and I wish I could have seen more of Epcot, if anything.

Looking through the 100's pictures, I realize there are others I would like to share, so will do a smaller Part 2 in the next few weeks.

Happy Birthday Maisy (and shame on Mama)

I have become the worlds worst blogger, my apologies!

Maisy turned 3 on February 18th. We had a lovely family dinner. She was very happy to receive books and other fun presents and quite honestly loved everything. Her big hits were the Dora and Boots blanket and a new flashlight. We had a little party for her the following Saturday at a community center. It was such a nice venue, and very reasonable. We had the whole gym for two hours, plus a party room. The kids had the run of the place and played fast and furious. We celebrated the tropics in February and enjoyed pizza, fruit, and the Roller birthday specialty, ice cream cake. Returning to the gym, we smacked open the other Roller favorite, a pinata. Maisy was first up and actually swung and hit it on her first try and got a compass ring and sucker! Took a few more tries after that to actually break it open, and all the kids had fun taking their turns. It was a perfect birthday for our spunky little one.

In other news, all is well here. The girls continue to thrive. Libby loves school and her teachers very much and has taught Maisy several songs in Chinese as well as how to count to 20. Maisy is our little stinker and we still have issues with pinching and and scratching. Usually this is all aimed at Libby, but occasionaly Eric and I will get some of it. As annoying as this is, 98% of the time she is funny, sunny, sweet and an all around character. We are told this naughty phase will pass, and we are more than ready for that to be the case. Truth be told, however, we wonder what the next phase will be and if we should be more afraid? :)

Winter appeared to pass MN by this year and our sleds never hit the hills. The snow is gone and we are already talking about the garden we will plant and tend this spring/summer! We Minnesotans know better, however, to plant our gardens before May 15th, as there can always be a surprise snowfall or freeze.

Will try to post about our Disney trip in the next week (okay, or two).