Visit with old friends

We were lucky enough to visit Washington D.C. this past weekend. Rich was running the Army 10 miler which has become an annual trip. He runs in honor of our high school friend, Major David Taylor, who was killed in Iraq. This year, the trip had extra special meaning. We got to visit with 4 of the other families that traveled with us to Ethiopia. Two of the families live in the D.C. area, one came down from NYC, and the other family, from Arizona, was in town visiting family (they arranged their visit to coincide with ours). I feel so lucky to have traveled with such a great group of people. I talked with Rich after our visit and said how strange it is that you are so randomly thrown together with a group of people that will be part of your life for forever. They are such an important part of our family. They provide a connection for Terefech to Ethiopia, a connection for us to Ethiopia and hopefully lifelong friends for Terefech. I tried to describe to Terefech why I was excited to see everyone (she asks why often). I told her how I hoped that all of the kid would keep in contact and that maybe when they were as old as me, they would get together and have their kids play together. She thought that was funny. I know she doesn't completely understand the magnitude of her loss but I am beginning to. I truly hope that these other kids will fill just a tiny, tiny part of her life. They have shared her experience, her culture, her homeland; things I can't do.

It was wonderful to see everyone, see how they've grown, changed, and how they are still the same. The kids send each other drawings and birthday wishes so they seemed to remember each other. Terefech said that when she got there she was a little scared but that then she was okay with playing. She loved playing with one of the older siblings-a big girl! Thank you so much everybody for coming, for hosting, and for being a part of our lives!

Randomness

Declan had his first field trip recently. They went to a place called Zootastic where the kids got to get up close and personal with animals. This picture is a huge step for Declan. He never feeds animals and rarely will touch one. Rich went with the class and said he touched and fed every animal he could. Three cheers for peer pressure!

Terefech got her first haircut recently. The stylist asked if she wanted it blown out straight and she said yes. She was very enamored with it although it didn't last very long. We thought she looked like Michelle Obama!

Just another random kid picture. We went to another pumpkin patch and managed to fire off one picture before the camera died!

Happy Birthday Declan!

Declan turned 6 yesterday! He had a party with a few friends at our house. It had the space theme as he so into space these days. He is wearing his astronaut Halloween costume. He was thrilled to get his astronaut helmet as a gift from Grandma and Papa.

Making flying saucers!

Craziness on the moon (the bouncy house).

Aliens attended the party as well.

October 16th is also the Coca Cola 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Declan's favorite driver...Denny Hamlin. One of his favorite gifts...an autographed Denny Hamlin car. Thanks Alex!

The rocket is ready to blast off! Happy Birthday Declan!

Where in the world is Declan?

This afternoon, Declan gave me a list of his top 5 places to live:

1. Hawaii

2. Brazil

3. Sweden

4. Greece

5. Nepal

Me: "Why Sweden?"

Declan: "I just felt like I needed to pick somewhere in Europe."

The great pumpkin....

We are lucky to live really close to a great pumpkin patch. The kids bounced in the bouncy house, made their way through the corn maze, saw lots of farm animals, and then finally made it to the pumpkin patch.

Declan was thrilled to actually get to cut his pumpkin off the vine.

Declan's picture of us.

Terefech's picture of us.

The proud owners!

Relaxing after a hard search for the perfect pumpkin!

NC Zoo

We spent Saturday at the zoo. I included pictures of some of their favorite animals!

One of the kids favorite things was feeding a giraffe. Yep, handing a leaf right to her. It was pretty cool. They also loved the sea lions and seals. They seemed to be putting on a show just for the kids. Swimming right in front of them, twirling and playing.

The NC Zoo is divided into 2 sections: Africa and North America. We started in Africa and were lucky to catch one of the performances. Declan was entranced by the African drums and singing. Terefech is pretty indifferent to African things, something that will hopefully change as she becomes more confident that she is staying here with us. Although verbally, she often states she doesn't want to hear it or see it, she does watch with interest.

Terefech thought she was going to get to get up close and personal with all the animals. She was disappointed that we couldn't go right down to where the elephants were. On top of that, the NC Zoo has large habitats and sometimes there are no animals to see. It was hard for her to understand we couldn't just go get the animals and we had to have many conversations about that. At one point, the zoo was not a place she wanted to be but I think she recovered from that once we had some good animal experiences.

Another first...

Today I took Declan and Terefech to the Lollipop concert of the Charlotte Symphony. These are concerts for kids. Today was The Emperor's New Clothes with the Grey Seal Puppets. Declan has been going for several years and loves them. I think he likes the fancy atmosphere, the stories, but mostly the music. Terefech enjoyed it all as well. She giggled when the conductor jumped up on to his podium and launched into his conducting. She giggled when the violins were playing very quickly and quietly. It was really fun to watch both of their faces as they watched the musicians, puppets and the storyteller. I am constantly amazed at how fast Terefech is putting all she sees and does into her language. When we got home, Rich asked where she went. Her reply, "To a concert."

Our life full of firsts...

Here is Terefech's first time in a ball pit (at Carmax) and her first face and body painting!

The fruits of our labor

Our strawberries never stop producing. Terefech likes nothing better than to have fresh strawberries from the garden for dinner. She has natural abilities in the garden. You can tell that she helped out in Ethiopia with growing things!

We keep getting more food from our garden. This summer, Declan attended a camp called, "Stir It Up." One of the cooking activities they did was to sprout some beans. We planted them and guess what happened???? Beans grew. He thinks it is pretty cool that they come from his plant.