Adia Antics

So, our daughter Adia is at the funniest age. She loves language so we play a "vocabulary" game. She wants to hear words like "genuine", "hypocrisy", "catasrophe", and "automotive" (can anyone use a sentence with all of those words together?) with their definitions. Then she comes up with big words that she knows (like hippopotomus)... it is a riot! She also thinks that "actually", "technically", "probably", and "possibly" are words that should be in her everyday 3-year-old vocabulary. We are used to it now, but you should hear the comments from people who hear those words for the first time! She definitely keeps us in stitches!

our family vacation

Hi all! We just got back from family vacation in Gatlinburg, TN! We had a great time hiking, swimming, going to "holiday" (the Incredible Christmas Place, in "Adia language"), and seeing the Aquarium... Mostly, though, we just enjoyed being together and having some down time. Despite a near-breakdown with the van (thank the Lord- it was easily taken care of), and having to drive back 2 hours after our coming-home departure time (details later), we had no complications!

Happy Anniversary to Us!!!

For our 10-year anniversary, we went to Mazatlan, Mexico. It was a great time just being together for a few days. We got tired of being "tourists" really quickly-we figured out the bus system. Not too hard- just hold your hand out, and one stops. When you are ready to get off, just jump up! The funniest experience was when we asked the "pulmonia" (little golf-cart like vehicle/taxis native to Mazatlan) driver to take us to Wal-Mart. When we got there, we understood his funny look. There were no other gringos in the entire store! We got second (and third, and fourth) glances. It was pretty funny!

We went to the Aquarium. This is Colb standing (no kidding) 4 feet from a HUGE crocodile.



One of our favorite parts of the trip was a day-tour we took to a little silver mining village called Copala. On the way there we stopped and watched some men making bricks by hand. What hard, hot work.



This panaderia (bakery) is nothing like the ones in our neighborhood! We got treats baked straight out of a clay oven. YUM!!!

A HUGE thank-you to all of our loved ones (Mimi and Papaw, Gee-Gee and Papa, Kevin and Di) for all of your help with our trip and with Adia. We love you all SOOOO much and appreciate your support more than you could ever know!!!!!

Birthday Wishes...

Adi had her birthday party on April 28 at Shepherd. She wanted a birthday with pink and purple flowers, so Mommy and two other friends made 300 pink and purple flowers to put on her cake!!! We had fun planting flowers, playing games, and enjoying our friends. What a special day!!!!

Fish is Fish

After our visit to the pet store, we got home and put Jovany, Bear, and Adi into their new tank. Adia loves them and admires them without her hands (she shakes the tank when she pulls on the dresser). She was so tired after the whole ordeal that she fell asleep right on the rug while trying to take off her shoes!!!

Chuck E. Cheese Birthday Bash

We met Mimi and Papaw at Chuck E. Cheese's for Adia's birthday (May 02). We celebrated with pizza, games, and a not-so-enjoyed visit from Chuck E. Cheese himself (see pic of Adia scared half-out of her wits!) Mimi had not been there since Colb was a kid, and I don't think Papaw has ever been there. What a treat!

Opening Birthday Gifts

We have been so busy that Adia just got to open her gifts this weekend (her birthday was last Wed.)

Adia is unwrapping fish food for her new pets.

Yiwen gave her a special poem that she wrote using the ancient art of Chinese Calligraphy!

Traveling Back in Time

My sis recommended starting with our latest ventures and going backwards to catch y'all up on our happenings.

Sooooo, we have had a foreign exchange student staying with us since November. Yiwen (Julia) came to us rather suddenly, but has joined our crazy group we call a family and fit in rather well. We call her our "18-year-old Chinese daughter". She has taught us many things- the latest of which is cracking sunflower seeds with our teeth and prying out the seed with our tongues! We all went to a friend's house (Jennifer and her children, Christine and Harrison) and had so much fun on Saturday night!!!

In case you were thinking "Colby looks a bit happy", Yiwen was teasing him and backing into him, and he was trying not to fall off of a 2-story deck!

This One's For the Sis (aka Auntie Em)

Sooooooo... we'll try this one more time! Sorry for the time lapse between posts again, but it is my almost 1/2 year's resolution (since we're already into May) to try to update it more often. We really do love all of you out there in Blogland, and we are sorry for the lack of updates....

Adia is now 3 years old!!!! And, for her 3rd birthday she got a new aquarium for her room. We went to the pet store and picked out 3 fish, and I had horrific images of Finding Nemo's "Darla". Needless to say, the fish are still alive almost 2 weeks later...