Refreshing

We spent the morning with some good friends cooling off at the local splash park on a terribly hot day. This is our favorite summer park. You can see why.

Avi Joy, Andrew, Luke

Our tiny little 9 1/2 month old peanut - lol.

Luke

Avi Joy

Fountain race.

Sarah is very proud that she finally mastered the monkey bars.

Wearing out.

Thanks Natasha and Jamie for a fun time!

Okra

Fresh okra from our garden.....

Coated in self-rising cornmeal, fried in olive oil. A southern summer staple.

I think my grandma Essie would be proud.

Golden Birthday

On July 5th, Sarah celebrated her 5th birthday. As we typically do, we kept the party small and simple. The Perrymans, Hodges, and my parents joined us for dinner and cake. Sarah's special treat was getting to have her first real girlfriend sleepover with Avi Joy. We did our best to keep the brothers out of the mix so that the girls could play dress up, play games, watch a movie, and gab into the wee hours of the night (10:30pm - late for a 4 and 5 yr. old) uninterrupted.

Pickles!

What do you do when your garden gives you heaps of cucs? Make Bread and Butter Pickles! Yesterday was my first time to make pickles and can. I had to make a trip to the store to buy all the proper canning supplies. Then, I had to read up on all the details to avoid food poisoning. It was time consuming, but it wasn't hard to do. We've already been in the pickles this morning. They are oh so good!

Our 1st Try at Gardening

A sampling of our "harvest."

While our garden certainly isn't going to solely feed our family, it has been fun to incorporate the daily pickings in our meals. The peas barely made it in the house because they were mostly consumed during the picking process. It seems the cherry tomatoes might suffer the same fate (which is fine). Sarah is loving the opportunity to snack while playing in the yard. I'm loving that it is healthy.

Minnesota and 70 Years of Marriage

Last week our family made the long trek to Minnesota. We made the drive there in one shot - a 12 hour day in the car. The kids did remarkably well. I swear by leaving bright and early in the morning. I am also more in love with Redbox. Renting movies along the way was a life saver. You can imagine we were all glad to arrive in the Cities, though, and we definitely hit our max for one day. We stayed the first half of the week in Minneapolis. Michael's cousin Amber and her husband Matt graciously invited us to stay at their house - which was much easier than a hotel room. They were awesome with our kids.....even indulging Andrew and Sarah's snacking preferences. (If you read this guys, thanks!) We pretty much over-scheduled our kids during our stay in the Twin Cities, but I think that is what usual happens on family vacations. Right?

Day 1 we hit the Mall of America. We took the kids to see a science show, had lunch, and rode some fun rides at the indoor amusement park. That night we had dinner with friends Andy, Erika, and their daughter Anika at their home.

Day 2 we visited the Minnesota Zoo. On our way to the zoo, we drove through my old neighborhood. When we pulled up to my old house, I went to the door to make sure it was okay to snap a few photos. The current owner was so kind and invited our whole family in to see the place. I wasn't expecting that. She invited me to take the kids upstairs to see my old bedroom. She even fed my kids a snack in my old kitchen.

Day 3 Michael and Sarah went to a Twins game at the new stadium, Target Field, downtown Minneapolis. I took the boys over to St. Paul to the MN Children's Museum. That night we caught up with Michael's high school friend Andrea and her family for dinner at their home. This was the night when MN had 36 tornadoes, but thankfully we were in a small pocket that didn't get any significant weather. Just a nice refreshing cool down......you know, from a really hot 89 degrees - lol. (It is close to 1oo as I write this from Tulsa.)

Day 4 We loaded the car to drive out to the farm in western MN. Along the way we stopped in St. Cloud to see Michael's high school friend Aaron and his family for brunch. We stopped one more time in Wilmar to see his home town and have ice cream with Andy's parents. We arrived in Brown's Valley just in time for a family cook-out by the lake. Michael's aunt and uncle opened their home to our family and his sister DeAnn's family. The kids had a lot of fun being out on the farm.

The next day we celebrated Sally and Sylvester's 70th wedding anniversary. They are Michael's paternal grandparents. Four out of the eight siblings (that is including Michael) were able to travel for the celebration.


After that, we were back on the road. We split the drive home into two days, staying at a hotel in Sioux City, IA so that the kids could swim, relax, and get a good night sleep.

Now we are back home to the brutally hot OK summer weather. The kids are slowly settling back in. Tons of laundry await me. But, I planned for us to have a relatively boring week this week to help get back on track.

Michael took Andrew on the Log Chute. He looked a little shell shocked when he got off the ride. I think Babe the Blue Ox was scarier than the hill.

I took Sarah on Swiper's Sweep, among other things.

Andy, Michael, and some Simon and Garfunkel.

Annika

My home from Kindergarten-first semester of 9th grade. My mom worked closely with the architect to design the house. She added extra features like a secret passage from my closet to my brother's. (Which, my brother hated, BTW.)

New home of the Twins - Target Field.

Aaron and Michael

Andrew, Lydia, and Sarah

Sally and Sylvester - 70 years of wedded bliss. :)

Pat and Jim with half of their children...

...and some of the grand kids.

Sarah with her cousin Mattison.

Vietnam Camp 2010

Sarah and Thomas

Anna, Sarah, and Ella - All 3 from Ninh Thuan.

Earlier this month our family attended Dillon International's Vietnam Camp/Heritage Weekend. Since Dillon is local, we didn't have to travel. But, we had many families drive or fly in from all over the country. Suzie, a mom we traveled with to adopt Sarah, stayed at our home with her daughters Hannah, Ella, and Hannah's friend Olivia. They are from N. Carolina, so it is a rare treat to see them. We had a lively and full house with three extra girls! Andrew wasn't sure what to do. :)

At camp the kids worked on heritage crafts, learned to make spring rolls, and played with friends while the parents attended workshops and/or caught up with other travel companions and parents. Thomas, Dillon's in-country attorney and adoption facilitator, was flown in for camp. His daughter was also able to join him. Thomas means so much to all the families and we all were so happy to see him again.

On the day camp ended, the Mulliez family stopped by our home to visit and watch a World Cup match before their drive home. Well, the guys watched soccer while Mandy, Suzie and I visited. Shortly after they left, Jynger, Thomas, the Perryman's, and my parents came over for dinner. It was a busy time, followed up by our trip to Minnesota, which I will be blogging about later.

Sarah and Luke!

Luke and his Ninh Thuan girls.

Friends from the orphanage in Ninh Thuan.

Samuel getting a little love from Nancy.

Waiting for Michael to whip up a pancake breakfast.

Suzie, me, and Mandy visiting at our home after camp. We three have daughters from Ninh Thuan Province.

Hannah was so good with baby Samuel.

Hannah with Mandy's Anna.

Mandy's son taking a break from the World Cup and playing soccer with the girls.

The kids doing an after dinner performance of Jesus Loves Me on the "stage" for Thomas. Yes, that is Andrew in a dress.....again.....

Teaching him how to be an Okie.

Hannah, Olivia, and Ella - the sweet girls who stayed with us.