Happy First Forever Family Day Caleigh!

Outside the orphanage in CanTho

Writing a note of gratitude in the orphanage book.

Kelly O. & Katherine...

The Calendar on the wall at the G & R Ceremony

Officially parents in the eyes of the Vietnam Government! Hooray! (Thanks for the pictures Kelly!!!!)

CanTho...June 2009...Caleigh: 8 1/2 months old...

Today marks one year since we were lucky enough to become Caleigh's parents! Happy 1st Forever Family Day little girl! We Love You!

One Year Ago Today In Vietnam....

One Year Ago....a helpless little one who could not sit up at 8 months old...

Today...a spirited little child full of wonder with great will....(cutting more teeth!)

.....I held her...for the first time. Our daughter. So small. So sweet. I feel as though the last year has flown by. This little angel....flittering around the house as a little girl....I love her so....

Summertime Fun

Summer is officially here...I feel like I'm finally sinking into a groove after our trip to Tulsa...the past week was full of Heat, Swimming & various other water adventures....hoses, soapy tubs for washing things, etc. The boys start tennis & swim camp tomorrow...goes through Friday. They will go from 9-2 & Caleigh & I will hang out here or swim while we wait on them. It's just a 10 minute drive from our home, so not bad at all! It is their first "camp" of the summer & I think they are ready to go! After I drug them all to Sam's today for our "stock the pantry trip", I am ready for them to go & have some fun too! ;) Have a great week everyone! Oh, and C is totally addicted to her pink swimming hat from last summer...she insists on wearing it.EVERY.DAY. I kid you not. So, you will probably see her in it in most photos for a while...unless I yank it off right before taking the pic, which I did in a couple this week! Also note the pressure washer that the Daddy got out to wash the baby's car, but it never comes out to wash mine...hmmmmmm

Last Post From Tulsa Weekend....

Well, in case you couldn't tell by now, we enjoyed our nice little getaway to Tulsa last weekend! It was like a mini-vacation....good times! Caleigh really enjoyed the waterpark/kids pool area...here are some cute pics. Now I'm going to put her down for a nap so we can go to the pool later! It's too hot to do much else!

VN Weekend...Tulsa...Take 4....Friends

The boys with Scarlett's son, Noah....

Caleigh & Katherine

Bryce

Caleigh & her green balloon....

Caleigh, Dori Grace & Katherine

Hannah, Blake & Noah

Caleigh, Isaac & Dillon

Caleigh, DG & WB

Bryce, Hannah & Blake
(Hannah was so sweet to play with the boys even tho she is 11...thanks Hannah!)

The boys made some sweet new friends...Scarlett & Amy's kiddos were close in age & they had fun playing together. Caleigh met up with her other CanTho friend, DG & Kit again on Saturday at the Dillon event. She played with Isaac & Dillon & Kit at the rice table FOREVER! Saturday morning the kids did Vietnamese crafts & rotated from "center" to "center". They all had a lot of fun. Thanks Natasha for the great craft ideas! I think we all agreed that we need more "mom time" next year to visit & catch up. We left after lunch around 2:00...we missed the key-note speaker, but our kiddos were ready for the pool! Warning: Cute Pictures today!

VN Weekend...Tulsa...Take 3

The Radisson Hotel in Tulsa had a great little water park indoors for the kids. All the kids had a BLAST! The deepest point was 3 feet, so parents could sit & chat & not have an eagle's eye on the bigger kids at all times. The boys checked out the pool on Friday while Caleigh was napping....thankfully, several of the families who came had older children the boys' age or very close so they had others to play with too. At $99 per night including the water park & swimming area, I would definately stay here again if we travel back to Tulsa!

Sweet Reunion....VN Weekend Take 2.....

CanTho, Vietnam...almost one year ago...June 25th, 2008...Katherine inYellow & Caleigh in Pink.

....and one year later! They meet again.....Katherine in Yellow & Caleigh in Pink!!!

Checking out Caleigh's necklace...

A chip between friends.

Blake & Bryce really liked the dragon dance!

Friday night the Vietnam Weekend festivities began. They had an awesome dragon dance...food catered from Jason's Deli & fun times for kids & parents time to mingle. It was fun to meet a lot of the people I had only seen pictures of! The best part was when our travel companions arrived! I was so excited to see Katherine & her mommy & brother....hard to believe it's been a year...but boy, what a difference a year can make! Sweet girls...sweet reunion....hopefully next year all of our travel group can make the trip to Tulsa. Kelly, you have the most precious daughter, full of life with the most beautiful smile! She is a ball of energy & I love it! It is fun to see how your son has bonded so naturally with her....truly meant to be! Had a blast reconnecting & hope to see you again before next summer's reunion! Stay tuned for Take 3....the Radisson had the most awesome pool & indoor water park....all of my kids LOVED IT! Pictures to follow.....

Vietnam Heritage Weekend...Take 1

I love this one of the boys' reflection in the jellyfish display....they LOVE jellyfish.

Watching the sharks swim over their heads...this was a favorite.

I usually only catch one decent picture of all 3 anywhere we go...here it is!

The sky was so beautiful despite being a little scary on the weather side!

The view from the aquarium parking lot on our way in....

We arrived home tonight from a fun weekend in Tulsa. Vietnam Heritage Weekend was sponsored by our adoption agency, Dillon International...the events were on Friday evening & Saturday until around 2:00. We went up to Tulsa on Thursday & didn't come home until tonight, so we had lots of extra time to spend with our VN travel buddies, new friends & on our own as well. I will probably make several posts over the next week about our weekend because I have taken so many pictures, it will take me that long to weed through them & pick my favorites! The weather was REALLY stormy on Friday morning, so we opted to go to the Oklahoma Aquarium. It was loads of fun & the kids enjoyed themselves. They had lots of "feeding tanks" & learning areas where the kids could feed the stingrays & turtles & touch starfish & shark eggs. They also have an overhead shark tank which was very cool. Overall a great day despite the storms & tomorrow I hope to have our pictures edited of our reunion on Friday night with our travel friends, Kelly O. and her son "Bear" & daughter (Caleigh's room-mate) Katherine....stay tuned for Take 2!

Headed to Tulsa & Almost 20 months old!

Hey Teddy...you come up here with me!

Rocking her babies...

She wanted two...twins...kinda funny!

We are headed to Tulsa tomorrow for a long weekend...looking forward to getting away! The Dillon Vietnam Reunion is this weekend, so I will get to see our travel buddy Kelly & meet a lot of "blogger Dillon Moms". Fun! We also have plans to go to the Tulsa Zoo, Oklahoma Aquarium & The Aviation & Planetarium. The kids are excited to go & also excited to see the water park inside our hotel. Should be a great weekend (as long as Caleigh sleeps well...she's only slept in her pack-n-play a handful of times...)

Caleigh turns 20 months old on the 12th! I cannot believe that I will have a 2 year old in a mere 4 months!!! CRAZY!!! Her favorite word is "no" , so she's right on track!