Gotcha Day Reunion

We celebrated the 2 year anniversary of Paul's Gotcha Day last weekend.....and this weekend we extended the celebration with two other Korean cuties and their families. We all traveled to Korea together and have stayed in good touch in the 2 years since we met. We've been able to get together several times since bringing our kids home and this one was timed well to celebrate a belated Gotcha Day!

We loaded up the car at Gram and Pa's house....Paul got to watch his very first movie in the car. Our car time is usually just a few hours at a time so we don't typically feel the need to have him watch movies to keep him busy. Given the amount of car time we had this weekend, we decided to pull out the iPad and load up some movies.....Paul was pretty excited for Max and Ruby as we rolled down the highway!

Rocking his new headphones!

And then later he moved on to his Leapster....cool dude!

We made it to Mark and Kathy's before Rebecca and James arrived.....here are the kids hanging outside on the porch. We even trusted the kids with bats and balls!

Sweet cheeks on her Little Mermaid scooter.

And then they brought out the motorized Gator. Just about everyone took a turn being the chauffeur. Here's A taking his turn....Paul is gripping the handle bar like he's worried, but he was having a blast!

Then it was Paul's turn. This was his first time driving something like this and overall he did okay. I think he kept forgetting that he was actually controlling the thing!

We were all excited for Rebecca and James to arrive so little J could take his turn driving!

We had some great lunch and then it was off to the Children's Museum. Of course Paul and J were drawn to the trucks and trains....there are so into the exact same stuff!

We hit the grocery store section - little N was the cashier and looking fab!

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar, PAUL! Someone was pretending to be the baker in the grocery store.

Paul and J were partners in crime.

And then it was off to the farm section - they had pneumatic tubes that the kids could launch balls (that were supposed to represent food for the animals) to 3 different sections of the farm section. The kids were having a blast and spent a least 15 minutes just sticking balls in the tubes and running to go get more.

Rockin' the shades......

Someone was concentrating on building a fake sandwich......

And then it was onto the 3rd floor and the painting station. The kids get to paint with watercolors on a plexiglass wall. What could get better than that?

And then we wrapped up with the theatrical production area - they had a big stage and costumes and even had a ticket counter. Everyone had fun either giving or receiving tickets!

The kids had so much fun just hanging out and playing together. It was as though they have known each other forever and see each other everyday. There was just a simple flow to the whole visit. The kids had fun together, the adults had a blast chatting with each other and it was so nice to have even more kiddos to cuddle with!

Could you find a larger firetruck?!?

The kids table for lunch.

Our 3 Korean kiddos eating cookies on the couch......these kids are what brought us all together in the first place.

Opening the gifts from Miss Rebecca. What a thoughtful (and well timed) idea!

Miss N got a sunflower bag as the only little girl in the group!

The kids had fun with their new coloring books!

And the kids table at dinner....do you think they could fit any more plates on that little table?

The kids had no naps (they were having way too much fun) and it was tough to decide when to pull the plug on the day and try to get everyone put to bed. Kathy and Mark were so gracious to open their home to ALL of us....yes, there were 6 adults and 5 children all staying under one roof. They had plenty of room in their fabulous new home! I think we got the kids to bed around 9:00 and then spent a few more hours visiting for some adults-only time. What a blessing to have such great friends.

Here's the only full group shot of the kids from the entire weekend (pretty tough to get them all to sit still and face the same direction).....everyone in their pj's!

The kids (and the adults) stayed in their pj's for a while this morning. What a fun way to spend time together. I love this shot of Paul and J......sharing time over their love of trains.

The fun had to end and we all had to get dressed.....we played just a bit more and then by late morning had to hit the road. Little J was having fun spinning in circles. I love that kid!

It was sad to leave, but we know that the planning will soon begin for our next adventure! We hit the road around 11 and headed back to Gram and Pa's house to pick up the dog and head for home. We were on the road for 5-6 hours today. All three of us were tired from all of the fun and I am surprised to say that Paul only napped for about 30 minutes on the whole drive home! He was in a surprisingly good mood....and went to bed early tonight for sure!

What a wonderful weekend we had.....I will say it once again that we never expected to gain such great friends through the process of adopting Paul.

Tractors and Huge Fish!

We hit the road for a long weekend....first stop was a visit to the Quad Cities to see GranJo and Gram and Pa. We all spent the day together on Friday with our first stop at the John Deere Pavilion. This is definitely one of Paul's favorites.

Driving with the big steering wheel is so much fun!

What does THIS button do?!?

It was then off to lunch and to the Botanical Center. We had the whole place to ourselves. Time for a little fish feeding.....

Someone was enamored with the fish and there were some big ones!

One piece of fish food at a time.

Here fishy fishy......

Don't bit my fingers little fishy!

Check out the size of those fish......

It was a quick stay, but we packed in lots and lots of fun!

