Woller Corn is Starting!!! YUM!

MD came home from the farm today with .......

A BIG bag of ........

CORN!!!

Yes, we love corn!!!!

MD and I immediately had an ear -- cooked in the microwave :)

AND

the girls couldn't wait for dinner.

Yes, it is DELICIOUS!!!!

So -- 

starting Wednesday our corn will be available at the roadside stands!

on Post and Lamos; Old 31

More places will be added if corn is more readily ripe!

Come and get it while it lasts!!!

YueYang Reunion -- Day 3; Good-bye

Bright and early the boys got up to go back to The Arch.

Since the tram was sold out Sat. evening the boys decided to go back in the morning.

They were able to get on one of the first trams to the top of The Arch.

Inside the 'pod' that takes them up and down.  It holds 5.

JM pointing to the sign that tells them they are at the top.

Looking out the windows.

They really had a great time.  They were able to see lots!  

JM checking out the baseball field -- he LOVES this.

AND of course they got some GREAT pictures.

INSIDE the ARCH

All 3 of my special guys at the top :)

AND

Outside the Arch

LOVE this one!

When they returned to the hotel

most of the families were gathered in the lobby saying good-byes.

The girlies with O. and Sharon

Sharon and My Darling -- GREAT picture.


Finally, mommy went up and got most everything packed up!  The kids went with daddy to get mommy her Starbucks :)

They packed the car and we were off!!

The ride is long with lots of farm scenery.  
Unfortunately, for this area they are having a drought -- like us -- but probably worse.
It was sad :(

So much of the corn fields were burned up -- looking like late Oct. when it is dried down and ready to be combined.

Much of the corn was short and had little or NO ears.

 There was also LOTS and LOTS of windmills. 


The girls were pretty much exhausted!!!
This was right after lunch :)

Totally sacked out!

Daddy was WONDERFUL and went off the route for dinner.  PORTILLO's!!!  Which is one of my favorites.  YUMMY!!!

We had a wonderful time visiting My Darling's YueYang sisters AND spending time as a family.  The car ride was LONG but listening to all of the kids AND daddy singing/yelling oldies and praise songs was PRICELESS!!! 

YueYang Reunion Day 2

Today we had to wake-up a bit earlier!!!

Yes, 7 am.

We had to get ready, eat breakfast, pack our day bag and met for pictures at a local park by 9:20 am.

AND

We did it!!!

The park was beautiful!!

We did a few pictures of all the girls dressed up.

A full-group picture --

I don't have one of those as all of us were in the picture.

So, I will have to wait until the photographer sends it.

We did family pictures -- ours is not great that a friend took -- hopefully the photographers is better :)

Next, we took pictures of the girls in their reunion shirts.

Before we left we got a great picture of the girls and mommy in our 

CHOOSE JOY

shirts!

AND
one of the girls, too.

We brought the boys back to the hotel to enjoy a quiet morning watching TV and playing games 

BECAUSE

we were going to The Magic House.  This is basically an hands-on children's place -- kinda museum.

The girls ALL loved it but I am sure the boys would of been bored!

Musical instruments with water.  LOVE BaJabs face through the water tube. 

 ANOTHER slide.  This one was 2 stories tall -- all curly.  

FUN!!
  

Doing some fishing.

 Riding the train.

Climbing!

 Water room!

Bubbles!

We got a nice lunch and headed back to the hotel.  
The girls were able to get a nice long nap in :)
AND
When the woke up we were able to spend some time at the pool.

Elizabeth even learned to float!!!

All of the YueYang families met and went to a Chinese Dinner.
YUM!!!


After dinner our family decided to visit the Arch.

It was much cooler out!!!


The place was beautiful.


The tram to the top was sold out -- shucks -- I was NOT going up :)  Yes, I'm a chicken!!
The boys are going on the first one in the morning -- it's only 20 minutes from the hotel.


We went through the museum, learned lots and had lots of fun!

 She LOVES to pose :)

 All 5 at the wheel -- and the man in the background came to yell at us about NOT touching it -- OOPS!

Elizabeth trying to pose like Thomas Jefferson -- Actually, all the kids tried -- FUNNY!

MD's was the best!


AND


Took some great pictures of the Arch!

 All 5 against the north side of The Arch

 JM lying on the ground trying to get a good picture.  AND Elizabeth very interested in what he's doing!

