Monday, June 27, 2011

Catching up...

Yes, catching up once again!  I typed my Birthday post for Simone and realized I had just skipped right over all of the other fun stuff we've been doing the last month or so!

So to play catch up......

We've had a few fun outings with our FCC (Families with Children from China) friends.  A large and boisterous group of us headed to Ripley's Aquarium one hot Sunday afternoon.  We had a lot of fun with all of our pals and got to visit with some very cool sea creatures!







Simone ended an amazing school year and was sooo very sad to see 1st grade pass!  She was so lucky to have a truly great (kind, caring yet still tough) teacher and really sweet and wonderful classmates!
Adam and I celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss!  We had a date night out but also cooked a nice meal for just the two of us.  Well...the 2 of us and one little Simone...oh well - maybe for our 20 year celebration we'll have quiet time! 
We spent a night watching the butterflies being released at the zoo.  It was a fun event with all sorts of activities for the kids!

Sammy-Wei & Simone both love the carousel...Sam says "up...down...up..."


We spent a day at Ijams Nature center with friends.  The kids built some cool fairy houses and we went for a great nature hike to find a secret pond!



We decided to join a pool this year!  And since the kids go to summer day camp at the same center it worked out to be a great decision!  The kids have made so many friends, both at the camp and the pool (we have too)  and it gives us something to do on these unbearably hot summer days!  And Sammy...well, he is a fish - Simone too!  Oh what fun the last month there has been!

We also had an FCC pool party gathering.  It was just a a blast to see all the kids swimming and splashing and just enjoying the water and each other!  (yes...that would be Sammy hanging upside down!)
The mermaid of the family....
Mmmmmmmm.   Watermelon!




We attended a zoo birthday party and what a huge treat that was.  It was such a fun and different type of party!  All the kids had a great time!





 Below is the sweet and adorable Birthday girl!
At the end of the party the zoo staff brought in some different animal items, like a turtle shell, some elephant hair and other things.  But best of all was the Chinchilla that all the kids got to pet.  What a treat that was!

So I think we have finally caught up on our past month or so of our fun and busy days...
More to come soon!
J

Monday, June 20, 2011

The Birthday celebrations

Oh yes, there sure is an "s" at the end of celebration.  Come on...me celebrating Simone's Birthday for only one day!?

No way... it was a week long celebration of her big seven years.   We had a lot of songs and skipping and reminders of how old she is!  And Simone received so many wonderful gifts ranging from new chapter books, to new LPS stuff, some play dough (a HUGE hit in our house) and some jewelery making stuff!  She also got plenty of add-ons to her Pokemon collection and some new clothes!  She loves everything she got and really had an enjoyable week!

So just how did we celebrate?

We started off on her "big day" with a swim at the pool after camp with some pals.  Then we had some yum-yum-yummy Thai food!  Both the kids (and Adam & I) dug in to the great feast Adam brought home!
 And we had some cheesecake.   Not your typical Birthday cake...but that's what the Bday gal wanted!
 A few days later we had a party at the Cove.  Just a few of Simone's closest pals and their families for some good fun.  It was just perfect!  Again this year we did "wild animal" theme. 

Lions and tigers and....Simone's.  Oh my!
 Sammy tried to make a new friend, but it just kept running away!
Simone with her very first and one of her best friends, Ms J!   
 Some friends wanted to be very well rested for the festivities!  I swear SP falls asleep every time we're meeting up with his family.  But isn't he so cute....
 Swim fishies...swim!  Being at the Cove meant the kids could enjoy some lake swimming, and enjoy they did!  We almost had to drag them back to eat and do crafts!
And yep - that's Sammy out there swimming around with no fear.  D is close by though to keep him safe!
Simone & pals...

 My Birthday girl!  
We did a flag cake since she was born on flag day! 
 The cupcakes were very good.  At least Sammy-Wei thinks so!!
   She had such a nice time at the party, we are so blessed to have such great friends...


 We  also had some face painting - done by Mom & Dad helpers.  The kids all looked so cute, I wish I had gotten more on camera!   But I do love this photo below....  She looks like a woodland fairy!

It was a fun party with wonderful weather and even more wonderful guests!  Thanks to ALL of you that made Simone's day so very special!  (and helped make the party so stress free for me - You guys all rock!)


  To continue our celebrations we headed to Atlanta on Sat. morning to watch a baseball game!  Every year Adam's company has an "appreciation day" for them complete with a great BBQ and great seats!  Plus it was Sammy's first real ball game and he was sooo excited!
So....of course he fell asleep!  Did you honestly expect anything else?
Simone had a great time during both the pre-game BBQ and the game itself!  Below is her "self portrait".  She took all sorts of photos that day! 
And let me tell ya... It was a hot day with little breeze - but it sure was fun just to be together!   Below is a photo Simone took - we call it "melting Mama".  I swear I was stuck to that seat by the meltation
process! 
Once Sammy woke up he enjoyed the game and really got into all the crowd cheers and boos.

In the 5th inning a storm rolled in, a BIG storm with lots of rain and some thunder booms.  The rain delay lasted for a few hours so we packed it up early and headed back to the hotel.  We had a nice family dinner together and then watched a movie all curled up in our beds in the hotel room.   It turned out to be such a nice quiet end to a busy week!

That was our fun week celebrating seven amazing years!  Can't wait to see what festivities next year brings!!!
J


**I have to add...we tried to stop in GA to grab the kids some lunch.  We turned off the exit and drove up the street of a decent sized town to find absolute devastation.  We had unkowingly stopped at one of the towns hit by those terrible storms that rolled through a month or so ago.  In our neck of the woods we had some hail damage and a scary night in the basement, but came out of it perfectly fine.  But this town lost everything in this area, as well as the lives of nine people.  I know other areas were hit as well, some much worse, this was just my first time seeing just how powerful those tornadoes were and it was a terrifying sight.  My heart goes out to all effected.  Let's keep them all in our thoughts....