The Big Apple

After we left Cape Cod on Sunday, we traveled to NYC for Sunday and Monday night.

We were lucky enough to get a ride into the city by our own personal driver (thank you for fitting us in between the appointment with your publicist and your colonoscopy... you know who you are!) and then we walked to the Empire State Building.

Monday was a special day... we were headed to the American Museum of Natural History.

The museum was great and all, but the really highlight of the day was seeing the Tarpy family again. We first met Casey and David at the ticket counter at LAX on our way to China. They were part of our CCAI group and we adopted Harper at the same time they adopted Emeili, both from the Jiangxi province. We all traveled to New York to meet at the museum.

The girls had not seen each other in almost three years. It was interesting to note their similarities and differences. (Emeili being sweet and cheerful, Harper being overtired, shy and grumpy, but Harper made progress as the day went on...)

Pushing buttons must be one of their similarities... :)


Here they are sleeping in the middle of Times Square. See how well Emeili treats her doll? Harper has a matching doll, but Harper made her ride in the bag...


Here is Harper sleeping next to Samuel L. Jackson. Well, the wax version of him anyway at Madame Tussauds. She seems pretty unimpressed.


Emeili has a big brother, Liam. Or if you are Harper, 'Yee-um'. Here is Liam and the President. They look pretty good together.


Here we are with the Dalai Lama.


The girls' love of popcorn must be another similarity.


Harper and Yellow M&M.


Harper in front of the elevator at our hotel.


Our last night in New York before heading home the next morning with our driver, his wife, and having lunch with his sister...
We had such a good time in New York seeing Emeili and meeting Liam for the first time. We hope that it won't take another three years to get together again. We had a blast!

One More Beach Picture I Had Forgotten About

A Cape Cod Wedding!

We were invited to Jeff and Veronica's wedding in Cape Cod which was absolutely beautiful.

We had some time at the beach...

And then went to a beautiful wedding and reception.

Congratulations, Jeff and Veronica!

Sad

On Thursday, June 25th we said goodbye to Wilson, our very sweet, giant, goofball of a cat. Back in January we found out that Wilson had an enlarged heart and although Wilson was not in pain, we knew that he may not be with us for much longer. Our vet had prescribed some medicine to ease some of the stress on his heart and Wilson was really good, letting us give him three pills every morning and another three every evening. That gave him a good six months and allowed him to make it through the winter and enjoy some warm, spring weather.

The timing of Wilson's death was hard because we were leaving for vacation that same day, but we feel very lucky that we were able to say goodbye and tell him how much we loved him.

He really was a gentle giant of a cat and we miss him.

Potty Talk

Today Harper told me a very interesting story as she was going to the bathroom. If you don't mind bathroom talk you can read her story. If you can't handle a little 'too much information' you can skip down to the picture.

(Warning: Last chance to look away!)

Harper's Story

There is big poop called the 'Great Poop of Liberty' and a bunch of small poops. The 'Great Poop of Liberty' is nice and has a smile. When the toilet flushes the 'Great Poop of Liberty' goes home to his family and takes care of all the small poop babies.
The End

As I write this, I realize Harper and I are going to need to talk about what is appropriate conversation at preschool this fall...

Reunion Picnic

It has been 15 years since Dan and I graduated from UVM. Gulp.

Anyway, we attended a reunion picnic this weekend.

It started out a little slow...

Then Harper had a brownie, a cookie, some ice cream, three bites of watermelon and some lemonade. We also met up with some good friends and things improved.

Since Harper was feeling good after her lemondade, she decided to dance... like Elaine from Seinfeld (and her mom, although that is usually after hard lemonade.)

No worries, no one got hurt and the chair was removed. :)

Elaine retuns to the dance floor.

Harper also sang Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire again, but we didn't catch it on video. Scott and Bridget, that was dedicated to you.

Sleeping

Here is Harper's new bed and quilt. Dan and I love it and Harper is pretty excited.

Thank you, Grandpa Lew for making a great bed and blanket chest. Thank you, Popo for the wonderful quilt.

Sweet dreams, everyone.

I feel a nap coming on...

Here is my cure for insomnia.

Consciousness: that annoying time between naps. ~Author Unknown

The Last Day of May

Three Years Ago

So three years ago, the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, was the first time we saw Harper's picture, the infamous Referral Day that changed our lives forever. :)

Remember this?

Then in 2007...

2008...

And today... (although she said she didn't want me to take any pictures today, I did it anyway... pesky kid.)