Are We There Yet?

A Wonderful Visit!

After the reunion with Molly's foster sister last weekend, I got the crazy idea to organize a reunion with our travel group. I was pretty excited and thought that excitement would be contagious. It sorta wasn't.

In all fairness, a lot of people already have their summer planned with wonderful vacations...and fitting in one more trip on little notice just isn't feasible. I get it, but it did squelch my enthusiasm a bit.

However, Kristina from our travel group e-mailed me privately last week and mentioned they would be coming through our part of the Midwest this weekend and wanted to meet up with us. Yay!!

In China, poor Kristina really struggled. Their little guy, Grant...
...had a rough time the entire trip. He was scared and angry...and his poor Mommy was at her wit's end trying to deal with the stress of that and the nasty cold she and Grant caught together. I worried about Kristina a lot during the China trip and we e-mail occasionally to keep in touch.

Kristina and I coordinated to meet around dinner time last night. What a wonderful visit we had!!

Grant came through his fear and anger and is obviously flourishing in his Forever Family. He has the sweetest personality (that we didn't see at all in China since he was so scared and angry) and was a total ham when I got my camera out.
What a cutie pie! (Kristina said he will not pose or even smile for her when she gets the camera out. I'll be sure to e-mail the pics I got, Kristina!)

In China, Molly loved Grant's big sister, Olivia, and was always super excited when Olivia would let her sit with the "big girls" on our frequent bus trips. I took a picture of the girls together tonight...
...and Daddy reminded me we had taken a similar one in China. I had completely forgotten that!
I'd say they've changed a bit since last August...Molly grew some hair and Olivia donated 12 inches of hers to Locks of Love. What a difference a year makes!
Carson seemed a bit irritated that I was taking pictures and fussing over the other three kids. Sorry, Buddy!!

We met at a McDonald's with an indoor playplace so Grant and Olivia could run off some steam before getting back in their van for the rest of their drive. (They had about three hours of driving still ahead of them after dinner.)

After dinner, we let the kids loose. Kristina and I visited, reminisced, and generally caught up. Daddy and Mark did their "guy talk" thing...you know, sports, work, etc. And the kids ran around like loons!
You certainly can't go wrong with a McDonald's playplace, can you?! Following our time at McDonald's, we headed around the corner for a Midwest treat...Graeter's ice cream! Mark and Kristina didn't care where we had dinner as long as we had dessert at Graeter's. After eating their ice cream...
...the kids wanted to climb around in this little fountain-and-rocks setup on the Graeter's patio. Since there were no "No Climbing" signs, we let 'em at it...
...and they goofed around on those rocks for nearly an hour while the adults got to visit some more. All was going well until Grant (or "Wild Man Grant" as I called him in China)...
...discovered that standing on the bubbling water would stop it...
...but sticking his big toe in that water hole would spray water four feet in all directions! Why do boys always figure those things out?!

Ice cream was eaten, fun was had, kids were soaked, hugs were shared...time to go!

Kristina and Mark, thank you SO MUCH for taking time from your long road trip to visit our small town. Every time we head to Graeter's, we'll have a scoop in your honor!!