New Year Gathering & Taiwan Pals

 Last weekend we headed over to Nashville for a fun gathering to celebrate Chinese New Year with our fellow adoptive Taiwanese families!  It was a huge success and a ton of fun for all!  We had quite a few families come with lots of Asian cuties and plenty of darling siblings!  We met at The Discovery Center (An awesome and fun hands on place for the kiddos, btw) and explored for a few hours.  Some families we'd met before and some were new to the group and all were just wonderful to hang out with for a day!

 We even got a pretty decent group photo!  Oh ya, we sort of took over the place...

 Sammy had soooooo much fun, with all the hands on trucks, cars, trains and all sorts of stuff!

 Simone enjoyed it quite a bit too!  And she renewed a friendship she made at the last gathering!

 Sammy called this the "excavator ride" and we had to pry him off so other kids could have a go!

 More group photos!

 You may know that Sammy Wei just loves babies.  He's always been interested in any baby he sees, and has finally gotten past his little stage of pinching their feet, thankfully!  Now he just loves to snuggle and rub heads.  This little cutie has been home for about a month -and oh how cuddly she was!!

 After a few hours of play we invaded stopped by a very yummy Chinese restaurant.  Simone sat with her pal and they talked Star Wars and DSI stuff for the whole meal!

 And we sat with a family I've been in contact with throughout both our adoptive journeys.  It was so wonderful to meet somebody I've "known" for years!  And the boys were so similar, it was so funny to compare stories!  Now I really can't wait for R.O.C.k.s in Chicago, and meeting all of our other Taiwan families!!!

 After filling our bellies we decided to head back to the Discovery Center to explore some more!  We already made plans to stay the night in Nashville so we had plenty of time to play! 

 Below is Sammy "fixing" the car.  He loved all the hands on and had such a blast!

 Cute kids.....

 We went to the hotel after, swam for a bit and all promptly fell asleep  -  what a day!!!!

In the morning we played around in the room...

 And hit the pool for another quick swim before heading home.

It was such a great time and as always so wonderful to meet and hang out with all the Taiwan families!  We've made some great friends and hope our children will carry these memories and friendships with them.  I am so appreciative of those that help to organize these events to keep our kids culture alive!

Gong He Xin Xi.....Happy New Year!

J

Family Fun!

We are so fortunate to have Ijams Nature Center close enough to home that we can drive over there for a few hours or a whole day whenever the mood strikes.  We just love to spend time there exploring the acres of trails through woods, along the river and along the quarry.  The center itself is a great indoor break from all the walking and the kids love to visit with the turtles, fish and snakes.  They've recently added an outdoor "playscape" area too which adds to the kids fun!

So when we couldn't decide what to do on an unusually warm day last weekend we packed a lunch and headed over for the day!

The kids really enjoyed it - and Adam and I did too.  We got lots of fresh air and had a great time as a family! And I think we stayed for almost five hours, exploring the trails....

We spent plenty of time indoors as well, getting to know the turtles and fish a bit better!

But soon were back outside for a nice family hike!

Which naturally just wore us out.  Sammy fell asleep on the trails and slept for a good 45 minutes and Simone took a small catnap in the sun!

But we had lots more fun once they woke up!  We hit the playscape area for some more playtime full of climbing and running.

We had such a great day together having some good old family fun!
J