Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello to all (again!) I know the Blog is a little outdated right now - but, never fear!!! I will be updating it and getting it current over the next few weeks. Stay tuned and feel free to check it now and then to see what we have been up to!!

Cute Random Videos

Fun can always be had on the Slip N Slide!!!!!

I think Shea and Uncle Rob better watch out - their hurdling records might just be in danger - check out this one from Ryan!!!

Here is Zoe singing Shelby to sleep - TOO CUTE!!!

Jared's Fish!

Jared and Doug went on their first overnight Cub Scout camping trip. They had a good time together and Jared caught a whopper!

Shelby's Birthday!

We all went to the ceramics studio and painted something for Shelby's birthday - it was a lot of fun. Shelby loved her Tinkerbell cake and Grandma Janet helped her paint her penguin bank. Ryan and Zoe used every color they could find on their items. I can't wait to see how they turn out after firing. They will be quite colorful for sure!! We brought Shelby's best friend, Emily with us and she had a great time as well - btw - Emily was the one who had Shelby stay at her house while we were in Taiwan!

Photos of Daytona trip

Just a bunch of photos! All in all - the kids had a great time. It was fun for us, too - but a lot of work to drive that far with the 4 of them! The boys got along great in the van and had fun watching Alvin & the Chipmunks in English, Spanish and French! The girls had a little tougher time getting along, but they are learning how to be sisters!

Daytona trip - July 2 - 9, 2008

We drove all day on the 3rd, then crashed at a hotel - the kids were wiped out after 8 hours in the car and swimming at the hotel. Definitely no problem getting them to sleep!

When we go to Mom's place in Ormond Beach (a suburb of Daytona) on the 4th, we went down to the inlet/river/whatever in Daytona Beach to see the fireworks, but never made it that long. The kids were wiped out and cranky, so we walked around a little and went back to Mom's house to get them (and us) to bed. Zoe and Ryan fell asleep before we even made it back to Mom's and it is a 15 minute drive!

July 5th - our first real day in Daytona Beach and this picture of Shelby says it all!!! The kids LOVED the beach and Shelby could've chased waves all day!

All of the kids loved the waves, digging in the sand and trying to find shells, although we didn't find many the first day.

Doug and I went to the race at Daytona International Speedway on Sat night - it was fun, but neither of our drivers won (my favorite had to leave the race with the flu). It was cool to finally see a race there after watching so many on TV from there.

We went to Busch Gardens in Tampa on Sunday - it was pretty cool - lots of amazing plants and fun animals to see. We got rained on twice - big time. The first time, we weathered the storm under a fake tree - the picture below is of Zoe, Shelby and Ryan in the tunnel under the tree. The second time, it was a downpour and it was getting late, so we bought ponchos and made a break for the van.

Aren't we cute!!?? - ok, I'm not - but the kids sure are! We had extra clothes for the kids, but not for us, so we froze our bottoms off the whole drive back to Mom's house.

We're Back! Did you miss us? =)

I know, I know! It has almost been a whole month since my last blog! Please forgive me! We have had a VERY busy July. We went on a road trip to Daytona for 7 days, had Shelby's birthday, and Jared & Doug had their first official Cub Scout camping trip! There is MUCH to catch up on - so this will be a biggie! ENJOY!!!

Stuff I forgot from the trip!

Crackers anyone?
Yes, that's right - a Hello Kitty Airplane - and just when you thought you had seen it all!!!
I'm not 100% sure what this sign is supposed to mean....are people with canes supposed to watch out for people in wheelchairs???
this is cranky-pants after 20+ hours of traveling. She really did well. All 3 of us were ready to be home - this was taken during our 2 hour delay in Detroit before the final flight home.

Random Fun Pics!

here are Shelby & Zoe in their matching Chinese outfits! The girls would wear these 24/7 if we let them!











We went to the park behind our house, had a quick bike riding session and then hit the fountains - the kids had a great time!!














