As much fun as we had at the pool and spray park this summer, I'm pretty happy that fall is here. The weather is starting to get cooler and fall brings with it so many fun fall activities in our area. Every weekend we've had something fun to do - fall festivals, Cox Farms, and apple picking have kept us busy all month. My favorite part? Looking at the pictures of Hannah from each activity last year along with the ones I've just taken. It takes my breath away to see how much she has grown and changed. Sure, last September she was dealing with what we like to call "the unfortunate hair cut." And there were a lot more smiles then the pictures show (she's finally starting to figure out the whole idea of stopping and smiling for the camera). But she's not a baby anymore. She is most certainly 2. (ps - I think that if you click on the collages you can see them much larger)
The first weekend of fall was the Burke Centre festival. Last year Hannah really liked the little kids area; this year the highlight was the puppet show. Hannah LOVES puppets. She still talks about the dog puppet show we saw in June (also known as the worst puppet show Mara has ever seen); she was SO excited to see this one. She sat in the sun for the entire 40 minute show, clapping along and thrilled to be a part of it.
The next weekend we went to Cox Farms. This was one of the highlights of our fall last summer, and we had even more fun this year. This year we went on the hayride (which we didn't even try last year) and Hannah was able to go down some of the big slides by herself. She also was able to eat the apples this year - three apples to be exact. It turns out that someone likes apples.
The next weekend we had a first - apple picking! We met up with three of Mara's sorority sisters and their families and had BLAST. Hannah ate FIVE apples and was upset every time we had her put an apple in the bag instead of in her mouth. And there was the wonderfulness of spending time with our friends. This collage is just of this year, though I do have a picture of six of the eight adults on a date in college. :)
This weekend we went to the Fairfax KidsFest. This is a really great festival for young kids at the government center. Last year it was hot - today it was cold and rainy - but we had a great time. Looking back at the pictures, I had forgotten that Hannah really just sat in the stroller last year and looked at everything. This year? She spent a LOT of time on the firetrucks, went into the petting zoo, and made a couple of craft projects (because we clearly do not have enough paper crowns in our house). SO much fun.
Fall Fun
First Day of School
After talking about it all summer, Friday was finally Hannah's first day of school. There are approximately 4,000 preschools in our area, all with an application process and waitlist that rivaled getting into college, but we found one that was a perfect fit for our family. (and were thrilled to get off of the wait list in May)She is going 1 morning a week at a parent run co-op that is near our house and has a nice mix of diversity. Hannah has been VERY excited to start school. After all, she watches Abby Caddaby go to Flying Fairy School every day (for those of you who are not so up on Sesame Street, "Abby's Flying Fairy School" is a segment on Sesame Street, and usually Hannah's favorite part of the show) and she wanted her turn too.
How excited was she? She wore her backpack all morning in anticipation. Her panda lunch bag with her snack? Carried around for 45 minutes before we left.
Thankfully, school lived up to all the hype. So much that she didn't want to leave. Her recap of the day? "Potty. Hands. Soap. All Clean. Clean Up." To fill in some gaps, she went to the potty (first time...apparently seeing the other girls go made her want to go too...seriously...), got all clean when she washed her hands with soap, and then she helped clean up. She also explained to me that her panda bag had grapes, apple juice, and cheese in it. And then, after a celebratory lunch of Elmo soup, she took a 3 hour nap. What a great start to the school year.
A Summer of Memories
Today was the first day of Sunday School for me - after a summer of spending Sunday mornings in my pajamas, it was time to go back and greet a new group of sixth graders. And, just like the kids, lots of people stopped me to ask how my summer was and what we did. I had a great summer; REALLY great, actually. But I couldn't answer what we did. Because outside of the four days we spent in Wisconsin, we didn't really do anything at all. Yet, somehow, we managed to stay busy each and every day all summer long. We went to the pool. A lot. And to the new spray park. A LOT. And we took advantage of all of the free concerts and shows for kids that were spread out through the summer. We went to the Jammin' Beach Party at the library, danced with the area's top children's performers, and sat through what I can only describe as the worst puppet show I have ever since. (this, by the way, was one of Hannah's favorite things we did all summer - we saw it in June and she is STILL talking about the dog puppets) Sure, we also took our first family vacation - a quick trip to Wisconsin for Uncle Matthew & Auntie Emily's wedding and much fun with her cousins - and experienced an earthquake, hurricane, and flood all in the span of two weeks. But the lasting memories of the summer will be of kicking in the pool, the "coming water" (random fountains) at the spray park, learning to blow bubbles, and swinging like a monkey.
There are lots of changes coming here. Hannah starts preschool on Friday and with the pool closed (and our twice weekly Borders storytime sadly a thing of the past) we'll be looking for new activities to fill our days. Thank goodness we had enough fun all summer to keep us happy until summer comes again.
iPhone Fun
Happy Birthday Hannah!