Gotcha Day Weekend 2011

I must admit that I am in a bit of disbelief that it has been 2 whole years since Paul was forever placed in our arms. What a whirlwind! We had a fun weekend celebrating Gotcha Day - no surprise that it involved lots of fun food!

Check out the fun homemade card that Gram and Pa sent......
Oh, and they also sent a fun pirate themed popcorn tin.....good stuff!

On Friday night we took Maya for a walk and got Paul's bike out for the first time this year. The temps were close to 60 so we decided we needed to take advantage! Daddy went out with some friends which gave us lots of Paul/Mommy time. When we got back and finished up our dinner, Paul got to eat a popcorn ball from his new pirate tin. It was quite a hit....check out that tongue!

I had to spend a chunk of the day in the office on Saturday (boo) but headed home for some afternoon/evening family fun. We decided to hit Red Robin for some burgers for dinner. Not sure, but I think Paul was having fun?!?

Loving his corn dog.

Sunday brought some errands and plenty of time at home. I had a great idea to make some yummy Korean food for dinner...this was my first foray into making Korean food myself. I decided to make Jap Chae since it is one of Paul's favorites. In theory, this should have been easy. We hit the Asian market on Saturday for the special noodles and I grabbed everything else I would need at our regular grocery store today. I chopped and marinated and got everything all ready to go. Someone was pretty excited to steal some spinach.

So I made some hot and sour soup and pot stickers (neither are Korean, but Paul loves both) in addition to our Jap Chae. The soup and pot stickers were great (neither from scratch).....unfortunately the Jap Chae was terrible! The flavors were great, but the noodles were not done right. I think I over cooked them. What a disappointment but a learning experience nonetheless. I am never afraid to try new things and we all know that they sometimes work out well and sometimes not so much. Paul loved the soup and pot stickers and we picked out vegetables and meat from the not-so-good noodles.

Gotta blow on your hot soup!

Can you just see his smile behind that cup?!?

After dinner, it was time for a little piano concert in the buff. Guess who was excited to be playing some killer songs?

And then it was on to more serious piano playing......gotta love the look of concentration.

And then he went to grab his sheet music......aka his puzzle. He knew just where to put it which was clever.

We are blessed to be raising such a smart, funny and articulate little man. He amazes us ever single day. I can't imagine a more perfect boy for our family. What a blessing to be given the opportunity to raise this child. We think of Paul's Korean Family often and know that in our joy came their sadness two years ago. We hope that his happiness and well-being gives them peace in their hearts and they know the major role they played in laying such a loving foundation in his young life.

Botanical Center rocks

We have yet to make it to all of the cool cultural places that our new hometown has to offer....we've still been here less than a year, so I think I can still call it "new"! A recent groupon offer was for 50% off a membership to the local Botanical Center. We have been members of the Science Center and Zoo since we moved, but I decided we should add the Botanical Center to the list as well. So, we signed up and Paul and I decided to check it out today for the first time. He was a little scared at first, but I am not sure why. It might have been the noise - the waterfall was pretty loud in the domed structure. Or it might have been the water dripping on his head from time to time. Anyway, it took Paul about 15 minutes to loosen his grip from my neck! He ultimately relaxed and ended up having a great time. It's not a huge facility, but there is plenty to look at including not just the beautiful plants and flowers but also a waterfall, some HUGE koi fish and even a turtle. We spent about an hour and a half exploring although much of our time was spent in one particular spot...more on that later.


CHEESE!
How pretty is that?!?!

And so begins the photo essay from Paul's favorite spot in the whole place....the bridge in front of the waterfall! It had a big pond of water underneath it and plenty of big (and some little) koi fish. This is also where we found the turtle. I'll be we spent at least 30 minutes just looking and listening and oohing and aahing. There was a nice bench nearby so I could hang out while he was checking it all out.

Staring at the fish....

Hey momma, check out that BIG one!

He looks like such a big boy in this picture......

Cool waterfall.

The view from my bench.

This place would be super cool for taking fun family pictures. Lots of very pretty backdrops.

They had a little art area as well so we took some time to color some rainbow pictures. The look of concentration on his face is hilarious.

And then it was off to the adjacent greenhouse to check out the plants in there.

Someone enjoyed stomping in the puddles!

One of the cutest parts of our trip was Paul throwing pretend money into the various ponds. He loves to throw pennies into the fountain at the mall.....and I totally forgot to bring some change for him to throw. That didn't stop him, he just pretended to pull change out of his pockets and throw it in. Cute!

Paul loved the cool rainbow sculpture in front of the Botanical Center - we checked it out on our way back to the car.

We both worked up quite an appetite so we stopped off for some lunch before heading home. Paul took a great nap (yeah!) and we are now getting ready for some dinner. I can see many fun times using our new membership! Especially great for bad weather days.