January Events

January for us, is typically a quiet month -- meaning not a lot of weekend commitments so we've been able to relax and just enjoy. We did finally furnish our living room - after living in the house for 9 months! A few other things going on with us....

Jack got another promotion at Jiu Jitsu.

Jack learned how to drive... or rather, just pretend drive. 

Jack earned a few badges at cub scouts.

Jack learned how to box... or rather just mess around with Daddy's heavy bag.

Brooke joined a carpool... or rather, played with the neighbor kids. 

Keeping up with Brooke

Brooke is such a good sport... just about every day, she gets carted around going to one of her brother's activities. Fortunately, she has a friend to play with and we make good use of the time by either doing homework or practicing her gymnastics. Of course, there is time to just be a little girl and play around. 

At gymnastics. She is learning cartwheels, round-offs, handstands and back-bends.

Keeping herself and friend, Autumn, occupied during her brother's soccer game.

While her brother had his own baseball game, Brooke enjoying going to an Angel's game with friend, Autumn.

Happy, encouraging sister watching her brother's game.

At a friend's birthday party, Brooke took to the climbing wall. She made it all the way across, every time, without falling. 

At the friend's birthday party, Brooke battling with a school friend. 

Another Tooth Gone & Mining

At our block party, there was a 4 year old boy who filled up a gatoraid bottle with water and threw it... right at Jack's mouth. They were in the kiddie pool and Jack started crying - I thought out of shock. I scooped him up to try to sooth him and realized his mouth was bleeding. At a closer look, I realized his top tooth, to the left of his middle one (already gone) was OUT! The impact of the bottle knocked out his tooth. Fortunately it was a baby tooth, but it was only slightly loose and probably could have stayed in his mouth until at least the end of the year. One of our neighbors fished out the tooth from the kiddie pool so we had the tooth to give to the tooth fairy that night. But now Jack is missing three, top front teeth and has a very big hole when he smiles.

We went to Zoo Mars (a petting zoo) for a friend's birthday in August and Jack really wanted to do the mining activity, but it wasn't part of the party, so I promised I'd take him another time. I took a day off from work and the kids and I went to Zoo Mars to go mining. I was so glad to be able to do that with them - fulfill a promise - and just watch them enjoy themselves with doing something new. They had fun sifting through the sand to find their gems; and then look up the gems on the brochure to see what they got. Little did they realize that THEY were the best gems of all.

Labor Day Block Party

I love our street!! There are five families with young kids (8 and under) and it is so great to watch them all play together. For Labor Day, we rented a water slide and did a block party with neighbors and friends. It was a fully day of being outside watching the kids just be kids.

Brooke with her two girlfriends on the street.

Jack playing with the water hose.

Love the kids!

Scott enjoying the water slide with the kids.

San Diego Zoo

As part of my company's summer event, we received tickets to the San Diego Zoo. Scott's school started before the kid's school started so we had a couple days that I took off work to "watch" my kids. I took advantage of the zoo tickets and went with our neighbor and her kids to the zoo. It was amazing to go during the week (vs. weekend). Less crowds and although it was hot outside, the animals were out and about. We saw more movement with the animals than ever before... the Panda Bear, which was my favorite, was walking around and drinking water; the gorilla was walking around, the orangutan was walking back and forth, the tiger was eating, the lion was asleep but again the wall to measure his paw and even the koalas were awake. We ended the day with purchasing small stuffed animal bats for the kids. Not sure what the fascination with bats is, but it seems to be sticking... and just in time for Halloween!

Del Mar Horse Racing

We took the kids down to the Del Mar race tracks. We spent more time in the family fun zone area with inflatable slides, obstacle courses and houses, along with pony rides, face painting, magic show and bubbles. But in between those activities, we did watch a few horses run!

Family Fun

Family movie date - Turbo AND Planes.

Scooters Jungle for another cousin birthday party -- Jack going down spinning.

Brooke catching a ball.

Mommy dangling her kids.

Jack zip line.

Brooke zip line.

San Diego Safari Park

My company sponsored its summer family event at the San Diego Safari Park. We had been only once before when the kids were small, so it was great to watch them seek out the animals. Although it was a hot day, it was a fun family day.

Can you see the lion's head behind Brooke? Literally only glass separating the two. 

Beach day

We had one free day with no commitments and we took advantage of the perfect day by going to the beach. Soaking up rays, watching the kids in the sand and Jack boogie boarding... perfect day. 

Jiu-Jitsu & Family Bday Party

Jack earned a new belt in Jiu-Jitsu this month. He had to earn 7 stripes to get to this level -- big deal for him!

We went to my cousin's son's birthday party at Scooters Jungle. The kids had so much fun with the big slide and zip line, as well as I had fun playing foose ball with them!

From Orange County, CA to Kazakhstan (sort of....)

We spent a fun afternoon with another family at the Orange County Fair.... a bus ride to the fair, walk around some shops, dinner (no small feat with 5 kids ages 3 - 7 who all wanted something different), 4 rides, dessert and we were done! I like the idea of limiting us at the Fair otherwise it gets out of control. It was great that both our kids were big enough to ride all the kiddie rides and enjoyed it. They are now at the point where they are remembering things such as going to the OC Fair last year so they were really looking forward to it this year.

The day after spending the afternoon submerged at the Orange County Fair and all that Southern CA has to offer, we went to a pool party where all but 1 kid was adopted and all but 2 kids were adopted from Kazakhstan. When I told Brooke what was special about this pool party - that the kids were also born in Kazakhstan, she exclaimed, "Like ME!"

We had met a few of the families before - so it was nice to catch up with them and we met some new families as well. There was also a 23 year old Kazakh girl who was here for the summer. It was so beneficial for me to speak with her -- to get her thoughts on seeing these adopted kids from her country, thriving here. I was also able to ask her about interesting tidbits about my kids own biological history, which is rare and invaluable.

The kids ranged in ages from 3 to 7 and between Lego's, star wars and the pool, they were in heaven. I still don't think they really understand the depths of gathering like this - being around other kids born from their far-away country or being with other adopted kids, but I do and as I continue to expose them to events like this, perhaps one day they'll also see the beauty in it.

Zoo Mars

We went to Zoo Mars for our friend Lauren's 5th birthday. The kids have been there before (with Lauren and her older brother, same age as Jack), but they still love feeding and riding the animals.... and now Jack wants a guinea pig as a pet!