It's hard to believe that Hannah is two. The year has flown by - it really does seem like just yesterday that we were celebrating her turning one. We didn't have a huge party - just a few friends over for pizza and cupcakes. Hannah talked about the fact that she was having an Elmo party with Elmo cupcakes all week. Thankfully, the cupcakes lived up to all of the hype.
(how cute are all the kiddos sitting in their portable chairs? Picnic on the floor in the chairs will have to happen again before her next birthday)
Hannah was unsure about the whole birthday candle thing. After she tried to touch it and everyone screamed "No! Hot!" she has been talking about the hot two. Every time you ask her how old she is she replies "two...hot...". So there's that. We put a candle in a plain cupcake first, since it seemed odd to stick a candle in Elmo's face. It was quickly switched out for the much anticipated Elmo cupcake. Elmo cupcakes with your best friends is really the perfect way to celebrate. (and yes, I still marvel when I look at her and Henry together - it really was just over a year ago that we were all in China together...wow...)
We celebrated Hannah's actual birthday as a family. Chris made her birthday waffles (after much discussion of what makes a waffle a birthday waffle....a birthday candle...that's it...) and then we headed to the spray park and out to lunch. Then (after a certain birthday girl decided there was too much fun to be had to be bothered with a nap) we had a birthday dinner with Bubbe & Zaide. All Hannah really wanted for her birthday was a Bert doll...the extreme joy when she opened her very own Bert from her cousins was almost too much to take. And what did Hannah want for her birthday dinner? Steak and noodles and zucchini. Yes, really. :)
(love the look on Hannah's face in this picture...pretty clear that we are keeping her from her cupcake...)
Who Wore It Better?
Welcome Back Summer
After what seemed like a never ending winter (ok, it wasn't even that bad, but I don't like cold weather and being stuck inside with a toddler) we're all happy for the return of summer. It got hot fast - it was 90 already today - and Hannah is happy to be outside soaking up the sunshine.
This is what happens when Bubbe & Zaide are over to play the day the ice cream man makes his first appearance of the summer. Somehow when Chris and my dad went to go get ice cream they came back with a frog for Hannah. I tasted it. I would rather lick a real frog. But she liked it.
We went to the Zoo for Mother's Day. It was crowded but lots of fun to say hello to the animals. My favorite part was Hannah looking at the elephants and screaming "HELLLLOOOO!!!!" to them. Also the look on her face when she touched a cow. This is her dancing with her giraffe Reginald - there was an Asian Family Festival at the Zoo while we were there, and Hannah loved the Chinese dancers.
We met up with some other adoptive families at Frying Pan Park last weekend for a playdate. Hannah loved feeding the baby lambs and getting a chance to drive the tractor.
We also found out last weekend how much Hannah loves watermelon. This is at the temple picnic where she ate FOUR pieces. Seriously. Let's just say that four pieces of watermelon is too many...there were some unfortunate side effects the next day.
The last Music Together at the library of the year was yesterday. Shaking the scarves was Hannah's favorite part - at one point she was shaking them so hard that she fell over. She popped right back up and started shaking again, and didn't even seem to notice that Mommy was laughing so hard I cried a little.
Our new favorite activity is our sand and water table. Henry came over to play with her on Monday, and here she is playing in it yesterday with Bubbe and Zaide. It's fun to splash in the water and dig in the sand, and even more fun to get rinsed off with the hose afterwards. Of course, if anyone has a way to get less sand in the house, I would love to hear it. Even after hosing her off, our living room floor is starting to take on a distinctly beach house crunch.
Time Flies
I can't believe that tomorrow is May. The month flew by, which sort of explains why this is the first post to the blog in a month. Turns out that taking care of an extraordinarily active toddler really wears a person out. Thank goodness for coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
So, let's see...what have we been up to...
We finished off March by celebrating our very first Family Day. Chris took the day off of work, and we spent the day doing all of Hannah's favorite things - saying hello to animals (we went to the zoo), watching Elmo, eating noodles, and playing with bubbles. Such a great day.
(roaring at the lions in the zoo) At the beginning of April we celebrated my birthday. Last year we were in China on my birthday and I was super sick, so it was extra nice to be home and have cake. Turns out that while Hannah usually would rather have fruit instead of dessert, she is a fan of chocolate frosting.
April also brought the start of a new class - art! It's a fun class - they learn about a different artist or style each week and get to make a project that's geared to 2 year olds. Here we're tearing pieces of tissue paper and gluing them down to make a background for a shadow picture. The pat-pat-patting down of the paper was her favorite part.
