Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Ups and Downs

So this has been a weird day.

Ups: Malia did excellent on her first overnight away from home. She had a great time at grandma and grandpa's. Thanks! Mom had fun at the Metallica concert.

Downs: So after work, I was picking up Malia at my parents house. My mom was giving me the update and one part had me in tears for my litte girl. I guess Malia asked her if she was now going to be her mom. I guess she was worried that she was going to live there now even though we had huge discussions about her just going for one night. It proves my point when I tell people that being a parent for a child that was adopted (especially as a older child) is different than a child by birth. It is so sad that she even had that thought at all.

All is well tonight. I guess we need to gear up for more forever family discussions.

P.S. On a non-related note, please vote for Malia in the Gap Casting Call. You can vote once each day!

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/Mander71/672315423/

Thanks!

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Cinderella, Alice, and more!

Malia had a fantastic time at Disney World this past week. We were able to go with my whole family and friends also joined us (thanks Elizabeth, Taylan, and Grandma Kay). It was so busy but a ton of fun as well. Yesterday we spent the entire day at home relaxing until it was time to meet friends to celebrate the Moon Festival.

Sunday we arrived at Disney and headed out to Epcot. We had dinner at China and did a couple rides.







Monday we meet up with my brothers family at Hollywood Studios to celebrate my sister in laws birthday.









Tuesday we got to eat breakfast at Cinderella's castle. It was incredibly cool and Malia was beyond excited.








Wednesday we went back to Epcot since grandma and grandpa arrived. We also did some shopping at Downtown Disney. Disney's sales should have spiked last week. We also got to see our friends Dave, Pam, and their daughter Grace for a little bit.











Thursday we were all together and my sister's family arrived so we headed to Magic Kingdom for one more day. We had the whole family for dinner at Chef Mickey's. We also all enjoyed the Not so Scary Halloween Party that evening after naps. It was a ton of fun and worth every penny for a special last night at Disney.
















Friday we were supposed to be heading home on a 12:45 flight. On the way to the airport we received a message from Orbitz that our flight was delayed at least 4 hours. OMG!!! We had to keep 4 tired kids occupied for 4 hours? Luckily there was a outlet next to us at the waiting area so we plugged in the DVD player and watched movies. Malia even took a nap on the floor of the airport waiting area. Needless to say everyone just wanted to get home.




One final note: Malia is a dare devil and loves roller coasters. Here is her in action.




Saturday, September 19, 2009

Where did summer go?

Shopping at the mall


Como Zoo with our travel group








Chicago Reflection Bean


Lincoln Park Zoo




Apple Picking




Swimming with goggles


Book Event




I have gotten a little behind on my blog updates. We used this last part of the summer to catch up and enjoy being together since the rest of the summer I have been very busy with work. I took a week off work just to spend quality time with Malia. We had a blast. We spent a day at the MOA, we went to the zoo with part of our travel group, and we got to visit my sister and her family in Chicago. She started back to dance lessons and swimming this last week and her religious education starts in Oct. Malia loves getting back to these activities so she has been just happy around the house. In addition, we are only a week away from leaving for 6 days at Disney World. She is so excited to be able to eat breakfast with Cinderella at the castle.