Deep Creek Lake

After thoroughly enjoying our weekend in Pittsburgh, it was time to hit the road and head to our vacation destination, Deep Creek Lake State Park.  This was the second year my inlaws have graciously hosted a family vacation.  You might remember that last summer we spent a week on the beach.  Being the nature lover that I am (haha) I wondered if I would be able to truly appreciate a "mountain vacation."  I must say, this year's vacation totally exceeded my expectations!  My boys loved it, of course, but impressively I had a lot of fun too!  I definitely love the beach, but I would be happy to go back to Deep Creek anytime!

We were the first ones to arrive so we had some time to kill before we could get into the house.  We had lunch and then made our first (of many!) trips to the Lakeside Creamery for some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

As you can see, we were really roughing it. ;)

After getting us all settled in, hubby had to head back home to be at work Monday morning.  So, C and I spent the next few days hanging out with family and doing a little exploring.  Here he is posing with the black bear at the discovery center.  I don't know why we were all so worried about being in bear country.  This little guy didn't seem so bad up close.  (Of course he's dead, so that could have something to do with it)

 I love these pictures.

 Adorable!

We enjoyed the playground outside the discovery center.  And...wait for it...their aviary!  Thankfully these were all birds of prey and were happily caged...or rather, I was happy they were caged.
Having picked a great horned owl at the aviary in Pittsburgh to take home, C was thrilled to see one in real life!

Exploring the docks with Grandma after enjoying lunch on the lake.

We were pretty low key the first couple of days, just enjoying time with family at the house, and a couple of little outings here and there.  We saved most of our big adventures for when Daddy came back.

C's first wedding!

One of the reasons we had planned on leaving C with my sister for the weekend was so we wouldn't have to take him to the wedding with us.  I was sweatin' it.  He'd been carted along for wedding festivities three times before, but never allowed to sit in on an actual ceremony.  The last wedding we went to was my cousin's and there was childcare provided.  Before that hubby was a groomsmen at a pal's wedding and C and I made ourselves comfortable in the "cry room" before the prelude began.  Even when he was three months old and it was his own auntie getting married, he hung in the nursery with a friend of mine.  I didn't like the idea of crying babies at my own wedding, and I don't ever want my kid to be the one the happy couple can hear wailing on their wedding video for years to come.  So, yeah I was sweatin' it.  Big time.  We were prepared with brand new sticker/coloring books that he'd been asking to play with for days.  I had kept them out of sight because I wanted their newness to so fully captivate him that he wouldn't even look up from his lap, much less utter a word during the ceremony.  It turned out that my worrying was unnecessary.  Not only did C impress me with his behavior, but the venue could not have been more perfect for parents of small children.  The ceremony and reception were held in the same place, so we sat/stood at our tables during the wedding.  We actually had a booth where C spread out with his new books, noise from the adjoining restaurant could be heard, the bride and groom were a good distance away from the tables up on a staircase, and they were miked.  So, so, much better than a "you can hear a pin drop in here" church ceremony.  I'm sure our comfort was at the forefront of the bride's mind when she planned her big day. ;)  It really was a beautiful, unique ceremony!  And it worked out pretty nicely for our little family...bonus.  Like I said, C was well behaved during the ceremony.  And only got a little cranky during the reception.  (He was running on less sleep than usual so I can't blame him for that.)  We even stayed long enough for he and I to share a little dance.  Hubby missed it.  He was in line waiting to personalize our hot, freshly made donut with scrumptious toppings.  (I know, best wedding ever, right?) :)

Cute cousins all dressed up for the big event.

My handsome boys.

Chillin' in the booth with his new coloring book.

Our 7th wedding anniversary was the next day (the 17th) and we were seated at table #17.  Aww, meant to be.  Seven years of bliss.  Ha!

So glad I remembered to ask someone to take some family pictures of us.  I think these turned out really well!

National Aviary

While we had grand dreams of sleeping in and lounging around our hotel all day Saturday, we knew that wouldn't fly with the four year old.  The exercise room at our hotel had a tv, so he was kind enough to watch a couple of cartoons while hubby and I worked out together in the morning.  (Very early morning.  How else do you think we secured the tv?  I'm sure all the late comers were glad to see us leave.  Who knows, though...maybe they left Penguins of Madagascar on after we left.)

After breakfast we headed to a national aviary.  I was not too keen on the idea.  I don't even like going in the small aviaries at zoos.  Birds are not my favorite.  I was practically attacked once at the KC zoo (my friend Allison can attest to that!)  Add to that the fear of being pooped on and I'm a nervous wreck.  Ha!

Here I am.  Facing my fears.

I'm still not a bird fan, but C liked it so much I actually had fun. 

He wanted those wings, but settled for the great horned owl.

After our morning at the aviary, we enjoyed a nice lunch and then met up with Grandma for a little shopping and train riding.

Hubby took C down to the hotel pool in the afternoon and I stayed behind to read.  It was a good day.  And the wedding was next...



A change of plans and a dinner cruise

We had planned to kick off our vacation with a grown-up getaway. Hubby's cousin was getting married in Pittsburgh, and my sister had graciously offered to keep C for the weekend. It was the weekend of our 7th anniversary, after all. However, a couple of days before we planned to drop C off, my sister told me that hand foot and mouth disease was going around my nephew's daycare class. We had been looking forward to our weekend alone and C had definitely been looking forward to his stay at Aunt Net's house, but erring on the side of caution, we changed our plans and brought the kiddo along. (Thankfully my nephew didn't catch the crud!) And C was welll behaved throughout the weekend, so thankfully we didn't regret our decision. ;)

First thing on the agenda, after settling into our hotel room, was the welcome dinner.  It was held on a river boat cruise.  Such a fun, unique idea I thought!  Our little family had a great time!