Things are going well here. Zoe is still fitting in like any other 7 year old girl. She is very active, very smart and we really couldn't have hoped that things would be going this well! I am attaching several pics of all of the kids during some of our summer fun! We are leaving for Florida on Thurs the 3rd, so there will be some more to see soon!

Backyard Fun

The weather was beautiful today! What a blessed time we are having (mind you we still have 4 kids living here and those of you with kids know what i mean! - but we really couldn't have asked for things to run more smoothly) Here are some snapshots of the day!

Zoe has (hopefully) discovered every toy in the house now, so I'm hoping I can start putting them all away tomorrow! hahahahaha - doubtful. =)

She was riding the wheels off of our training wheel bike. I think the training wheels were slowing her down at times. She did fall once and skin her knee pretty good, but she just hopped up, shrugged her shoulders and get back on the bike. She is a real trooper. When we came inside later, she did want a band aid, but no tears at all.

Danica doesn't have anything on Zoe!

This will show you all a little of Zoe's personality. Part way through this clip, I turned the view screen around so she can see the face she is making. Too Funny!

First Meeting Video

Here is some of the video of the first moments (actually the moment of the photo shown below) for a small taste of it!

It was a pretty crazy 30 minutes or so! 4 kids yelling (and one yelling in Chinese), Zoe running all over the house to see everything and us hungry and jet lagged like you wouldn't believe! Enjoy!

Welcome Home Zoe!

Here it is! The first official picture of all 4 kids together! Everyone was VERY EXCITED! Zoe was literally hopping up and down in her seat as we pulled into the driveway and she caught sight of the swingset and backyard. We had her family photo book out that we had sent her last summer and I was pointing to the pictures of the house to tell her we were almost home. She was so pumped to see it for real! The other 3 ran out the back door to see her and then they all ran through the whole house! Of course, the other 3 wanted to show her everything immediately, but we had to stop them for a brief moment to snap this photo in front of the sign the kids made with our friend Jen while we were gone. AWESOME!!! I'm going to try to edit the video of the event and load a small taste of the first meeting! We are a full day into it now and other than regular sibling issues about sharing, things really are going well. Zoe understands a lot of what we say, but still responds in Chinese of course. English words pop out of her unexpectedly at times and we get really excited about that. She is still calling Jared, Shelby and Ryan by the Chinese names for Big Brother, Little Sister (she is 3 mos older than Shelby) and Little Brother. Which is fine, as they are learning to answer to that. And it is only fair, since she has to learn to respond to Zoe instead of her Chinese Name, Tzu-Ying (which sounds kind of like Zuey said really fast).

SISTERS!!! Aren't they cute!?!

More interesting Taipei photos

Thought you would all enjoy this little tidbit! This was the faucet in the shower (which had no shower curtain or door, please note) And yes, one morning I turned on the shower to be blasted in the face with the water and have it spray all over the bathroom because the shower head had turned in the holder. Of course, when Doug came in later, he just said "Did you have a little problem in here?" There was water everywhere - but luckily it was ALL tile, so no big deal. =)

Til then!

We have moved our flight to Friday, so we will be getting up at 4 to leave at 7:30 and arrive home to STL Friday evening! It has been an eventful journey to say the least and I for one am not looking forward to 20 hours or so of flying tomorrow. We are definitely looking forward to being at home with Zoe to get started on her new life with us. At this point, I think she thinks all we do is lay around hotel rooms, take taxi rides and buy her stuff! Wow - is she in for a shock! Haahahahahaha

I'll keep up with blog posts, but they will not be every day and we'll get some more of the photos we took up here for you to view!

See everyone soon!
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Lungshan Temple

We could have taken about a thousand photos here - very amazing. All hand carved, painted, etc. Absolutely beautiful.

The Grand Hotel

This Hotel was built about 50 years ago. Very ornate and a Chinese style. The lobby was all high ceilings, giant red pillars, very beautiful. However, they don't let tourists in there....So we stood in the front and tried to look like we belonged! The last picture is a view from the Grand Hotel, it is on a hill overlooking Taipei.