More on Vacation

(These are all the states we traveled through this summer)

Phew, I actually have a minute to sit and write before I'm off and running again. This week has been full of dentist visits, Twinks developmental doctor visit and Friday all the children go in for some sort of immunization. Not to mention everyone is gearing up for school next week. I can hardly believe ALL the children will be in school ALL day this year.

We packed up the car (yes we drove) and headed to our first destination. Well it was a lay over because we could not or should I say did not want to drive the full way the first day. We made great time! We arrived at Snapshot's house Friday afternoon. We had such a wonderful time! Princess was torn between playing with Spitfire and Twink. She really wanted to play with Twink at times but Spitfire would over rule that choice. It was great to see Twink and Princess play together. They ran around chasing each other and squealing. It was once pointed out to me that Princess was following every move that Lia made right down to her holding her hand and arm the way Twink held her affected arm. It was very endearing. Snapshot took some AWESOME pictures of the kids. The two in the previous post are ones that she took. ( Oh and no I am in NO way a professional photographer. I do have a really great friend who IS a professional that gives me really great tips though! ;) ) It was hard to say good-bye but we are planing to see the family again next summer at our house! Thanks for showing us all around your great state and feeding us yummy food!

Here Twink is pouring water on Princess!

Snapshot and Twink! She was trying to lay in the water.

We then went to Florida to visit our friends from our old church who moved a couple of years ago. We miss them more than words can explain. Before anyone ask, no we did not go to Disney World. We are adopting again! One must save as much as they can, at least we do. Hence the reason we drove all over the east coast! LOL We ended up going to the beach one day and it was a steady rain! Well the beach was ours for as far as one could see. The water was warm and the kids had a blast! I wish I could have taken a picture of Lia. She actually went in the ocean and LOVED it! Thanks Tim and Becky for everything! Praying we'll see you next summer.

It took forever for Spitfire to jump in but once she did she didn't stop!

Our last stop was at my friend Jeanette's house. She and Jeff were kind enough to let us stay over night as we passed through the state as we headed home. We have talked for the last three years but have been unable to meet so it was wonderful to finally meet her and her family. Please keep them in your prayers as she in Jeff are traveling to China to bring their daughter Sara Beth home as I type. Thank you Jeanette and Jeff, I KNOW we will see you again. :) Unfortunately I did not take any pictures while I was there but next time I will.

I have some great news about Twink but will share in another post! hehe

Back from Vaction

We left for vacation about a week and a half ago and had such a wonderful time! We have some amazing friends that let us stay with them, fed us and we let the kids just play! We were so blessed.

The little Princess in these pictures with Twink is the same one that sat on the "red couch" in China. One of the very same families we were in China with!

I'll give more details but I have a few things I need to finish up around my house. Like put away ALL the clean cloths from our trip and finish mowing our grass!

Weekend Recap

Our trip last weekend was wonderful! The weather was great and really made me long for the warmer weather. Our flight was a bit rough going into Atlanta. I really thought we were not going to land in one piece. The plan wwas rocking back and forth and I thought for sure the wings would hit the ground. Obviously we landed safely and were we glad to be on the ground.

We received a rental car and drove over to Evans (near Augusta) to the rental house. On the way there the GPS brought us down this dirt road. :) Made me laugh because it totally reminded me of when we lived in SC.

These were our badges to get us into the the Masters on Saturday. We had a great time. Did I tell you the weather was gorgeous? We actually talk to Kerrie Webb and her dad for a bit on hole two. We had no idea who she was but knew she was a pro player.

This was the view from the back patio from the rental house. I could sit here for hours. The smell of pine was in the air and you could hear birds and the leaves on the trees rustling. Made me long for the south.

This is the kitchen in the rental house. People around Augusta rent their houses out for the week of the Masters. Maids come in daily and clean just like they would in a hotel.

I love this fire place! To the left are huge windows that over look the water. It is very beautiful.

This is the house that I want to buy! LOL OK, maybe not this one but it is for sale and we were curious as to how much they were going for in this community.
The view from the Marriott in Atlanta.
Another shot from our window. We ended up going to CHOPS for dinner and boy was that an amazing meal. I don't think Atalanta is the place for us, the traffic is insane! One day we will be back in the south!!!

