Fair time

Along with the heat of summer comes county and state fair time! I have always enjoyed going to the fair. Parades, livestock, carnival rides, 4H booths, etc. Last night we were invited by our good friends the Hisle's to go to Lane to the fair.

We weren't completely sure what to expect except for a parade. We arrived in town with about 15 minutes to spare to get in place for the parade to start. We haven't been to a parade in a long time and the girls were already whining that they were "Bored." Sophie was wise to bring an extra plastic bag for the girls who were still standing there without a clue :) We were pretty much at the end of the parade route and as the fire truck led the parade by us and the candy started being tossed as they went by the girls quickly caught on!!











After the parade was done we headed to see the livestock. Chickens, ducks, bunnies, goats, pigs, cows, and horses Oh My! For a very small county fair they had quite the variety of critters. I tried to get my girls to kiss a pig, but no one would carry through with that task!

We then checked out the "activities" as RaeAnne called them! They had home made booths for different games and a few home made carnival rides for the kiddies, face painting, crafts, and lots of food. Unfortunately they also had absolutely NO breeze and it was HOT. Our enthusiasm disappeared quickly as the sweat ran down our brows. So we headed for home just about the time the sun was going down. But as we drove out of town Zora suggested that "Can we come back here again?"

We're going to China!!

It is honestly not as soon as we would have liked to, but we are leaving August 19th for Hong Kong. We will spend a couple of days there exploring and touring, then we will board a train to Guangzhou on August 22. Monday August 23rd Tessa JiXing will join our family forever!! Our consulate appointment is September 1st and then we will return home to Kansas on September 4th.

RaeAnne and ZoraLin will be traveling with me while Jordis Li and Kendalan stay home with Daddy and start school on August 31st.

We have been looking at her photos now since December and finally we will get her in August!!

Guess what we have?!!

It was inevitable that we would have to break down and get one. I had many reasons that we shouldn't get one. Five to be exact! Dad and Mom were sweating oldies last night after putting up the base and getting all the springs on. (We completely understand what the "tool" to help put the springs on does now!) This is what we saw this morning just before they left to go to swimming class.

If it hadn't been so hot this morning we were going to finish putting up the safety net on the top. It didn't seem to slow the girls down that it wasn't on!!

Still waiting.....

For our TA (travel approval) to come. It is looking like we will not travel to bring Tessa JiXing home until the end of August or first part of September :(

We were so hoping to have her home by now.

Late day after 4th photos

Since our 4th evening was kind of rained out, we let the girls do most of their fireworks the night of the 5th. This was the first year that Mom actually let the girls light any fireworks and then it was smoke balls and other things that don't explode!





The girls had a great time and thankfully no one got hurt! However, Jordis did decide that the smoke bombs were very "stinky!" Some of the fireworks were enjoyed and others were kind of duds. We will have a better idea of what to purchase next year. The Chinese Lanterns were a hit!

Happy Independance Day!!!

Even though it was overcast and rainy today...we did manage to shoot off quite a few fireworks late this evening. We trekked to Daddy's cousin's house where they filled us full of hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, fruit salad, baked beans, home made ice cream, and cheesecake! We then watched a Harry Potter movie while we were waiting for the rain to stop. Sure enough, after the movie was over, the rain had stopped and we had a wild course of "Oohs and Ahhs".

~~The Birthday Girl~~

We received some priceless photos today from China!! Tessa JiXing received our cake!! Happy Birthday Sweetie! Can't wait to celebrate with you at home! XOXO