Today Wren was surprised with a new climbing dome.

First Day of School

Wren was happy to go to her first day of 3 year old preschool!

Stu's house

Me, Wren, my younger brother Stuart, and his daughter Ryan at Stuart's house.


Ryan and Wren

Cape Cod

We had another great invite this summer. My friend Cathy (from when we lived in Binghamton, NY) invited us to spend a few days at her parents' Cape Cod cottage. So after our time with Uncle Dennis, we packed up the rental car and headed out to the Cape. This was a special trip for me because as I child I spent ten magical summers in Chatham, Cape Cod at the home of my great-great aunt. While we were visiting Cathy, I was able to drive Jason out to Chatham and show him the house. One of my mother's cousins now owns the house and her husband was gracious enough to show us around.


Wren enjoys the beach in Wareham


Cathy and Wren play in Buzzards Bay


Gotta love the ice cream truck!


Wren practices her cartwheels


On the porch of Cathy's cottage

The Chatham house on Old Harbor Road. This was the home of my grandfather's Aunt Isabel. She was married with no children and when she died in the mid 1970's, the house was inherited by my grandfather and his four brothers. We spent 10 summers here when I was a child. Eventually, the home was bought by one of my grandfather's brothers. Now, his daughter owns the home. I have never met her and she was not home the day we stopped by but her husband was kind enough to show us around. It hadn't changed too much since I had last been there in the summer of 1984.


The main house


The barn
I've never known it to be a barn but that is always what we called it.


Cowyard Lane
Cowyard Lane is just across the street from the Cape house. It leads down to a public access area. My brother and I rode our bikes and walked here to play quite frequently.


The Cowyard


Another view of the cowyard

It was a great trip with a good friend and on our way back to Logan Airport in Boston to catch our flight home, we had time to stop off in Plymouth and walk around a little.


Wren in front of Plymouth Rock. I visited here as a child and have a vague memory of the rock at least. On this visit I learned that it was decided to move the rock in 1774 and when they were moving it, it was split into two halves. It was decided to leave the bottom portion behind at the wharf and the top half was relocated to the town's meeting-house. In 1834, the upper portion of the rock was relocated from Plymouth's meeting-house to Pilgrim Hall. In 1859 the Pilgrim Society began building a Victorian canopy at the wharf over the lower portion of the rock. Following its completion in 1867, the top of the rock was moved from Pilgrim Hall back to its original wharf location in 1880. The date "1620" was then carved into the rock. In 1920, the rock was relocated and the waterfront was rebuilt with a waterfront promenade behind a low seawall, in such a way that when the rock was returned to its original site, it would be at water level. The care of the rock was turned over to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a Roman Doric portico was built for viewing the rock. During the Rock's many journeys throughout the town of Plymouth numerous pieces of the Rock were taken, bought and sold. Today approximately 1/3 of the top portion remains. It is estimated that the original Rock weighed 20,000 lb (9,100 kg). Although some documents indicate that tourists or souvenir hunters chipped it down, no pieces have been noticeably removed since 1880. Today there are pieces in Pilgrim Hall Museum as well as in the Patent Building in the Smithsonian.

Maine with Great Uncle Dennis

It had been quite awhile since we had seen Jason's uncle Dennis (and Wren had never met him), so when Dennis invited us up to spend some time at his little cabin in the Maine woods we jumped at the chance! We had a great time visiting a catching up.


Hello muddah, hello faddah, they call their place "Camp Granada"!


The bow of the canoe on Long Pond


Wren enjoyed her first canoe trip!


Just like a little mermaid.


Wrennie Roo loves her Baba


Taking a dip in Long Pond. It was too cold for me! BUT, the water was beautiful and clear.


I'm not sure who had more fun at the children's museum, Uncle Dennis or Wren?


She's a princess AND a construction worker!


Driving the Bobcat.


Queen for the Day!


Mama can canoe too.


Sweet face


Strike a pose!

China Travel Group Reunion in St. Louis

Wow! What a GREAT weekend! We were able to spend it with 9 other families with whom we traveled to China to adopt our precious girls. This was the third reunion of our travel group and it was the biggest turnout yet as 10 of the 14 families were able to make it to St. Louis this year. I don't know if we'll be able to replicate the attendance again!

It is always so special to spend time with the other families who share this wonderful experience with us. I'm already looking forward to next year!


Ten precious girls
From L to R: Kaitlin, EliAna, Lily, Wren, Gabrielle, Emalee, Mollie, Grace, Abby, Zoey


and here is their close-up


The Mommies


The Daddies


The Whole Gang


Wren and Zoey in the pool. I hope this is a friendly choke hold.


Wren jumps with the help of her good friend Nate (big brother to Abby).