The Graduate

Today was E's pre-school graduation!!! The kids were so, so cute, and the staff did a wonderful job of making it a special day. We're very proud of our little graduate :-)

Girls Night Out

Last night a group of us girls went out for dinner and a movie, and to celebrate Angie's 20-something birthday. After some yummy food, a subgroup went to line up at the theatre...over two hours early. But we got the best seats in the house, after they finally let us in :-)

Chicago Continued

I fell behind at ABA updating the blog, sorry about that! On our major sight-seeing day, we got to the Aquarium in the morning...

...and the Natural History Museum in the afternoon, where we saw Sue, the mighty dinosaur, and were miniaturized to be smaller than a penny and ride on bugs.

The next morning we went to the Planetarium, before heading to the first sessions of the conference.

Some of the between-session entertainment included running around the park across the street from the hotel and enjoying some of the hotel's more unique amenities.

Later in the week we went to Navy Pier, where we enjoyed our morphed mirror images, the ferris wheel and the carousel. E also got his new pal, Pokey, at the Build a Bear.

We also went to the Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant, very highly recommended by others who have adopted from Ethiopia. The food, both presentation and taste, was so good! We all shared family style and ate with our fingers. It was an expensive cab ride there (we took the L on the way back), but it was totally worth it.

And on our last full day in Chicago, we went to the Science Museum, were E saw a huge U-boat, climbed a rock wall, saw an awesome train setup, and watched his new toy being manufactured before his eyes.

And this was the well worn traveler, on our way home...

Maybe it would have been smoother if he'd flown the plane!

Check E out, sitting in the captain's chair, wearing the captain's hat! The crew was so nice to E, extra snacks, juice when no-one else could get juice, and finally, he got to sit in the cockpit! It was hilarious when they said "now let's push the seat up for you" and it moved several feet. He was so, so excited.

As for me, after no sleep last night, two flights, and a horrible 1.5 hr cab ride, I decided to lay in bed while E and Han checked out the children's museum at Navy Pier. E apparently had a great time :-)

Tomorrow we can walk to the aquarium and planetarium. No more cab rides for a while. Actually, we may go try out an Ethiopia restaurant that we have to cab to...we'll see. And no, we aren't slackers...the conference hasn't really started yet. We came early to sight-see :-)

Birthday Party

This weekend we went to Jonathan's birthday party at the park, where E had a great time running around with friends and swinging (there was lots and lots of swinging). Next week we go to ABA in Chicago! We've been there several times already, but this year we're making a point to do some sight-seeing.

Look What G.W. Got Me For Mother's Day!

This is our backyard before...
This is our backyard after!

This weekend we worked hard to clear that back corner of the yard, removing many useless bushes and little trees, to make room for our new gazebo. After we did that, we realized the playset seemed to be in the wrong place, so we cleared more useless brush along the

back fence, and moved the playset (inch by inch, holy cow is that thing heavy!). Now we have a bigger back yard, a nice shaded bug free area to hang out in, and new table and chairs (thanks Cristina!).E also has a new slide, which is much faster than the old one!

And after all that sliding, he's got a nice place to cool off :-)

Why is waiting so complicated?

Ah, adoption, never a smooth road, but hopefully worth it in the end. Just to update everyone, we are in line for both Ethiopia and China.

In Ethiopian news, every year the courts in Ethiopia close (I'm not sure exactly why). This year, it looks like that will be from early August to late September. In Ethiopia, the child is not officially yours until the courts say so, and obviously they can't unless they are open. What that usually means is that people don't get referral (info on the child that could be theirs) until after the courts are re-opened. Anyway, the word from our agency is that people who get a referral before June 1st may get through court before the closure. After that, we have a choice (apparently this is the first time they are giving people this choice): 1) be open to getting a referral between June 1st and end of Sept, but know that the court date will be after Sept and travel to pick up the child may be by the end of the year. Or 2) wait on getting the referral until after the courts re-open, wait the "normal" amount of time for a court date, and likely travel in the beginning of 2009. Many have discussed the pros and cons to this, both related to when you want to wait the longest: waiting for the referral longest means you have absolutely no information, but getting a referral sooner (and waiting much longer to travel) is reportedly harder once you see the child and just want them home. So, we are opting for option 1, because in the end, it means getting him home sooner. However, we are told that we are unlikely to even be considered for a referral during that time anyway. The average wait time now is closer to 9 months for a referral, so that puts us into early 2009 anyway. Unless it's different with toddlers (some data suggest it is much faster, like 2 months, but agency says 9+ months). Anyway, there's nothing much to do except wait anyway.

And more bad news: China just referred 3 days worth of LIDs in May. It was 5 days and 8 days before that. There are now 536 days of LIDs before ours. At a rate of maybe 5 per month, we may get a referral in 107 months (almost 9 years). Yeah, I had to go there and do the math. Even scarier math: I'll be 42!! There is still some talk of things speeding up after the Olympics, but we'll just have to (dramatic pause) wait and see what actually happens.

Seaworld

We finally made it back to Seaworld! We got to see our favorite shows and checked out some new areas. E rode the carousel and Carrie, who joined us today, rode the roller coaster (alone, the rest of us were too small, too motion sick, or too scared). We also enjoyed some Latin music (well, enjoyed some of it) at Viva La Musica.

Here are some shots of Carrie at her first trip to Seaworld as an adult.

And finally, he's Carrie's new boyfriend. She wanted to make sure I got a good shot of him.