 A Nice picture of The Arch.

My 2 Crazy girls -- looking up :)

At least one of mom and dad!


We arrived back at the hotel in time to sign the special pillowcases.

 My Darling signing each of the 13 pillowcases.
She did each one different and creative!

My Darling and I ended the night with some friends at Steak-n-Shake for a delicious mint cookies and cream shake --

It definitely was a full day but oh, the fun we had and the memories we made!

YueYang Reunion Day 1

My Darling is from YueYang China

AND

on the day she was adopted we were with 17 other families adopting through Bethany Christian Services from the same area in China.

18 girls were adopted that day -- 12 from the city orphanage and 6 from the county orphanage.

Ages 9 months to 23 months old.

My Darling was from the city orphanage. All 12 shared the same crib room!

Thankfully, over the last 7 years we have all stayed in touch.  

AND

We have a reunion every year.  

Each family takes turns hosting it.

AND yes, we have gone to all but 1 -- we missed the San Diego reunion due to our 2nd adoption.   

This year we traveled to St. Louis Missouri.

We drove -- all 7 of us -- in a Honda Odyssey van -- 8 hours

ACTUALLY, it was a great drive.  NO issues :)

Small issue when we arrived at the hotel -- no suite for us!  YIKES!!!  We are all in a regular room!  

We all made a commitment to Choose Joy!

13 families were able to make the trip.

FUN!!!

My Darling and I always come up with some kind of gift to give each of the girls.

This year we did tie dyed wristlets that say 'YueYang Sister Forever'

My Darling but them in baggies with a message to each of the girls ---

I'm so thankful YOU are one of my YueYang Sisters

The first morning we passed them out to each of the girls.

We originally were scheduled to go to the zoo BUT due to the extreme heat, 104 degrees, we changed our plans and went to the City Museum.

This place was AMAZING!!!  

We had so much fun!

Enjoy the pictures.

The girls in the group -- more then JUST the YueYang girls :)

 LOVE this of MD and Elizabeth!

 There was some WEIRD things!!!!

GROSS!!

 Our 3 plus one of the YueYang sisters -- O.

 Yes, something else WEIRD!!!

 Elizabeth does a monkey dance and 'look' -- so, perfect picture of her as a monkey :)

 The old pinball machines AND they worked!!  I LOVE playing these and YES, I played a few!

 There was a small train to ride and Elizabeth couldn't wait!!!

 My Darling on the train.

  Elizabeth LOVING it!!

There was TONS of things to climb.  AND Elizabeth was always up for the challenge!!

I could NOT fit in this one.  So, she did it with just a tad bit of help from My Darling.

 Elizabeth climbing!

 All 5 kids!

 Elizabeth WANTED to kiss the cheek :)

 Ropes to swing on -- BaJabs, JM, MD and My Darling did this.  

 Cool slides -- 

You had to climb UP and of course slide down -- E. needed some help but the other 2 could get up on their own.

There was a small circus.

 This slide was 3 floors high -- ALL of us did it!!

Even -- MOM!!!

 Next, we went outside -- and LOTS of climbing and sliding.

MD taking his way :)

 The girls and I taking a safer way -- still a bit hard :)

 Walking across to the boys!

 The boys climbing up!

 The dragon slide.

 Up high!  This is on top of the dragon slide -- we are up about 3 stories.

 MD!

 Going down 1 level.

Going down the dragon slide -- we ALL did this!!

The girls taking a snack break as the boys climb higher!

All 3 boys at the top on the airplane -- 4 stories up!

 JM (in the red) going across -- HIGHER!

 MD

Daddy doing it, too!

 The girls wanted to do the dragon slide WITH daddy!

 Under the sea -- this is on the bottom floor --- HUGE!!!

 Going through the caverns -- 

 Our 5 plus O.

 This is an HUGE whale you can walk in and it looks like you are being pooped out the back.

Really, this was a FUN, FUN time!!!

We stayed much longer then the agenda allowed for :)

AND

Really, wanted to say -- this is Elizabeth's 2nd day with a LONG leg. 

Can you believe it???

She LOVES it!!!

We went back to the hotel for a small nap.

Dinner at The Pasta House -- gluten-free menu!!!  

YUM!!

Back to swim and then off to bed!!!