Girls Scout Camp, Pirate's Game and Cosmic Bowling

Last week I never got back to post about Xuelian's Girl Scout Camp.  I never did get to take more pictures.  I was going to the second morning but my camera's battery was dead.   I recharged the battery and was going to get in the pick up line early and take some pictures but camp ended early due to heavy thunderstorms.  She was really scared by the time I arrXuelian had a great time.  They did a lot of fun things including archery which she really liked.  She came home everyday singing camp songs.

Yesterday we had planned to go to the zoo and ended up cosmic bowling instead.    When we checked the weather it was supposed to thunderstorm in the afternoon.  It of course never did rain but we had a good time bowling.

We bowled 4 games.  Xuelian bowled a 99 on her first game and won.  I have to say I have always been the gutter ball queen.  The second game I won but didn't match her score of 99.  We tied the last two games. I am still not sure how we managed that.  Funfest had a special that day you could bowl or play laser tag for up to three hours and we each got 10 game tokens.  We bowled for about an hour and a half.  Our wrists were starting to hurt so we went and played games.  She lucked out and a group of girls showed up for laser tag.  She joined them and had a blast.  It was a great day and we are planning to go back soon.  We are going to take friends with us next time.  We need to have enough people to be able to play laser tag on our own.  

Summertime Camps

Xuelian has been very busy lately.  Last week she went to chess camp.  She was the only girl there but loved it.  She came home everyday talking about who she played against how and many games she won and lost.  Mr McVay is a great chess teacher and the kids love him.  Xuelian was in his after school chess classes last year.  He may even start having classes at her new school.  We are really hoping he does.  Camp was 9 until noon everyday.

All ready to go to camp .

She had a lot of people noticing her YES I play Chess! shirt.

The rest of the day was spent playing with the kids in the neighborhood.  We have been the go to house this summer.  We had a big swing set put up.  It has a clubhouse that you get to by climbing a rock wall or ladders, monkey bars, trapeze, two regular swings, a disk swing, tire swing and slide.  The kids usually play on it in the evenings.  It has been way to hot during the day since it sits in direct sun all day.  We have been having one of our hottest summers since 1988.  It has been in the mid to high 90's most of the summer.

One of her favorite things to do is go across the monkey bars

Get onto the trapeze bar

swing for a little while

and then

hang upside down.

Her other favorite thing to play on is the tire swing

She spins around

and around

then she can hardly stand.

Her friends love to do this too.  Sometimes they manage to do this with 3 kids at once.  

I always forget to take pictures when the whole group is out there.  We usually have anywhere from 4-7 kids playing on the swing set.  I love it.  They are outside playing, having fun and getting a lot of great exercise.  I also love that we are the house everyone comes to.  While somedays I wish they would give me a break I like having them here.  I don't hover but I like knowing where Xuelian is and what she is up to.

This week Xuelian is going to Girl Scout Camp.  It is for three days and sounds like a ton of fun.  They are going to cook all of their meals and snacks.  There will be hiking in the woods and through a stream, lots of camp songs, crafts and other fun activities.  I heard something about archery when I was dropping her off.  I can't wait to hear all about her first day later this afternoon.

All ready to go to Girl Scout Camp.

I'll have to take some more pictures tomorrow.  The sun was in her face making her squint.

4th of July

We hope everyone had a nice 4th of July.  We had a great time again this year at my cousin Greg's house.  This is the 3rd year in a row we have gone to his party and every year it gets bigger and better.  This year he cooked a whole pig weighing 115lbs.  It was the best BBQ I've had.  He also made his own sauces which were amazing.  Everyone brings side dishes so there was more food than any of us could eat.  The "kids" (ranging in age 5-???)  had a blast having a water ballon battle, playing games and building a human pyramid.  I love this party because we get to see a lot of family who live out of state.  Many years this is the only time we see each other.  This is definitely the can't miss part of the year.  

The last two years there has been a lady and her son who make really neat balloon creations.

The water balloon battle.

Greg with what is left of the real pig and his Balloon Pig.

Tim and Xuelian with their Balloons.  Tim had a rainbow afro made and was singing circus afro from Madagascar 3.

The first attempt at a human pyramid failed.

So far so good 

The dads had to lift the kids on.

Almost there.

Christopher is the last one. 

He did make it on top but I don't think anyone got a picture before they collapsed.

  

It was a fantastic day.  The community park is right behind Greg's house.  We walked over and saw amazing fireworks.  When the fireworks were over and we were back at the house the kids had fun with sparklers.  Thankfully the rain held off all day.  It didn't rain until after we got home.

Xuelian's Big Year

I wanted to post about a few of Xuelian's special days since January.  This year she took Chinese dance lessons at Yanlai Dance.  They had quite a few performances this year including the Chinese New Year Celebration at University of Pittsburgh, the Chinese New Year Party for Families with Children from China and their year end performance at the August Wilson Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.  She had a lot of fun and made many new friends.

This was her second grade year at Providence Height Alpha School which means there were a couple of special things going on.  They spent the year preparing for First Holy Communion.  In February they made their first Confessions and on May 12th they made their First Holy Communion.  She was so excited and loves to go to Mass so she can receive Communion.   It was a beautiful ceremony and we had a great party afterwards.  Tim's sister Sue came in from Maryland and we had a lot of my extended family over.   It was wonderful to catch up with everyone.

She had a great end to the school year her final report card was one B and A's in everything else.  The end of the year was also sad.  Xuelian is going to a new school next year and many of her classmates are also leaving.  They didn't want the school year to end.  We have been keeping busy getting together with all of her friends this summer.

The last big thing was Xuelian turning 10.  She is in the double digits now.  She had a party at a gymnastics center and they had a blast.  They had obstacle courses set up, there was a rope swing into a foam pit, balance beams and the zip line that everyone loved.  She said it was the best day ever.

We Have Big News

We are excited to share that we are adopting again.  I am hoping to be able to post photos and more info in the next month or two.  We are currently waiting for Approval to adopt a little boy from China.  We are hoping to bring him home sometime between October and December.   We aren't allowed to post photos or identifying information until we have approval.  I can tell you that he is 19 months old and is cute as can be.  His first name will be Christopher and we will keep his Chinese name as his middle name.  We are super excited and can't wait to tell you more.

New blog

Hi everyone.  Unfortunately IWEB no longer exists and I have to start a new blog.  I had no clue how to move everything so I printed it out to save.  I had thought about reposting all of the old posts here but that is a big task.  I have decided I am just going to start fresh.