Waiting to board.

C with his great grandparents.

Watching for ducks with Grandma.

The moon was gorgeous!  A perfect ending to a wonderful night.

We're back!

And we had FUN!

Much more to come...

How he came to be ours...

I have alluded to the newest addition to the family, our little peanut, but have yet to officially tell the story of how we became a family of four.  This, my friends, is how the cutie in the pictures below ended up in our hearts.  (Looking forward to the day he'll be in our arms as well!)

When we began our adoption journey, there was one thing that we didn't quite agree upon.  I thought when we filled out our paperwork, we should say we were open to gender (which in the Korea program would most likely mean we would receive the referral for a boy.)  The hubs?  He wanted a girl. 

I remember talking on the phone with one of my dear friends about it.  "My thing is, when you get pregnant you don't get to choose.  And he just tells me, 'Yeah, but this time we can choose.  And I really want a little girl."  My friend spoke these words of wisdom to me on that day.  "You just have to trust God with this.  Maybe your hubby's stubbornness on the issue is because He knows a little girl is right for your family.  But, if you're meant to have another boy, God will make it happen.  He'll change your husband's heart." 

Thanks Bon, that's good advice.  But, I think I'll just do this myself. ;)  I can be pretty persuasive.  I started with the fact that the wait time for a female referral was way longer than the wait time for a male.  And then you still have to wait another year after that to bring her home!  "Didn't you tell me the wait for a boy was 6-12 months and the wait for a girl is 12-18 months?"  Yes!  So, we could wait an additional 12 months for a girl!  "Or we could wait just a year for either gender, right?  I mean, that's what the numbers say."  Sigh.  He actually listened to me when I told him those time frames.

Then I came home from a Korea program meeting at our agency armed with information that I was sure would change his mind.  Do you know how many families are currently waiting to receive a referral for a girl?  Like 40 something!  And there are only 5 families waiting for boys.  "But, there are still families waiting for boys, right?"  Well, yeah.  "Ok.  I'd still like to wait for a girl." 

And so it went.  Every few months we'd have the conversation.  And each time he'd say that the wait didn't seem that bad and he didn't want to change anything right now.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the idea of having a daughter.  I would pause a little each time I passed all those cute, frilly clothes in Target.  I didn't buy one thing though.  I just had this strong feeling that this time, this baby would be a boy.

We get a monthly newsletter from our adoption agency.  While browsing through the Korea program news I noticed a heading in bold print.  Families Needed for Boys.  The short paragraph explained that the Korea program had an urgent need for families willing to adopt boys.  There were many healthy infant boys available for adoption.  It implored families currently waiting for girls to consider making a switch.  And that for families who do move over to the waiting list for boys, a match would be immediate.  This was like confirmation for me.  But, I knew how these conversations with my husband had gone over the past few months, so I didn't get my hopes up.  I didn't want to come at him again just trying to win him over to my side.  I truly just wanted to share with him what I'd read and hear his honest opinion. 
So, that night on the phone (this was during his six months at Ft. Huachuca, AZ) I told him there was something in the newsletter that I wanted to read to him.  I did.  He was quiet.  And then he softly said, "I just got choked up."  Very rarely does something strike a chord emotionally with my husband.  So, when I heard that, I knew.  God had changed his heart.  Literally in that moment!   
Just in time too. ;)  Our agency wasn't kidding on that whole immediate match thing.  More on that later...

Fun for the 4th

We didn't participate in any 4th of July festivities this year. :(  They had a big thing going on here on base, but it was open to the public and they were expecting 10,000 people.  I'm not as anti-people, I mean anti-crowds as hubby is, but even that sounded like a mess I didn't want to deal with.  We still managed to squeeze plenty of fun into the weekend and I don't think any one missed the big celebration.  (Although I think they had funnel cake.) :(

Saturday we had a great time at Kaylee's birthday party.

And Sunday was all about the girls.  Hubby only gave me a bit of grief about my girl's day...

...but it was definitely worth it.  I got a massage, a facial, the Olive Garden, the movies, and lots of great grown-up conversation with my friend!

And we made goodies!

Even though he likes to tease, hubby really is supportive of me taking an occasional "adult time-out." ;)  He even suggested we make it a quarterly ritual!  Sounds good to me.

Hot, hot, hot!

It was the hottest day we've had around here in awhile.  And we headed to the park.  We're crazy like that.  We were joined by slightly saner people only once in two hours.  They stayed for ten minutes.

We're doing the summer reading program at our library.  Every week we take in C's book log and he gets a new prize.  He was super excited that this week was the week of the sword. 

 No scabbard?  No problem.

His totally innocent placement of the sword makes me laugh.

Time to attack!

I called him off the ducks and sent him after a more appropriate target.  Geese are mean anyway.

Man, it was blazing hot.  The kind of day at the playground where you think your feet might catch fire from all the heat radiating from the rubber mulch.  Also the kind of day that earns you a gold star on your super mom chart.  Because the kid running around all red-faced and sweaty?  He doesn't care about the heat.  He's just thrilled to have the chance to play!  And you made it happen.