In the middle of April we celebrated Passover. Technically Hannah celebrated Passover with us last year, but since we were in Kunming, this was her first real celebration of the holiday. We had her first ever seder at Bubbe & Zaide's. The frog was a Passover gift (really, an excuse for Bubbe to sing the Frog Song) and Hannah and Froggy were inseparable for the entire holiday. She wasn't too sure about matzah, but she loved charoset - enough that she ate it for dinner every night of Passover.
The second night of Passover we celebrated with just the three of us. Well, the three of us and Froggy and Moose. Hannah insisted that they come to the seder too.
Hannah did a great job with the holiday and kept Passover the entire time. Of course, she was just as excited as Mommy for the triumphant return of oatmeal, noodles, and bread when it was over. :)The weather has gotten warm, and we have been spending a lot of time outside. Hannah loves to play outside and go to the playground - we have our favorite parks that we alternate every day. At the end of Passover we went to Burke Lake, and Hannah took her first trip on the Burke Lake Railroad. She wasn't too sure about it at first, but she is still talking about how she went on the train.
We also have been lucky enough to share our love of the playground with Hannah's two best friends, Emily and Henry. Chris calls them her cronies - Hannah loves her two friends so much and they are so cute together.
(sharing a Passover snack with Emily at the park)
(playing animals with Henry)
Opening Day
It's Opening Day for the Red Sox - my yearly birthday present from Bud Selig. Hannah was very excited to wear her Red Sox shirt today (and I am excited that it still fits!) and let me watch two whole innings before the game was relegated to my laptop so she could watch Elmo. If the Sox would just draft Super Grover we would be all set. But she keeps walking over to check on the game and she loves clapping for the players just as much as she did last year.
Opening Day last year was our last morning in Kunming. The Red Sox opened on Sunday night last year, which was Monday morning in China. We ate breakfast, got all of our stuff packed up, and watched the first few innings in our hotel room. It was Hannah's first glimpse at baseball (and one of her first at television - it was clear that she had never seen tv before she joined us a few days earlier) and she was hooked. We watched it on the ESPN Asia feed - the pregame was the direct feed from the US in English, but the game itself was broadcast by ESPN Asia in Japanese? Chinese? Korean? We have no idea.... But we do know that "back to back home runs" and "Pesky's Pole" are not phrases that get translated. :)
Happy Hannah Day
One year. One year ago we were too excited to sleep. We were the first people at breakfast in the Kunming Hotel, nervously watching the sunrise over the city of Kunming. One year ago Xiulan started banging on our door a full 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave, hurrying us along and rushing us out the door of the hotel. One year ago we piled into a van and drove across Kunming, not knowing where we were going, but realizing that this was the exact ride we had been waiting to take for nearly five years. One year ago we sat in the Civil Affairs Office in Kunming, showing our IDs, looking over the last bits of paperwork, and trying to contain our nerves and excitement. One year ago I caught a glimpse of Hannah as she was being brought into the office and started to cry. One year ago Hannah was placed into our arms and we became a family.
It's hard to believe it's been a year. It feels like just yesterday that we were in Kunming. I get choked up thinking of those first few hours and how scared we all were. And then I think of the first smiles we saw back in our hotel room and knowing that this was where we were all supposed to be.
Looking at Hannah today it's hard to believe she's the same kid. She's so full of life and energy and joy. In fact, she's attempting to tickle my toes as I type this. Being her parent is a million times harder and a million times better than we ever could have imagined. Happy Hannah Day to everyone.
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| This photo collage generated with Smilebox |
One Year Ago
One year ago we were on a plane to China. As much as we were prepared - we did have four years to wait after all - China was nothing at all like we expected. And today? I am a mess of feelings. Who would have thought that I would be so emotional a full week before we actually celebrate our very first Hannah Day? (ok, who am I kidding. EVERYONE knew I would be emotional...) I spent a chunk of naptime today looking back at our blog posts from Beijing and the pictures we took. It's sort of interesting how little we wrote. The Beijing leg of our trip - the only leg without Hannah - is something that I'm still processing a year later.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we went to Beijing. But we were glad to leave, and not just because it meant we were finally going to get Hannah. While we were in China I kept saying that I would write more later about our trip. I guess that today is later. (forgive me in advance for the length of this post)
From the moment we landed in Beijing, there was no question that we were in China. The military presence in the airport alone lets you know that you're not in the States. And our introduction to Beijing traffic and pollution was immediate. We have never (and hope to never again) seen anything like it. Admittedly Beijing had been plagued with sandstorms right before we went, so some of the pollution was sand. But I don't think that makes it that much better. And there is always the sense that the government is keeping tabs on you.