This was our beautiful Easter Bunny! I took this picture of Spitfire before she rubbed all of the red off of her nose. Our children are on Spring Break this week and we could not have asked for a more perfect week with the weather. This weekend we go back to rain but for now the kids have been outside playing and having fun in the sun. :)

Georgia Here We Come!

Can you guess what we are doing in Georgia?

The Count and I were invited by his boss to attend the Master's Golf Tournament. All expenses paid weekend! :O) So we scurried around and found sitters for the children and will have a wonderful weekend a way.

The commercial went well. Twink did much better than I thought she would. They let her hold a beach ball. Between the ball and the camera lights she was good as gold! We can't wait to see the finished product.

Where'd Summer Go?

All I can say is WOW, summer went by really fast and I am dreading winter! LOL All of the children start school next week (I'm soooo excited). Jewel is actually starting back to public :( and will be in 7th grade. Dash will be in 4th grade and Spitfire will be starting pre-K which will be everyday (1/2 days). Twink will be starting a developmental pre-school which will be two days a week (1/2 day). She will receive some of her therapies at school and will also receive some at home. I think this will be great for her but I must admit I am a weeeeee bit nervous! LOL I just think of all the germs and then I think of her getting sick and then the seizures and then my mind goes a little crazy. It is out of my hands and I must give it over to the Lord.

We went away last weekend and I would like to say it was relaxing but how could it be with two toddlers!?!? I think I was delusional when I thought it would be. ;) We did have fun between the kids arguing and the melt downs though. We rented a cottage in the mountains on a lake (more like a cliff over looking a lake). Oh I must tell you, TJewel, Spitfire and I took a paddle boat out on the lake for an hour. Well about 5 minutes into our ride we could no longer peddle. We could not for the life of us figure out what was wrong. I got off my seat and went towards the front of the boat and realized the string that tied the boat to the dock fell into the water and wrapped around the peddles! So here we are in the middle of the lake unable to peddle and all but two boat just returned to shore! Spitfire by this point was ready to get out. I was able to yell to the closet boat (which happened to be two kids ages 10 and 12) and they were able to pull us in while their mom snapped pictures of the rescue! LOL Spitfire was determined she was not getting back into another boat BUT we got her in and we went out for a bit and was able to find our cabin where Daddy and Dash were waiting for us. The ride didn't last long because Spitfire (who was hanging on for dear life) started to cry so we headed back in towards dry land.

















We hit the water park the day before and I must say I like going in the middle of the week. Twink hates water so it was not much fun for her but as long as she was not set in the water she was fine. Spitfire on the other hand loved it!






I'm sure I've missed telling you some thing but I must go and visit some of your blogs! Oh yes, we finished our pastors house! It looks great and we are so happy they arrived safely!

Back From Vacation!

We are back from a much needed vacation! We were able to get away to see my SIL and her family last week! We had such a great time and Twink did much better than we expected! WooHoo! The kids had so much fun with their cousins and just running around! We were able to go to the beach and Twink played in the sand along with the older children. I did forget to bring a back up battery and my charger for my battery so I do not have any pictures yet to post. I did buy some disposable cameras and plan on dropping them off to get prints made soon! I pray that we have at least a couple good pictures! Twink is doing wonderful walking outside in the grass. For awhile she would not even let me put her down and now she is running!

Yesterday we had some friends over for the day who are also from China. She did great and had fun. I have pictures but will not post the ones with all the girls due to the fact I'm unsure of their moms wishes. Besides I'm having trouble uploading pictures. Soooo, unfortunately you'll have to wait on those pictures until later!

I did get some good news this week! Twink's x-ray of her hips look good so we do not need to see a orthopedic doctor at this point. Her palete looks good for now also, when she starts talking more we will know more. So we are good there for awhile also! We did talk to her OT who does think Twink does have severe sensory issues so will tackle that head on! Oh pray for us! Some days it is soooo good but other days it is a bear!

I'm off to do some spring cleaning! The weather here has been amazing! I love it! If I haven't visited your blog, I'm sorry! I'll try to jump over soon! Chech back for pictures later! :)