A.S.I.A. Reunion

Associated Services for International Adoption (ASIA) is the adoption agency that we used for both of our adoptions. I think that their name is somewhat misleading, because their adoptions are exclusively from China. Anyway, ASIA had minor reunion last weekend, which we attended.

It was an all day picnic at a very nice park. In years past, the reunions have been multiple day affairs that have drawn past adoptive families from around the nation. Since this was a one day get together, the turn out was smaller and consisted of families from Oregon and Southern Washington only. It was still a lot of fun and we got to see Jodi, Scott, Katie and Bing (adopted with Emily).

Here is a picture with the two of them.

Our New Camping Abode

After the last trip to the coast, where we slept in a rustic cabin, we decided that the purchase of a tent trailer was starting look very promising. We have been tent campers for most of our lives and really enjoy the cooking and living out doors. After sleeping in the rustic cabin, however, we discovered that sleeping on a raised sleeping pad is quite nice.

Also, we get tired of packing for the camping trips. Trying to get everything to fit in the back of the car and/or our little utility trailer. It would be nice to have all of the camping supplies (except food and clothes) already to go in a little trailer.

So, we have purchased the following. It is a 95 Coachmen. It is 17 Ft long for traveling and 23 feet long when set up. We are very thrilled with it and can't wait to go camping again.

Camping on the Coast

This week, we took a couple of days to go camping on the coast. I had a business meeting in Astoria on Tuesday morning, so we decided to take the whole family, rent a "Rustic Cabin" at the local KOA and spend that afternoon all day Wednesday on the coast.

It was a lot of fun and the girls loved the beach, especially Kaitlyn. She loved to stand there and let the waves roll over her feet. She would giggle like crazy. Scroll down to the next post to see a few pictures of us on the beach.

Tuesday (when we were on the beach) was great. It was overcast, but there was no wind and the temp was a nice 65, unusual for the coast. We went back to the cabin and met my parents (who had the neighboring cabin). We built a nice fire and Kirsten made an excellent dinner in our new Dutch Oven. Just as we were getting the girls down for bed, however, it started to rain. It rained all night, but we were comfy and cozy in out little cabin.

Wednesday was a normal day on the coast. The wind was blowing fairly hard, it rained off and on all day. We had planned on making another meal with the Dutch Oven over a campfire, but we decided that it wasn't worth it in the rain and wind. So we went out to breakfast instead. Then we went down the coast to tour the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The kids really enjoyed that, especially the ice cream we bought there!!

All in all, it was a good trip. We were glad that we weren't sleeping in a tent, like we usually do. We have also decided that we are getting a little old for the tent camping and are now looking into the possibility of a Tent Trailer.

Pictures from the Beach

This isn't really a picture of Patrick from the beach. All of his pictures didn't turn out so well. He was mostly head down, working on a fantasy landscape made with sand. This is a picture from the previous week that I liked.

New Download Site

I have found a new download site that I like. Please use the following two links to download the slide show/movies that I put together about Emily and Kaitlyn's Adoptions.

Emily's Adoption
Kaitlyn's Adoption

Again, if you are having trouble downloading these files, leave me a comment and I will see what I can do.

Some new additions and a couple of pictures

I haven't put up any pictures for a few weeks. So I thought that I would add couple of the girls. Also, we have two new additions to the family.


Here is a picture of the new kittens. Kirsten brought home two four week old kittens from work last week. We have named them "Pain" and "Panic" (yes, from the Disney movie "Hercules"). Pain is more adventurous and curious. Panic is more skittish and tends to hide and sleep a lot.

Pain has the white feet.




Here is a picture of Kaitlyn. She is looking at a book about Feng Shui. She likes to flip through books. She is pretty gentle with them and doesn't tear the pages. She also likes to draw, but you have to watch her, because she will draw in the books if she gets a chance.



Here is a picture of Emily. She is playing in a Castle at a local children's museum/play area. Emily loves to dress up as a princess. At daycare, her caregiver has recently started to label some her artwork as "Emily AKA Cinderella".