The Forbidden City was much like Tienanmen Square - way bigger than I had ever imagined it. We were there for a couple of hours and we only saw a fraction of it. Our guide tried to explain things as we looked at them, but I wish that I had brought my own guide book so I could read more as we walked. I also had the overwhelming sense that world history was an area where public education failed me. As much as I liked my world history teacher in high school, I learned remarkably little. We were also struck by the difference in world view between us and our guide. He constantly wanted to talk politics and religion (which, along with our adoption, were the main topics we were told in advance to avoid), and as much as we tried to change the subject, it was interesting to see what he knew of US history and the filtered view of current events that is presented in China.
Our last stop on day 1 was at the Temple of Heaven. Yet another place that was stunningly beautiful and far larger than I had ever imagined it. The main building - the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests - is what you see on the postcards, but there are other buildings and a huge park surrounding the Temple with locals playing cards and doing tai chi. Definitely a place I wish we had spent more time at. You'll also notice that the color of the sky has significantly changed from the morning pictures - it's not clouds, but pollution rolling in.
Our second day was a side trip to the Great Wall. The Great Wall is not in Beijing - the section we went to was 3 1/2 hours from our hotel (though 2 hours back with a more direct route and slightly less traffic). We went to the Mutinayu section - less toursity than the Badaling section (the section closest to Beijing, and the one you've probably seen in pictures) and much steeper. The Great Wall really is impressive - it's high up in the mountains and is unbelievably steep. We took a chair lift up - one of the scariest things I have ever done - and hiked along a few sections. It doesn't matter what picture I post - no picture can possibly do it justice. And, in an unexpected but of fun, we took the toboggan down. Yes, I SLID down the Great Wall of China. 
Along with the Great Wall, we spent some time on day 2 in what Chris called "the machine". Tourism is regulated by the government. Each of the restaurants we went to were government run places specifically for tour groups. Don't get me wrong - the lunches we ate in Beijing were probably our favorite of the trip. There was a chicken and cucumber dish on the first day that I still think about, and the guide specially ordered kung pao chicken for Chris on day 3 that he still talks about. But they are very clearly part of the deal. We also stopped on our way to the Wall at a government run jade factory and on our way back at a government run cloisonne factory. Again, it was interesting to see how jade is carved and cloisonne is made, but we clearly had a length of time we had to spend there, and we bought a few little pieces of jewelry at each for Hannah which was sort of our ticket out.
Our last day we crammed the most stuff in. We started at the Summer Palace, which was a really nice little oasis. It was on the lake, which made the air quality a little better. I could imagine that in the summer all of the paddle boats are full and it's the perfect place to spend an afternoon. On the day we were there? Still shady spots with snow.
From the Summer Palace we headed to the most anticipated stop for me in Beijing - the Olympic sites. I am an Olympics addict, and our guide was sort of stunned by my knowledge of the stadium and the Beijing Olympics. I don't think he was expecting me to be pointing things out to HIM. Like everything else in Beijing, the Bird's Nest was much larger and much more impressive in person. And it was interesting to see how they had made the stadium into a paid attraction - very different from Centennial Park in Atlanta.
F
rom the Bird's Nest we headed to the Lama Temple. This is home to the world's largest wooden Buddah. And yes - it was huge. It was fascinating to see the prayer wheels and watch (and smell) people burn incense. The glimpse into how others pray is not one that I will soon forget. We didn't take very many pictures out of respect for those who were praying there, but I couldn't help but take this one. People throw coins and try to get them to land for good luck, directly in front of the sign telling them to not throw coins. (can you see all the coins that have been thrown?)
Our last stop in Beijing was a tour of the hutong, the small traditional residences in Beijing. Definitely the oddest part of our trip - we were handed over to our hutong guide, loaded onto a rickshaw, and driven through the hutong. We even were taken into a family's living room where they poured us tea and encouraged us to ask questions. While it was beyond strange, we loved our little tour guide - Jenna Tau - who followed us along on her bicycle and Chris deemed to be "pocket sized." Interesting fact - we noticed the raised doorways throughout Beijing, which she explained was to keep the ghosts out. How does it keep the ghosts out? Because ghosts don't have knees. It's the one fact I have retained from trip.Would I ever go back to Beijing? Probably not. The places we visited were amazing. And it was nice for us to have those last few days alone as a couple. But the city itself? Not a fan. The pollution was horrific, as was the traffic. Chris kept joking that everyone smokes for the fresh air. He was also convinced by the end of day 2 that he was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. I brought every allergy and asthma medicine I own and still got sick. I don't know how people live in it every day. We were so done with it by the last day that we asked to go to the airport extra early, just to sit in the filtered air. The lack of diversity also bothered me, but it bothered me throughout our trip. It makes me proud to be an American, regardless of whatever nonsense is going on in politics.